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Call Me Master #1
Call Me Master: Inner Demons
Master of disguise, disarray and disorder. The Master has always enjoyed creating chaos, but this incarnation revels in it more than most. A new Master is unleashed upon the universe, and he is taking his time - and pleasure - in finding out exactly who he is.
1.1 Self-Help by Robert Valentine - The Master is having a crisis of the existential variety. While he may have a classic diabolical scheme on the go, the dastardly Time Lord's latest incarnation isn't quite feeling himself. In fact, he's not even sure who he is anymore. He needs help. But can he help himself?
1.2 The Clockwork Swan by Georgia Cook - Opening night is approaching for the latest presentation at cultural theme park Historica Dramatica: Earth-set whodunnit The Clockwork Swan. But cast and crew are being murdered. Enter a mysterious stranger. Who better to solve the crime than galaxy-renowned detective LeMaitre? Only, LeMaitre isn't all he seems.
1.3 The Good Life by Una McCormack - On a distant Island, a group of holy men and women work together to keep the Balance. Elta, one of the Shore-folk, has come to learn. But there's a new man on the Island - the first in living memory - and it's not clear whether he's saint or sinner. Is it only coincidence that the weather seems more changeable these days? That people are angrier and turning to violence? Where, wonders Elta, is this all heading - and does the stranger even know himself?
1.1 Self-Help by Robert Valentine - The Master is having a crisis of the existential variety. While he may have a classic diabolical scheme on the go, the dastardly Time Lord's latest incarnation isn't quite feeling himself. In fact, he's not even sure who he is anymore. He needs help. But can he help himself?
1.2 The Clockwork Swan by Georgia Cook - Opening night is approaching for the latest presentation at cultural theme park Historica Dramatica: Earth-set whodunnit The Clockwork Swan. But cast and crew are being murdered. Enter a mysterious stranger. Who better to solve the crime than galaxy-renowned detective LeMaitre? Only, LeMaitre isn't all he seems.
1.3 The Good Life by Una McCormack - On a distant Island, a group of holy men and women work together to keep the Balance. Elta, one of the Shore-folk, has come to learn. But there's a new man on the Island - the first in living memory - and it's not clear whether he's saint or sinner. Is it only coincidence that the weather seems more changeable these days? That people are angrier and turning to violence? Where, wonders Elta, is this all heading - and does the stranger even know himself?
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Audiobook
First published February 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 16, 2025
1.1 Self-Help - Off to an … interesting start. Sacha Dhawan is my favorite incarnation of The Master. Which is pretty incredible as he’s following the positively brilliant and unsurpassable Michelle Gomez, who followed the unstoppable John Simm, who came after the incomparable Derek Jacobi. So when I’m saying he’s my favorite, I really mean it. Dhawan’s Master just bloody nuts! So, this first episode was an odd one for me. While I enjoyed it and Dhawan is wonderful, the story wasn’t at all what I was expecting. But then I have been listening to a lot of The War Master series lately, and each of these different Master series (oh damn, I’ve forgotten to mention Eric Roberts haven’t I?) are all tonally as different as the respective actor’s take on the character, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. (3/5)
1.2 The Clockwork Swan - Another one that didn’t quite live up to my expectations. It starts out rather oddly and then quickly becomes rather absurd. But the whodunnit plays out with the genre cliches being twisted back upon themselves. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t. But it’s still delightfully fun. (3/5)
1.3 The Good Life - Another solidly entertaining story. Excellent performances. This one will keep you wondering where it is headed and what is going to happen next. (3/5)
1.2 The Clockwork Swan - Another one that didn’t quite live up to my expectations. It starts out rather oddly and then quickly becomes rather absurd. But the whodunnit plays out with the genre cliches being twisted back upon themselves. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t. But it’s still delightfully fun. (3/5)
1.3 The Good Life - Another solidly entertaining story. Excellent performances. This one will keep you wondering where it is headed and what is going to happen next. (3/5)
August 11, 2025
Self-Help -
I am a massive fan of Sacha Dhawan’s version of the Master, so naturally I was incredibly excited for this boxset. I must admit I’ve not listened to anything impressive from two of the writers but plenty of quality storytelling by Robert Valentine, the writer of the sets opener. Immediately I was a little taken aback by the constant comedy, and humorous asides as I’m not really a fan of milk toast, generic, unfunny humour. Thankfully this seemed to be almost intentionally thematic, as the Master starts to find himself and regain his psychotic self, the jokes actually get funny. Having the majority of the story being the Master talking to different facets of his personality worked really well for me honestly, the dialogue managed to constantly be differing to keep fresh; even working better and being more interesting than the full cast stuff later in the story.
