August 8th, 2025 no comments

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Big Finish The War Master 12 His Greatest Trick

Available to order from www.bigfinish.com

The War Master on the run

Cover artwork and story details are revealed today for The War Master: His Greatest Trick, a brand-new audio drama box set starring Sir Derek Jacobi, due for release in October 2025.

The War Master is a very wanted man. With both the Daleks and the Time Lords out to kill him, he decides he’s had enough of the Time War and sets off on a flight across time and space.

But his escape from the front lines provides plenty of opportunities the Master just can’t pass up. From taking charge of an alien school to investigating a legendary planet, there are plenty of opportunities for him to have some fun.

These latest masterful schemes will play out across four brand-new episodes of full-cast audio drama, starring Sir Derek Jacobi as the malevolent Master.

The Worlds of Doctor Who – The War Master: His Greatest Trick is available to pre-order 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 repressed.

The four devilish new tales for the War Master are:

The Grievance Bureau by Lizzie Hopley

• Like many a top-class criminal, the Master has been caught on a misdemeanour. Both the Time Lords and the Daleks intend to destroy him forever but they can’t do it alone. Can the two sides of the deadly Time War come together to eradicate a mutual enemy? But as the Master’s show trial commences, there’s a danger that his ‘misdemeanour’ may not be as minor as they thought…

Last Girl Standing by Katharine Armitage

• The Master has taken charge of an exclusive alien girls’ school, where he’s lying low in comfort. But when pushed by a suspicious colleague, he weaves a treacherous web around students and teachers alike. Under the guise of choosing a new Head Girl, the ‘Head Master’ sets off a twisted competition; a race for survival where there can only ever be one winner…

The Worst of All Evils by Ian Winterton

• Damaged by a Dalek time-destructor, the Master’s TARDIS is spat from the vortex onto Horoka – the hub of Earth Empire’s transmat network, and the site of a refugee camp. Injured, the Master is taken to a hospital run by the ever-hopeful activist Carla Zheng. Their situation is desperate, but to the Master there is one thing even worse than despair…

The Blue Shift Ritual by Adam Christopher

• On the run from both the Daleks and the Time Lords, the Master stumbles across an out-of-control time capsule. The crew are on a mission from Ancient Gallifrey to the legendary planet of Arkheparas, where they hope to prevent the Cult of the Infinite from activating their great Engine – a device which the seers foresaw would end all of time. But with both factions of the Time War on his tail, the apocalypse is just what the Master needs…

The guest cast of His Greatest Trick includes Bethany Antonia (House of the Dragon, Doctor Who: The Well), Laura Aikman (Gavin & Stacey), Sèverine Howell-Meri (Hanna), and Darragh Cowley (Masters of the Air), with further names to be announced.

On starting off this epic new story arc for the War Master, writer Lizzie Hopley said: “I like dark stories and the ones I’ve written for Sir Derek Jacobi’s Master are my favourite. To write for such a skilled actor allows you to include layers within lines and scenes which another may miss. The twists and turns in the plot were more challenging than other audios I’ve written and so satisfying to work out.”

And, the final episode’s writer, Adam Christopher, who is best-known as a New York Times bestselling novelist, said: “Writing Doctor Who was always the dream, but I could never have imagined that my first full-cast Big Finish would star one of the greatest British thespians, Sir Derek Jacobi! From start to finish, The Blue Shift Ritual was a total joy, not only to write but to see and hear come to life thanks to Sir Derek’s deliciously devilish performance and the incredible ensemble cast.

“In The Blue Shift Ritual – which takes its title from a line in Paul Cornell’s Timewyrm: Revelation – we get a glimpse of a real Doctor Who rarity: the time travel experiments of Ancient Gallifrey. And if the Master was going to stage his own death, what better way is there than to destroy the entire universe itself?”

His Greatest Trick will be followed by a further volume, Deeds Without Name, in October 2026. This box set will contain four more episodes starring Sir Derek Jacobi and will continue the story arc of the Master on the run from Daleks and Time Lords.

Big Finish listeners can save money by pre-ordering the two box sets as a multibuy bundle, 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