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My introduction to the character of the Master came through some of the early novelisations, particularly The Daemons and Doomsday Weapon (televised as Colony in Space). They were fun reads, and I was really interested in this character who was meant to be the equal of the Doctor in many ways. It was only when Doctor Who Weekly started years later that I saw a picture of Roger Delgado in a “Unit Fact File” – a page profile of the character and actor who played him. The picture amazed me – that had to be the Master I’d read about. I also discovered the actor was dead and I can remember being really saddened for a reason I couldn’t put my finger on.
Armed with a very striking face to ponder on, I suddenly started to realise I’d seen him before. He was a guest star in the re-runs of The Avengers, The Champions, Randall and Hopkirk Deceased and many other shows that were on my favourite list.
One day, when watching the film Belles of St. Trinian’s, I said, knowledgably, to my dad – “look – it’s Roger Delgado, from Doctor Who”. My dad looked up. “Ohhh yes. He was in Quatermass, you know. A reporter”. “Not – THE PIT?” (Quatermass and the Pit deserved capitalisation in our household. Something of legend to young me, due to stories abou it from my father). “No”, he said, “the one with the domes. He got killed.”
I shrugged philosophically. Not in “THE PIT”, but still in Quatermass. The man had to have been some sort of acting legend to appear in so many good shows.
I was thirteen before I actually got to see Delgado as The Master in a celebratory showing of The Daemons. It was brilliant and he actually surpassed what in retrospect were some pretty high expectations. I watched all his stuff over the next 10 years as it gradually became available on VHS. Only eight stories in total, but well worth the wait even if a couple are pretty flawed. Like the Doctor himself, sometimes the guests can overcome poor material to deliver a performance that makes them worth watching.
The character was introduced in Series 8, Terror of the Autons, along with new companion Jo Grant and UNIT character Mike Yates. It’s a great intro for Jo and the Master, as he allies himself with the Nestene consciousness, and their Auton servants for their second invasion attempt.
The battle between the Doctor and Master continued throughout that series, with The Master harnessing a mind parasite in a prison to gather physchic forces to force an atomic war on the humans (Mind of Evil). I really like this story, and am looking forward to seeing it finally restored in full colour on DVD. The Claws of Axos, I seem to have enjoyed more than others, but Colony in Space, as a story, was better served by the book I think. It’s very interesting – a communal colony who have escaped a polluted earth come into conflict with a corporation that wants to strip mine and exploit the planet. Underneath the surface is an ancient weapon the Master seeks, in his guise as a galactic arbitrator. The production values and pacing let down a good story. The season finished on The Daemons which I’ve always found engaging. Not only because of Delgado, but the fact this is a story for people like John Levene (Seargeant Benton) to shine.
At the end of the story, our hero is led away in chains – incarcerated by UNIT.
In Season 9, after a couple of stories in future and off-planet, we find the Master in prison, but like the trooper he is, still plotting. The time in conjunction with The Sea Devils, those aquatic cousins of the Silurians. Another story which I thoroughly enjoy. Not least for the scene where Delgado enjoys the Clangers. He escaped the resulting carnage of course, and laid low for a story before trying to trap Kronos the Chronovore in The Time Monster. Delgado is in it. That’s the best thing I can say about it, apart from some humorous references to how the Doctor and Master used to sabotage each others experiments in the Academy.
In the middle of Season 10, with the Doctor free to roam the Universe again, the final appearance is in Frontier in Space. It’s a difficult story. The end was cocked up spectacularly. Film was lost, they couldn’t re-shoot and the Master just well – disappears. There is still stuff to enjoy. I loved the idea of the Master trying to engineer two great empires (Earth and Draconia) into war. Loved the design of the Draconians themselves (the modern Silurians owe a lot to them). Loved the reveal that the Daleks were behind this plan…. But ultimately it feels like what it is. A lead in to Planet of the Daleks, a story in which everything you’ve seen doesn’t really have any resonance anymore.
Throughout these stories, Delgado becomes a binding force. The person on screen you are drawn to whenever he appears. It’s a graceful and charming villain. Largely, as the script said, he avoided melodrama but when he did do it (as in some extracts in The Daemons) he plays it as a performance to his devotees. You, as the audience, are in on the joke. He was sensational in his time, in that he was a sensation. The BBC production team were used to receiving letters from children addressed to The Doctor. Now they had a mail sack for The Master as well. Kids wrote to him c/o the BBC to ask him to mend his ways and join the Doctor on his adventures and free him from his exile. Those kids knew a good double act when they saw it, because Roger always seemed to make Jon better – as an actor and a Doctor. Natural chemistry perhaps, because they became good friends. His Master was a hard villain to dislike. Willing to act the fool on occasion. Or reveal frustration, petulance, jealousy, humour and charm. Much like the Doctor.
Delgado had agreed to one more appearance in a cunning wheeze. He and Jon would leave together in The Final Game, a story which would see the Third Doctor regenerate. Many fan legends surround this – that it would be revealed that the Doctor and he were brothers, that they were Ying-Yang of the same person. All utter bullshit of course.
The Final Game would have seen an alien incursion organised by the Master in which a time/dimesional portal was activated. To deactivate the portal whoever ventured into it would be exposed to radiation. The Doctor tries, and collapses. The Master pushes him aside, saving him (he would regenerate) but leaving the question – did the Master seek to save the Doctor or merely possess the power source that created the rift. Both would die, but with the potential to return in another form. You can see elements of that scenario in End of Time, but it’s explored more thoroughly in the Mark Gatiss Third Doctor novel Last of the Gaderene.
Delgado’s tragic death in Turkey in a road accident robbed us of that ending, and much more I feel. He was being noticed and had many projects on his schedule. Had he lived I think he would have been an even more successful character actor of note later in life.
I don’t think any actor who has portrayed the character since has come near to this Charming villain. To say that Derek Jacobi in Utopia portrays some of the elements I see in Delgado is, in my mind, a compliment. I think Jacobi, combining the outward charm of Yana, and the seething hate as he became the Master would have nailed it completely for a modern era, but we didn’t have the time.
So – All hail Roger Delgado. The true Master, and rocking Black Sabbath devotee (OK –I made that last one up).
Peoples of the Forum, please attend. We control the horizontal. We control the vertical. We… oh, wrong show. We interrupt this celebration of an ill-dressed oaf to present a subject which demands your admiration and respect.
Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks defined the character of the Master in this Document.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The Master has a chameleon like ability to adapt to any society in which he finds himself. He will therefore be completely natural and convincing in his various human roles. He must not be written as a moustache twirling villain of melodrama, or given melodramatic dialogue; If anything his evil quality should be underplayed, though never forgottenOne Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto (Roger Delgado) was selected to play him. Tuesday 18th June 2013 saw the 40th anniversary of his death.
Yep – Opium gags, lit Cigars, and offering hard liquor to Casey. You just know you are back in the 70s! There is a great interview with Hincliffe in which he confesses if he didn’t get an incandescent irate letter from Mary Whitehouse during a series he thought he wasn’t doing his job. There was a sweepstake about what would annoy her in coming episodes.
I’d completely forgot about Dudley Simpson being on screen until you mentioned it.
Working on something else I was reminded about one of the “Missing Adventure” books that showed how “The Doctor” was supposed to aquire his costume here. “Evolution” by John Peel. Great fun with The Doctor working in cnojunction with a young Doctor/aspiring writer called Arthur Conan Doyle investigating hybrid humans. May be available in some good second hand bookshops.
