It would seem that certain websites and fans got their knickers in a twist about the potential return of John Simm as the Master following a Doctor Who-specific question at a Q&A last week.
Asked about the Master at the Cheltenham Literature Festival last week, Simm was enthusiastic about the possibilities of a darker take on the character – but didn’t indicate that there was any discussion that he would be returning. Nevertheless, things got out of control to such an extent that the actor took to Twitter…
Hi folks, the master thing is honestly a non story. I was answering a specific question at a Q+A. s’been taken out of context. #sorry
— John Simm (@john_simm) October 23, 2012
So there we have it – he’s interested in taking the character in a different direction, and that’s all. Which, of course, is fair enough. We’d love to see him back, but anyone under any illusions that such an occurrence is imminent needs to take a step outside (and perhaps load up their Terror of the Autons DVD…)
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The first thing you need to know about the Doctor is he lies…
The Master is the most evil genius in the universe…he probably tells fibs too…
Firstly I’d like to say that it wasn’t the fan websites that got their ‘knickers in a twist’ – it was the media reporting just one small moment in what was a whole hour of very interesting discussion about John Simm’s career… I know because I was there at the Cheltenham Literary Festival on 14th October and I think I can understand how he feels – it was just one question from a member of the audience at a Q & A (albeit the first one asked) and he replied that he had no plans to reprise the role at the moment; he was asked to play the character the way he did by Russell T Davies, who had a very clear idea of how he wanted the character played, and if (note ‘IF’) John were to be asked to reprise the role he would want to take it to a quieter (quipping that he even started to annoy himself with the laughter last time round!) and very much darker place, in other words to do something new with the character, and that if the opportunity came up he would certainly take a look at the script. That was basically it – done and dusted in less than two minutes, and he then moved on to answer many more questions about other roles he has played. I knew as soon as I heard the question that any media reports of his Q & A session would most likely focus on that rather than anything else…because that’s how it always is… John’s Master was (and is) immensely popular amongst fans and public alike, which is, I believe, exactly why the media know that there is value in hyping up every mention of the possibility of a return – but that’s all it is – media mis-reporting, quoting out of context and hype. As a Dr Who fan I don’t mind admitting that I’m as keen as anyone to see him in the role again –particularly if he’s allowed to go to that darker place! – but the constant mis-quoting out of context is even starting to annoy me…!