Paul McGann‘s Eighth Doctor once again comes face-to-face with Sir Derek Jacobi‘s War Master in The War Master: Hearts of Darkness, out now from Big Finish Productions
Following their previous encounter in Rage of the Time Lords, the War Master finds himself pitted against the Eighth Doctor once again in a quest to take down his mortal enemy and take over the universe.
Hearts of Darkness sees one single epic adventure told across four hour-long episodes, in which Sir Derek Jacobi once again reprises his role of the War Master, as first seen on-screen in 2007 Doctor Who story ‘Utopia‘.
Starring alongside Jacobi and McGann are a crew of rogue pilots and mercenary pirates, including actors Colin McFarlane (The Dark Knight), Tanya Moodie (Motherland), George Fletcher (EastEnders), Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo (Devs), and Sandra Huggett (Casualty). As well as this, Séan Carlsen will reprise his role as fan-favourite Time Lord Narvin.
“Find the Doctor… stop the Doctor… and, if necessary, kill the Doctor!”
Recruited by the Celestial Intervention Agency to track down his oldest enemy, the Master finds himself thrown into a mission that will take him into deepest Dalek territory.
Abandoned on the planet Redemption, he assembles a crew and acquires a ship – the journey that follows is certain to test them all… and not everyone will survive.
But space pirates and living corpses are the least of their worries. Their biggest threat remains at large: a Time Lord who likes to call himself ‘the Doctor’.
Producer Scott Handcock has said, “I love these box sets. There’s something fascinating about stories that focus on anti-heroes and villains. Creatively it is more challenging because you have to find an angle that makes the audience engage with the Master – and sort of root for him – even when he’s doing the most despicable things!
“It’s a nice examination of what makes the Master and the Doctor the people they are, and the unique relationship that ties them together. We veer from futuristic cities to spaceships, gothic castles to jungle planets. Each of the four episodes feels different tonally – we go from heist film to action movie, then Universal horror to race-against-time thriller. It moves along at a fair old lick!”
Actor Derek Jacobi has also said, “It’s been great! It’s a very complicated plotline so I’ve found it interesting and fascinating. Baddies are the best parts. The Master and the Doctor are two halves of the same coin really – like Jekyll and Hyde.”
The War Master: Hearts of Darkness is available to purchase now via the Big Finish website as a collector’s edition CD box set priced at £24.99, or as a digital download priced at £19.99.
Big Finish listeners can save money by ordering a bundle of volumes in The War Master range from as little as £39.
THE WAR MASTER: HEARTS OF DARKNESS
Duration: 271 minutes approx.
Released: 28 October 2020, exclusively from the Big Finish website.
Director, Producer & Script Editor: Scott Handcock
Written by: David Llewellyn & Lisa McMullin
Executive Producers: Nicholas Briggs, Jason Haigh-Ellery