The problem with the side characters in this story is they are textbook bland Big Finish characters, from the quirky spelled names, to the ‘oh this is definitely witty and not cringeworthy dialogue’. Toward the end of the story they do have some fun scenes, and I really enjoyed the ones where they properly opened up about their sordid pasts. Aside from that however they don’t actually do much for the plot, nor do they really provide any comedic relief; especially when the main character of the story is the person providing all the comedy. There was only really a vague narrative to the story which weirdly made it more enjoyable for me. So many elements of this story felt incredibly frenetic, so disordered and conflicting, that when it came together it worked well.
Problem is that it is seventy minutes of schizoid ramblings, cheap quips, and nonsense. Weirdly I felt some similarities to The Confessions Of Dorian Gray in the structuring of this story, but the problem is that Dorian is far more complex character with darker undertones, whereas this Master is comparatively tame; so there wasn’t all that much shock factor, nor clever plans to be shocked by.
⭐️⭐️1/2
The Clockwork Swan -
The Clockwork Swan is massive improvement on the previous story in the set, and actually managed to engage me the whole way through. The plot is a mix between a Hercule Poirot mystery, a pithy criticism of AI, and a comedy. The side characters all being not that likeable (as I go into more, later in this review) did no harm as they are just plot devices for when the bodies rack up; contributing useful dialogue and interactions while involved in the story. The Master appears at just the right time, giving me something that start to get interesting with the murder-mystery kicking off. The story plays out like an Agatha Christie book, and the subtle ways the concepts are amended to fit a futuristic setting were nice little touches. There are some fantastic comedic lines in this, mostly the ones mocking AI and the idiots who champion it, something I wasn’t expecting each time I laughed. The comedy didn’t overplay itself which kept it fresh, and was able to make up for some of the issues with the story.
The narrative was quite clever, and it was nice to see this Master have a proper plan and goal unlike the previous story. Of course he does mainly want to cause chaos, but he has a definable goal; which makes it easier to invest yourself in what is happening as you either root for or against him. The story is full of twists and surprises which keeps events fresh, and builds to a dramatic climax, which is easily the best part of the story. Nyseth was an actually interesting side character/temporary companion and she was written to be a likeable strong female character, not just someone who complains and criticises constantly. I found myself caring about her fate, and as the only character with any effect on the plot; I was able to actually hope that she did and didn’t do certain things to shape the outcome.
My biggest criticism of this story would be that they took the whole ‘Master pretends to be Poirot’ idea way too far. Sacha Dhawan doing a terrible French accent was funny for the first ten minutes he did it, but given it goes on for about fifty minutes in total; it grated on me badly. There is also the fact that despite not being bad as such, the first ten minutes of the story is just these unimportant characters arguing. This makes no one likeable at all, so by the time the Master does show up he is the only character I actually care about and want to see more of. The story too does have its amazing climax but the resolution comes far too easily, with him very conveniently defeated without any effort. It’s not like he has a long plan that took lots of effort, but when his main adversary in the story has to do nearly nothing to defeat him; it does somewhat deflate any value in the story/character arcs during the hour long run time.
⭐️⭐️1/2
The Good Life -
The Good Life finishes off the set, and sadly is no improvement on the previous two stories. There are plenty of flaws to this story but I think the most obvious is the fact that the Master is barely in it. Of course he is very prominent in the latter half and the climax but for a story with a runtime of 66 minutes, you’d expect him to be in more than 15-20 of them. I quite liked Elta, and as a side character she is one of the two characters from any of the stories in this set that I bothered to remember the name of. That’s not to say she was some incredible character, she bordered closer to bland honestly; it’s more that she was written with naive charm, and that the actress playing her did a really good job. Sacha Dhawan gives a fantastic performance which if anything is detrimental to the story as it really wastes him. He properly taps into the disordered thinking and psychotic impulses of the character, genuinely intimidating at times. Here the comedy doesn’t come across as cringe as it did in The Clockwork Swan, but the story seems to just fluctuate wildly between tone (something I refuse to believe is thematic, and isn’t just due to poor writing).
