With the sixth series only just released today, Big Finish has confirmed series seven of their The War Master series starring Sir Derek Jacobi- and another familiar face is along for the ride. The War Master: Self Defence will release in June 2022, and will revisit a meeting that happened either fifteen years ago or one hundred trillion years in the future!
Self-Defence Details!
Guest starring in the box set’s last episode, David Tennant joins The War Master series! The Tenth Doctor and the War Master only had a few seconds on screen together- once the Master was free of the effects of the Chameleon Arch anyways- but this will for sure be a fun rematch! David Tennant had this to say about joining this Big Finish series:
“One of the joys of these Big Finish stories is that any little corner of the Doctor Who universe can be re-explored – and what a treat to get to do a story with Derek! There’s something so vivid in those moments when Derek became the Master on TV. It feels very natural that the character should be expanded and have all these stories to tell because there was so much going on there.”
As for the full lineup of episodes and writers for The War Master: Self-Defence, here’s the list! The series will start with The Forest of Penitence by Lou Morgan, followed by The Players by Una McCormack, and Boundaries by Lizbeth Myles. And then the final episode with the Tenth Doctor will be The Last Line by Lizzie Hopley. The series’ director, producer and script editor Scott Handcock provided a few more details on what’s in store.
“Self-Defence has been a thrill to pull together. We have four brilliant scripts from Lou Morgan, Una McCormack, Lizbeth Myles and Lizzie Hopley and an incredible guest cast across the stories – plus the Tenth Doctor himself getting propelled back into the Time War for the box set’s conclusion! And given that Derek and David only shared a look as Doctor and Master on screen, it’s great to hear them face off against each other properly – and for the Master to have no idea who this Doctor is!”
No further casting or story details have been shared at this time, but we’ll for sure keep you up to date as we hear more! Additionally, Big Finish has also confirmed a yet-to-be-titled eighth series of The War Master due for release in December 2022.
Looking Forward to the Release!
Though I’ve not yet gotten the chance to listen to any of Big Finish’s War Master series (there’s a lot to listen to and not enough time!), this one will for sure be going on my pre-order list. I have gotten a chance to hear a bit of what they’ve done with the character in UNIT: Cyber-Reality and The Diary of River Song series 5, however!
Of course, if you’ve been following along on what Big Finish news excites me the most there is a bit of a theme given one of my favorite Doctors. So I doubt anyone is surprised that I’d be jumping right on board for another Tenth Doctor story! Even if it is just the one episode…
I do find it very interesting that Scott Handcock mentioned that the Tenth Doctor will be “propelled back into the Time War” for that story. Ten’s had a bit of a rough time with that sort of thing recently at Big Finish! One of the overarching plots of the Dalek Universe series has been the Doctor trying to get back to his “own time” after being taken back in time to before the Time War. Maybe Dalek Universe 3 won’t be the end of his out-of-time troubles…?
(Well, Out of Time 3- Wink does release the month after The War Master: Self-Defence so it’s at least true in that sense!)
The War Master: Self-Defence is available for pre-order on Big Finish’s website now on as a collector’s edition four-disc box set for £24.99 or as a digital download for £19.99. Listeners can also pre-order a bundle of Self-Defence and The War Master series eight for £48 on CD or £39 for the digital downloads.
