Doctor Who Series 10: John Simm Confirmed To Return As The Master

This should be spectacular!

Doctor Who The Master John Simm
BBC

It's official: John Simm is coming back to Doctor Who.

There'd been rumours, there'd been hopes, there'd been spoiler warnings from Steven Moffat. But now, after the details were leaked by a tabloid, the BBC have confirmed Simm will indeed be back in Series 10.

Speaking of the news, the actor said: "I can confirm that it’s true, thanks to the power of time travel I’m back. It’s always a pleasure to work with this great team of people and I can’t wait for you all to see what the Master gets up to in the next series."

Simm's version of the Master is a brilliant one, first appearing in the superb three-part story Utopia, The Sound of Drums, and Last of the Time Lords. His final appearance came seven years ago, in The End Of Time Part Two. Showrunner Moffat had teased a big spoiler in the trailer after the first episode of Series 10 (scheduled to air April 15), but with the return leaking elsewhere, Doctor Who announced it officially on Twitter. Moffat said:

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"Nothing stays secret for long on Doctor Who but you’ll have to wait a little bit longer to see exactly what the Master is up to and how he makes his return to face the Doctor. It’s been a huge pleasure to have fan favourites John Simm and Michelle Gomez face to face in the same role! It’s not often you get to see a solo personality clash.”

Quite how he'll return remains a mystery, except for the fact it'll involve some timey-wimey business, but it does mean we'll be seeing two iterations of the Master this year, which as Moffat says is a rarity. Seeing the pair of them on-screen together is certainly an enticing proposition.

Doctor Who Series 10 is shaping up very nicely, what with two Masters, a new companion, Ice Warriors, Emojibots, and Mondasian Cybermen. Hopefully, however, there are a few more surprises that will go unspoiled.

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Are you excited for the Master's return? Share your thoughts down in the comments.

Contributor
Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.