The plot of this story is very simple, the Master tries to be good, goes nah sod it, and does some evil stuff. Stretching a premise that thin over that amount of time made it no surprise then that the first ten minutes for example is just the side characters on a boat trip and chatting to people as they arrive on the island. Sure the story is full of clever metaphors and allegories, but none of them are really that clever. I did like Elta and the Master’s abusive relationship, as it really felt visceral when you think that this behaviour is very real to our world indeed. He gets to be malicious and out of control at the end, but when you actually reconcile the dialogue with the fact he’s blowing up some rocks; not so intimidating. I think this story really suffers mostly from being too long, but also that all the good ideas are just recycled from previous Master stories, and done worse. I did enjoy the latter half of the story, as the tension built but I couldn’t help from thinking which War Master, Tremas Master, etc.. that the latest line or plot point was stolen from.
Ultimately the strengths of the story do sum up to a fair amount, but the flaws, inconsistencies, and the really boring parts being the story down to one simple definition; mediocre. Characters quite literally disappear for massive parts of the story until they’re needed again, and then vanish anew when suddenly the Master actually decides to do anything. By the climax you realise that all the wheels were set in motion by him before it even started, and not in a scheming War Master way; in a way that makes clear nobody and nothing that has happened since the story started actually mattered because there was no crisis of conscience, he was just messing about while rigging up his explosives to some magic rocks. A narrative that parallels this Master’s instability and erratic approach was definitely the right idea, but this storyline, these characters, and frankly getting Una McCormack to write it; all wrong ideas.
⭐️⭐️1/2
Overall -
I don’t regret buying the set but it’s really nothing special. The ideas are old, the jokes are laboured, and despite the cast clearly giving it their all; not one of them is worth getting invested in. Those rare moments of Dhawan getting to do some proper ‘Master acting’ are absolutely superb, and his performances are flawless, but the plots, the characters, and all the minutiae just add up to bland and forgettable. A not so relevant criticism to finish off, the theme sucks. It’s just some vague generic orchestral music that feels like it goes on forever, and doesn’t even come close to some of the other gorgeous theme music Big Finish has put together.
I am a massive fan of Sacha Dhawan’s version of the Master, so naturally I was incredibly excited for this boxset. I must admit I’ve not listened to anything impressive from two of the writers but plenty of quality storytelling by Robert Valentine, the writer of the sets opener. Immediately I was a little taken aback by the constant comedy, and humorous asides as I’m not really a fan of milk toast, generic, unfunny humour. Thankfully this seemed to be almost intentionally thematic, as the Master starts to find himself and regain his psychotic self, the jokes actually get funny. Having the majority of the story being the Master talking to different facets of his personality worked really well for me honestly, the dialogue managed to constantly be differing to keep fresh; even working better and being more interesting than the full cast stuff later in the story.
The problem with the side characters in this story is they are textbook bland Big Finish characters, from the quirky spelled names, to the ‘oh this is definitely witty and not cringeworthy dialogue’. Toward the end of the story they do have some fun scenes, and I really enjoyed the ones where they properly opened up about their sordid pasts. Aside from that however they don’t actually do much for the plot, nor do they really provide any comedic relief; especially when the main character of the story is the person providing all the comedy. There was only really a vague narrative to the story which weirdly made it more enjoyable for me. So many elements of this story felt incredibly frenetic, so disordered and conflicting, that when it came together it worked well.
Problem is that it is seventy minutes of schizoid ramblings, cheap quips, and nonsense. Weirdly I felt some similarities to The Confessions Of Dorian Gray in the structuring of this story, but the problem is that Dorian is far more complex character with darker undertones, whereas this Master is comparatively tame; so there wasn’t all that much shock factor, nor clever plans to be shocked by.
⭐️⭐️1/2
The Clockwork Swan -
The Clockwork Swan is massive improvement on the previous story in the set, and actually managed to engage me the whole way through. The plot is a mix between a Hercule Poirot mystery, a pithy criticism of AI, and a comedy. The side characters all being not that likeable (as I go into more, later in this review) did no harm as they are just plot devices for when the bodies rack up; contributing useful dialogue and interactions while involved in the story. The Master appears at just the right time, giving me something that start to get interesting with the murder-mystery kicking off. The story plays out like an Agatha Christie book, and the subtle ways the concepts are amended to fit a futuristic setting were nice little touches. There are some fantastic comedic lines in this, mostly the ones mocking AI and the idiots who champion it, something I wasn’t expecting each time I laughed. The comedy didn’t overplay itself which kept it fresh, and was able to make up for some of the issues with the story.
The narrative was quite clever, and it was nice to see this Master have a proper plan and goal unlike the previous story. Of course he does mainly want to cause chaos, but he has a definable goal; which makes it easier to invest yourself in what is happening as you either root for or against him. The story is full of twists and surprises which keeps events fresh, and builds to a dramatic climax, which is easily the best part of the story. Nyseth was an actually interesting side character/temporary companion and she was written to be a likeable strong female character, not just someone who complains and criticises constantly. I found myself caring about her fate, and as the only character with any effect on the plot; I was able to actually hope that she did and didn’t do certain things to shape the outcome.
