2. Julian Barratt
Master-Making Role: Dan Ashcroft in Nathan Barley Dont laugh, bear with me here for a moment Imagine a dishevelled, melancholy Master. Barratt can seem truly insane to me with scraggly hair- shove his role in The Mighty Boosh to the back of your head, and instead consider just how dark he would go. Hed push The Master to places youd never expect him to go, harnessing the darkest aspects of the show and the character. A very subtly menacing and disturbing turn. Remember how Robin Williams surprised everybody with his turns in Insomnia and One Hour Photo? Well, I believe Barratt would do the same, and because hes not an obvious choice, wed see something different and totally unexpected.
1. Kenneth Branagh
Master-Making Role: Iago in The Merchant of Venice Personally, my top choice. He is one of the greatest actors of our age, and though many of you are used to him in smug roles, or purely brooding Shakespearean roles, you seriously underestimate Sir Ken. He has comic chops as demonstrated in Harry Potter and The Painkiller, but he can be menacing and melancholy as Wallander. And keep in mind he directed Tom Hiddlestons first performance as Loki, so he knows what makes a classic villain great- and he can do twisted and dark humour as demonstrated by his remake of Sleuth- maybe thats focusing on him as a director, but his directorial vision seems to overlap with his performances a lot of the time. I think his performance in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein- passionate, arrogant and slightly mad- is a good indicator for how he might play the role. Plus, he said hed love to be in Doctor Who, so there you go! So long as its nothing like his role in Wild, Wild West, we should be fine. Need more convincing? Go see him next summer as the villain in Jack Ryan, which he is also directing. These are my choices, and many of them overlap in how they might perform the role, but each would bring something unique an interesting to a nw Master. But what do you think of my choices? Who would you choose? Comment below or Tweet me @IAmOscarHarding Oh, my dear reader, you have been naïve