Doctor Who: Every Series 3 Episode Ranked From Worst To Best
5. The Sound Of Drums/Last Of The Time Lords
With the Daleks and the Cybermen already re-established, it was only a matter of time until the Doctor's fellow-Time Lord rival The Master arrived. Thankfully, The Sound of Drums and The Last of the Time Lords give the character a lot of room to breathe. John Simm's take on the villain makes for a charismatic affair and his anger, desperation, and homicidal elation alongside David Tennant creates some of the most believable chemistry in the show's history.
With a scheme most devious and resourceful, The Master has traveled back to current-day Britain to become the Prime Minister. Alongside his new mysterious allies the Toclafane, he gleefully culls a 10th of the human race and controls what remains.
Unfortunately, for all of its epic proportions, it's far from perfect.
Truthfully, nothing hurts a story like saying it never happened. All those stakes vanish when the clock gets reset by the end of the two-parter. Sure, Martha's family still have the memories but the actual events never really took place. It's a coward's way out of such a situation. If you're going to make massive changes to your universe, it's cheap to shy out of the consequences by saying a sci-fi equivalent of "it's all a dream".
This is a big shame because otherwise, it's a really eventful and important story and quite a brilliant way to introduce The Master into NuWho.