My biggest criticism of this story would be that they took the whole ‘Master pretends to be Poirot’ idea way too far. Sacha Dhawan doing a terrible French accent was funny for the first ten minutes he did it, but given it goes on for about fifty minutes in total; it grated on me badly. There is also the fact that despite not being bad as such, the first ten minutes of the story is just these unimportant characters arguing. This makes no one likeable at all, so by the time the Master does show up he is the only character I actually care about and want to see more of. The story too does have its amazing climax but the resolution comes far too easily, with him very conveniently defeated without any effort. It’s not like he has a long plan that took lots of effort, but when his main adversary in the story has to do nearly nothing to defeat him; it does somewhat deflate any value in the story/character arcs during the hour long run time.
⭐️⭐️1/2
The Good Life -
The Good Life finishes off the set, and sadly is no improvement on the previous two stories. There are plenty of flaws to this story but I think the most obvious is the fact that the Master is barely in it. Of course he is very prominent in the latter half and the climax but for a story with a runtime of 66 minutes, you’d expect him to be in more than 15-20 of them. I quite liked Elta, and as a side character she is one of the two characters from any of the stories in this set that I bothered to remember the name of. That’s not to say she was some incredible character, she bordered closer to bland honestly; it’s more that she was written with naive charm, and that the actress playing her did a really good job. Sacha Dhawan gives a fantastic performance which if anything is detrimental to the story as it really wastes him. He properly taps into the disordered thinking and psychotic impulses of the character, genuinely intimidating at times. Here the comedy doesn’t come across as cringe as it did in The Clockwork Swan, but the story seems to just fluctuate wildly between tone (something I refuse to believe is thematic, and isn’t just due to poor writing).
The plot of this story is very simple, the Master tries to be good, goes nah sod it, and does some evil stuff. Stretching a premise that thin over that amount of time made it no surprise then that the first ten minutes for example is just the side characters on a boat trip and chatting to people as they arrive on the island. Sure the story is full of clever metaphors and allegories, but none of them are really that clever. I did like Elta and the Master’s abusive relationship, as it really felt visceral when you think that this behaviour is very real to our world indeed. He gets to be malicious and out of control at the end, but when you actually reconcile the dialogue with the fact he’s blowing up some rocks; not so intimidating. I think this story really suffers mostly from being too long, but also that all the good ideas are just recycled from previous Master stories, and done worse. I did enjoy the latter half of the story, as the tension built but I couldn’t help from thinking which War Master, Tremas Master, etc.. that the latest line or plot point was stolen from.
Ultimately the strengths of the story do sum up to a fair amount, but the flaws, inconsistencies, and the really boring parts being the story down to one simple definition; mediocre. Characters quite literally disappear for massive parts of the story until they’re needed again, and then vanish anew when suddenly the Master actually decides to do anything. By the climax you realise that all the wheels were set in motion by him before it even started, and not in a scheming War Master way; in a way that makes clear nobody and nothing that has happened since the story started actually mattered because there was no crisis of conscience, he was just messing about while rigging up his explosives to some magic rocks. A narrative that parallels this Master’s instability and erratic approach was definitely the right idea, but this storyline, these characters, and frankly getting Una McCormack to write it; all wrong ideas.
⭐️⭐️1/2
Overall -
I don’t regret buying the set but it’s really nothing special. The ideas are old, the jokes are laboured, and despite the cast clearly giving it their all; not one of them is worth getting invested in. Those rare moments of Dhawan getting to do some proper ‘Master acting’ are absolutely superb, and his performances are flawless, but the plots, the characters, and all the minutiae just add up to bland and forgettable. A not so relevant criticism to finish off, the theme sucks. It’s just some vague generic orchestral music that feels like it goes on forever, and doesn’t even come close to some of the other gorgeous theme music Big Finish has put together.
March 20, 2025
i really loved sacha dhawan's performance. i'd go so far as to say that his incarnation of the master is my favourite. the stories were quite solid, though i was lost for a while in the third story (the good life).
March 5, 2025
As always, Sacha performed this excellently. The first story was the weakest of them all—his acting was the highlight, and whilst I enjoyed a few references to the Academy and the Doctor… it didn’t hit like I wanted it to. And for some reason, all of the side characters in this story trusted him and went along with him SO easily, because they each appeared to have one single character trait assigned to them. They were extremely two dimensional characters.
