Doctor Who: Every Master Ranked Worst To Best

"I am usually referred to as 'The Master'", declared Roger Delgado in The Terror of the Autons, and so the rest was history. In the 1970s, Delgado played a black-clad goatee-sporting antitheses to The Doctor, and yet there somehow managed to be more to him that.

Whether he was spouting villainous rhetoric, acting as The Doctor's disgruntled allay, or laughing at alien puppets on kids' TV, Delgado put everything he had into the character. Up until this point, all Doctor Who baddies, even the scary iconic ones, were a little deadpan in the personality department. So viewing a more human, complex and cerebral adversary was a real change of pace for the show. It's easy to understand why the Master remained integral to the mythology, right until today.

Roger Delgado was as energetic and charismatic as any modern-day interpretation of the role, and his on-screen chemistry with Jon Pertwee's Doctor was endlessly delightful. His death in 1973 remains a heartbreak to this day. He was one of the greatest performers to ever grace Doctor Who.