2. John Simm - The Sound Of Drums/The End Of Time
"Here come the drums!" John Simm is, objectively speaking, a better actor than Eric Roberts. It seems absurd to have to say that, but he is. He just is. Watch him in anything- watch him in State of Play. Watch him in something terrible like Human Traffic. With his small, passive features, he's one of the great character actors of his generation- you never feel as though you're watching a 'John Simm' performance. So yes, objectively speaking, he pips Eric Roberts. By more than a little bit. That said, I never expected him to over-act Eric Roberts. His take on The Master could've been brilliant, and, in scattered fragments, it is. It makes a sort of sense that The Master should share The Doctor's unpredictable sense of humour, his fondness for human companions and his penchant for over-compensation (that laser screwdriver, ooft). This is all good stuff, but it never gels into a coherent whole. Simm doesn't inhabit his character, he just bounces around, mugging to camera like a bad parody of a supervillain. Eventually it gets a bit wearing, especially when David Tennant, bless him, is trying so hard to invest the material with some heart and soul. Simm excels in more subdued moments- a scene where The Master watches an episode of Teletubbies is, surprisingly, the darkest thing about these episodes- but he's happier playing the class clown. Not exactly unexpected from a guest star, but a disappointment in one of his vintage.
Most OTT Moment: Simm returned in The End of Time with blonde hair, lasers coming out of his hands and flying. And if you thought he was OTT before, wait till the scene where The Master duplicates himself across the entire human race. We already know how silly one John Simm can be. Now imagine 7 billion of them, all smirking and gurning and making pop culture references. There are two words for it. One of them is nightmarish. The other one is 'can we put this off and watch Sherlock instead?'