"I'd rather obey that one" - the Best Master poll

[Lissa]

Season 8 introduced the Doctor’s own Professor Moriarty in the shape of the Master. Roger Delgado’s legendary portrayal is still the one by which others are judged. But who is your favourite incarnation of the Master?

Is the original still the best? Are you a loyal 80s child? Or is the Master just another thing the New Series did better than the Old one?

[Si Hunt]

The Master is a case in Doctor Who of very gradual and clever character development. Somewhere after "Frontier in Space" he uses up all his regenerations and has turned into this hate-filled, insane husk; far from the jovial, twisted but slightly hell-bent Delgado incarnation. After that, he regains a body but remains warped and obsessed by destroying the Doctor. It's easy to watch Ainley and think "that's not very true to Delgado's gentlemanly villain" but why should it be? Not only has the Master regenerated (and, as we've seen, the Doctors incarnations are all completely different in personality) but he's changed too. Ainley and Delgado were the best Masters - both chilling, dangerous and cunning.

Si.

[SiHart]

I'm a loyal 80s child it seems. I love Ainley's completely unhinged sycopathic version of the Master. he might be like a panto villain at times, but there was often an edge to him that meant he might just do something completely awful- like close the CVE or the way he stabs Karra in Survival for his own amusement.

Delgado is brilliant, a proper gentleman villain for Pertwee's proper gentleman Doctor. I love him, but my alleigances are with Ainley.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

Every Doctor seems to get the Master they deserve - the Third got a gentleman villain, the Fifth got a crafty trickster and the Tenth got a young guy in a suit who shouted too much.

Si.

[Martin Penny]

I honestly really like them all! I don't think we've had a bad Master so far. I think Geoffrey Beevers is certainly the most underrated, I wish he had been given a few more stories as the decaying Master - he manages to be incredibly creepy, menacing, unhinged and has probably the best voice in Doctor Who. EVER.

[SiHart]

Far from being the most scary Master, Peter Pratt's Master makes me laugh every time- especially in pt 4 of The Deadly Assassin. His lines are wonderfully overplayed and take on an absurdly wonderful quality when put together with the nasty make up... "I warn you Castellan I am not as infirm as I look!" is marvellous!

I may be one of two people who think this though.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

"A SCAPEGOAT!"

Si.

[SiHart]

"Rassilon's discovery... WOAH BOY!"

Si xx

[MacNimon]

Growing up with the Pertwee era, there's really only one choice for me. While it was interesting to see the other incarnations, none of them have quite matched Delgado's Master. Ainley tried, but just wasn't quite in the same league imo.

[brandynigma]

Derek Jacobi.

With Delgado a close second.

[MacNimon]

Jacobi could quite easily qualify as the most menacing Master ever in his (very) short stint, couldn't he?

[Dino]

Again with Ainley. (Now there's an idea for a show that never got made...)
Although historically Beevers was the first Master I can remember. That was an interesting reveal. It took my brother saying who he was though...
"Utopia/The Sound Of Drums" are great Doctor Who and thanks to videos I've seen how great Delgado was in the role.
You can't really miss with a part like the Master can you?
Even Peter Pratt looks the part... until he starts trying to move his lips.
I hope we see this character again.

[Andrew Curnow]

Gotta be Ainley for me. Partly because he was the first 'proper' Master that I saw, and was the regular villain when I was young - but also because I think he's mostly bloody good. He gets a couple of naff stories (Timeflight, for example) but is still very watchable - and when he gets (IMHO) a really good story, he's just superb. He's stunning in Logopolis, fully in control and so certain of his own genius, smiling his arrogant way through the story. And at the other end of his reign, in Survival he pitches it just right, not quite playing it as the swaggering archvillain of the universe but as a desperate, proud, selfish individual, perfectly happy to go to any lengths to ensure his own continued existence.

The other guys were good too, but for me it's a 'no contest'.

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

.

Delgado is brilliant, a proper gentleman villain for Pertwee's proper gentleman Doctor. I love him, but my alleigances are with Ainley.

Si xx

That's pretty much the same as I feel about them. I loved the Ainley version, even if perhaps Delgado was a better actor (and I'm not sure that was the case anyway).
It's a shame that some of Ainley's best stuff was only seen the 'Destiny of the Doctors' computer game!

Nothing to do with the portrayals but I also prefer the way The Master in the 80's morphed out of his disguises rather than just took off a mask - I know, it's probably just that they could do that more easily in the 80's, but I liked it - and I always though the masks were a bit unconvincing looking!

[Stephen Morgan]

I've got to go with Delgado, the original and the best so to speak. He was given some good lines, and came across as menacing in a subtle way to get his point across. Shame that some of his scheming never worked out when the Doctor got in his way though.

[Larry]

got to go for Delgado, a handsome gentleman villain who just ozzed charm and
charisma and had a wonderfull dry sense of humour.what made his Master, even more enjoyable was the on screen chemistry Delgado had with Pertwee. Just watching the point scoring banter that he and Pertwee, regularly had is always fun to watch.

[Dirk Gently]

I would have voted for Derek Jacobi but as is I've gone for Delgado with Ainley a gnats behind.

Worst is Roberts who is OK until he starts camping it up.

[Terry Leptil]

Delgado is and always will be the best Master, full of charm and evil. Ainley's insane Master and Simm's psychotic Master were good too.

Perhaps you should have put Jacobi in the voting list as well.

[Llordllama]

I think I too would have given the nod to Derek, so little screen time but he did a lot with it. And sorry, I loved John Simms best. Probably Delgado next.

And at least Roberts "Dressssssssssed" for the occassion.

[Thasc]

Roger Delgado get's my vote (no surprise there then)

[Junkyard]

Delgado, the original and best. Although kudos to Simms and Ainley too. Beevers and Pratt did not have enough screen time to make an impression either way. The less said about Roberts the better.

[duncan]

Delgado for me, but, I do wish that Jacobi had been kept on rather than regenerating him into Simm.

[Martin Curnow]

Having watched Frontier in Space recently, I'm going with Delgado.