The second story, however, I loved. My only problem with it was how none of the characters seemed to notice that he was dropping his awful accent extremely frequently—or if they noticed, it didn’t make them suspicious of him.
But the episode was fun, and had a lot more plot than I expected (since the first episode was incredibly character-driven and this one was quite plot-driven) in a really good way. I loved the twists!
And yet the final episode was my favourite. My only complaint here is that he went TOO manic at the end, but otherwise I really loved the story. There were so many indirect references to Season 12 and Power of the Doctor (he learned flute, he was trying to learn about balance, he burned a place because those in charge were lying to the people…) which I loved. And the episode had a slower pace than the others, in a good way. It was a chance to watch him set up and build a disguise (which also happened to be him practising being Agent O for the Doctor!) with the calm patience the Master has always been capable of.
Sacha, I love you, you did an excellent job.
The second story, however, I loved. My only problem with it was how none of the characters seemed to notice that he was dropping his awful accent extremely frequently—or if they noticed, it didn’t make them suspicious of him.
But the episode was fun, and had a lot more plot than I expected (since the first episode was incredibly character-driven and this one was quite plot-driven) in a really good way. I loved the twists!
And yet the final episode was my favourite. My only complaint here is that he went TOO manic at the end, but otherwise I really loved the story. There were so many indirect references to Season 12 and Power of the Doctor (he learned flute, he was trying to learn about balance, he burned a place because those in charge were lying to the people…) which I loved. And the episode had a slower pace than the others, in a good way. It was a chance to watch him set up and build a disguise (which also happened to be him practising being Agent O for the Doctor!) with the calm patience the Master has always been capable of.
Sacha, I love you, you did an excellent job.
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February 28, 2025Self-Help
Great intro to the boxset and a chance for Sacha Dhawan to show off his range. He's going through an identity crisis and over the course of an hour is forced into therapy by various means. Brilliant way to reintroduce the character specifically tailored for audio.
The Clockwork Swan
A whodunnit with the Master playing Poirot. I think the accent overstays it's welcome a bit but I do enjoy Sacha sinking his teeth into a bit.
The Good Life
Sacha is terrifying and I'm here for that. There's an attempt to smooth over the Missy to Spy transition but whether it works will be up to the individual listener. Well paced worldbuilding and, as unsubtle as it is, I'm grateful for the immigration commentary.
Great intro to the boxset and a chance for Sacha Dhawan to show off his range. He's going through an identity crisis and over the course of an hour is forced into therapy by various means. Brilliant way to reintroduce the character specifically tailored for audio.
The Clockwork Swan
A whodunnit with the Master playing Poirot. I think the accent overstays it's welcome a bit but I do enjoy Sacha sinking his teeth into a bit.
The Good Life
Sacha is terrifying and I'm here for that. There's an attempt to smooth over the Missy to Spy transition but whether it works will be up to the individual listener. Well paced worldbuilding and, as unsubtle as it is, I'm grateful for the immigration commentary.
March 16, 2025
I don't know that it was instant LOVE like I had with the War Master, Missy, or the Roberts Master series, but I liked this quite a bit, and I'm glad it's finally out, since it was announced so long ago. Sacha Dhawan's Master is an interesting version of the character, and I'm interested in further stories with him.
March 8, 2025
This box set does a fantastic job of settling Sasha’s Master from the others. I mean, the Masters are mostly shades of grey but they found his grey. And like The Doctor, it’s a reaction to their regeneration.
February 28, 2025
Somehow, this didn't hit quite as much as I was expecting. Maybe I'm just going through a really busy time?
March 9, 2025
"A king who does not know himself is nothing but his own jester."
March 18, 2025
1.1 'Self-Help' by Robert Valentine: 4*
1.2 'The Clockwork Swan' by Georgia Cook: 4,5*
1.3 'The Good Life' by Una McCormack: 4,5*
1.2 'The Clockwork Swan' by Georgia Cook: 4,5*
1.3 'The Good Life' by Una McCormack: 4,5*
May 14, 2025
This is definitely not what I was expecting it to be. Not that it’s bad or anything, but whenever I think about a “Master” series I always assume it’s going to have a similar tone to the War Master series because that’s the one I’m most familiar with. However, this series seems to have gone in a different direction. The first two stories are extremely amusing. In the third story, we get to the kind of thing you would normally hear from a War Master set: a dark story with a dark tone, and a dark ending in which the master wins. There’s also some commentary on immigration in it, and it wasn’t in your face, which is always a plus.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews