October 27th, 2026 no comments

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Big Finish The War Master Deeds Without Name

No Good Deeds

Sir Derek Jacobi stars in four full-cast audio episodes, as The War Master: Deeds Without Name is released today from Big Finish Productions.

The War Master – the thoroughly evil incarnation of the Doctor’s arch-enemy played by the legendary actor Sir Derek Jacobi – returns today in Deeds Without Name, a brand-new box set of fantastically fiendish tales.

The Master is on the run from Daleks and Time Lords alike, and has decided that, since there’s no chance of the Time War ending well for him, he might as well have some fun. Of course, what’s fun for the Master usually involves torment and pain for others.

Across the four full-cast audio episodes set in the universe of Doctor Who, the Master experiments on the minds of retirees, is captured by space scavengers, brings reliable energy to a world shrouded in darkness, and even finds time to release his memoirs.

The Worlds of Doctor Who – The War Master: Deeds Without Name is available to purchase now for just £24.99 (download to own) or £30.99 (download to own + collector’s edition 4-disc CD box set). Please note: the collector’s edition CD box set is strictly limited to 1,250 copies and will not be re-pressed.

The four masterful new adventures are:

The Unstately Home by Alison Winter

The super-rich elite residents of Aurora Mansions, a high-tech luxury retirement village and nursing home, have every imaginable comfort and amenity in their golden years. But the Master, posing as a cognitive hypnotherapist, is keen to demonstrate that no amount of money can provide sanctuary from the troubled mind… especially when he’s inside it.

The Unstately Home guest stars Michael Ajao as Tunde Popoola, Carolyn Seymour (Survivors) as Ivy Ward, Sorcha Cusack (Father Brown) as Barbara Murphy, Gerard McDermott as Jasper Blund/Tom Murphy, and Alison Winter as Aurora AI.

Dead Man’s Pulse by Mark Bowsher

The Master is dead. For now, at least. But even a dead Time Lord is valuable during a Time War and when a gang of scavengers steal the Master’s body, their ship is targeted by a psychological energy weapon. They are forced to revive the Master to gain his help, but his cooperation comes at a high price…

The cast of Dead Man’s Pulse includes Sarah Hadland (Miranda) as Xeris, Josh Finan (The Responder) as Kirna/Vlisshaarian Computer, Ben Whitehead (Wallace & Gromit) as Shar, Antonia Tootill as Nought, and Mia Selway as Vras/Vras’s Computer.

The Devil in the Detail by David K Barnes

On a colony world in perpetual night, young scientist Lyle Godwin is determined to give power back to the people. He’s beating the energy companies at their own game – but why does the Master want to help him do it? The devil… is in the detail.

Guest starring in The Devil in the Detail are Kieran Hodgson (Two Doors Down) as Lyle Godwin, Cassie Bradley (Pushers) as Arati Mahajan, Abbie Andrews as Suza Buckley/Supervisor, Samuel James as Hugo Dyer/Carl Cusack.

In His Anecdotage by Matthew Sweet

The Master is publishing his memoirs – You Don’t Know Jackanapes – in which he offers himself as a reformed character and spills secrets from the UNIT years. Talking to veteran investigative journalist Jeannie Keen, she questions him about government cover-ups, and he tells her, out of the blue, that he has seen a UNIT file showing she has a twin sister living in a nursing home in Wexcliffe-on-Sea. Only it’s not a nursing home, it’s a UNIT safe house.

The Master offers to team up with Jeannie, apparently interested in helping her with the story. But what is the secret of Ashburton Lodge? And what’s behind the Master’s most unreliable of memoirs?

In His Anecdotage’s cast are Kathryn Drysdale (Bridgerton) as Jeannie Keen/Blanche, Chizzy Akudolu (Holby City) as Sister Sedge, Will Keen (Wolf Hall) as Captain Bartlett, Samira Ahmed as herself, and Jon Culshaw as Terry Wogan.

Sir Derek Jacobi said: “The villains are always the best parts, absolutely. Being nasty and evil has somehow more depth than being good and heroic. And there’s a heroic aspect, certainly, to the Master. He’s got all the answers, all the exits and entrances. He’s the powerful one, he’s strong and assured and he knows he’s a winner.”

The first story’s writer Alison Winter added: “The Master at this point is no longer making plans for the future because he’s realised there isn’t one. He’s always wanted to survive the Time War but now that he’s accepted it can’t be survived, he’s indulging in wanton wickedness in the face of his own inevitable destruction.

“I found that premise fascinating. When someone knows the end is coming, it focuses the mind. The Master acts as if he’s immortal, but he is also highly intelligent and recognises the end is nigh. So what does he do with the time he has left? Does he reflect at all? I imagined he might find himself haunted and, perhaps to manage that, decide to experiment on the ghosts of others.”

And, Matthew Sweet, author of the final story, said: “The idea of writing for Derek was something not to be refused. I thought, ‘What if the Master publishes his memoirs?’ And if he was publishing his memoirs, that would mean he’d be on light entertainment shows and panel games, in that strange way we had in the 1970s and 80s. When the Master appears on Call My Bluff, I think almost everything he says is from Derek’s appearance on Call My Bluff!”

Big Finish listeners can save money by purchasing Deeds Without Name in a multibuy bundle with the previous War Master box set, October 2025’s His Greatest Trick, for just £48 (download to own) or £58 (download to own + collector’s edition CD), exclusively from www.bigfinish.com.

Categorised under: Big Finish, CD, spin-offs