Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch Is The Master in Doctor Who Series 7?

By Matt Holmes / February 27, 2012

Long thought of as a fan favourite to be a future Doctor Who, reports in The Express say Benedict Cumberbatch is being eyed to play the next regeneration of the baddie timelord, The Master in the forthcoming seventh series. Plans are for The Master to special guest star in an episode as Steven Moffat wants to bring back some old favourites to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who next year. Good casting we say, though the source claims it will only happen if schedules can be worked out.

It€™s fitting that the Doctor comes face to face with his ultimate enemy, The Master, for the 50th anniversary and it€™s felt Benedict is the perfect choice if the schedules can work. Fans will love the idea of the man who plays Sherlock Holmes taking on the Doctor.

Yes, it seems Brit favourite Cumberbatch has found himself rather comfortable in the geek franchise realm, already appearing as Sherlock in BBC's popular re-imagining of Arthur Conan Doyle's super sleuth of Baker Street (also developed by Moffat) and of course currently filming his major part as the baddie in the Star Trek film sequel. Now he has another long-gestating property to cement his name too. Not to mention we would expect his character from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy to return in the currently being written/thought out follow-up Smiley's People and he voices Smaug in The Hobbit. This guy will be raking in the cash from Blu-ray/DVD sales for years! Making his first appearance in 1971's "Terror of the Atoms", The Master is an evil Timelord and Who's arch nemesis who has regenerated a bunch of times since Roger Delgado debuted the character. His last appearance was from the 2007 series when John Simm portrayed him, back when David Tennant was the Doctor. Cumberbatch's apparent casting is particularly timely as we just earlier today posted our article about the history of The Master.