The War Master: Only The Good

This is a set of four hour-long stories set during the Time War and featuring not the Doctor, but the Master. Yes, the Master is the protagonist in these stories, although he can hardly be described as the hero. This is achieved largely by having him be on the run from the Daleks which, if it doesn't exactly make him sympathetic, does at least mean that what he's trying to do isn't fundamentally evil; this is a story about his attempt to survive, not about his usual schemes of conquest (or is it...?)

The four stories follow on from one another sequentially, forming a single arc, but are still distinct. Significantly, the Master is played by Derek Jacobi, who does some magnificent acting in this that sees this particular incarnation switching from an avuncular old man not unlike his Professor Yana persona in Utopia to the callous schemer that he is underneath and making it all work. You really get a feel for the Master's intelligence, not just his menace, which is something not all other versions have managed so effectively.

I also want to give a shout-out to the theme tune, which is a sinister-sounding techno piece with recognisable elements of the regular Doctor Who theme underneath. Nicely done.

• Beneath the Viscoid – The first story is set on a undersea resistance base on an alien planet conquered by the Daleks. Thus, this starts out like the typical base-under-siege story so often seen on DW with the obvious exception that it's not the Doctor who turns up to apparently save the day. It soon becomes clear what the Master is doing on the base, but there are a few twists before it's apparent how he expects to go about it. As a result, it's a twist on a standard trope of the series (and references a certain 4th Doctor story while it's about it) with the listener often being uncertain as to the true motives of its central character. 4 stars.

• The Good Master – This time we start with the Master working in a hospital helping to save casualties of the War. It's a long time before we discover why he's doing this (or what it has to do with the previous episode) but there's an intriguing question as to whether we're seeing a different side to his personality than usual being brought out by the unusual situation, or the entire thing is simply a subterfuge. It's a great story with mounting tension, a hellish planet besieged by the Daleks and an unusually complex portrayal of its central character. 5 stars.

• The Sky Man – A change of pace for the third story in the set as we follow a character who has crossed the Master's path in the previous episode. He arrives in a bucolic low-tech farming community, aware that, at some point, it will be touched by the Time War, and tries to save them from the coming disaster. It builds slowly, with scenes of country life and easing the natural suspicion of the locals to the man from the stars. And then things start to get darker, while the Master (for the little he's even in it) stands by and basically twiddles his thumbs. It all seems very uncharacteristic of him, except... 4.5 stars.

• The Heavenly Paradigm – ...except that we find out in the final episode what he's actually up to. It's a brilliant conclusion to the arc, linking to the TV series and giving us a real insight into how this particular Master operates. Which is all I'm going to say about this one. 5 stars.