John Simm Open To Doctor Who Return

John Simm has revealed he is open to returning to Doctor Who.

The Life on Mars actor said he would consider reprising his role of the renegade Time Lord, The Master on the BBC sci-fi series. The actor played the long-running nemesis of the Doctor (currently played by Matt Smith) for five episodes during Russell T. Davies tenure as show-runner.

Speaking to an audience at the Cheltenham Literature Festival the actor said he would like to see the direction current show-runner Steven Moffat would take the character in.

“I’d love to have another take on him, to be a bit quieter. I started annoying myself after a while. Russell T Davies had a specific idea of what he wanted him to be like. So I just had to do exactly what he wanted me to, and he wanted a giggling lunatic.” – John Simm quoted by the Radio Times

Simm lasted played The Master in the two-part story The End of Time which marked the end of David Tennant’s tenure as the 10th Doctor. It also marked the end of Russell T. Davies tenure as showrunner. Simm has repeatedly been rumoured to be returning to the sci-fi series for its 50th anniversary next year but so far all such reports have been denied.

The character of The Master was first introduced to Doctor Who in 1971 played by Roger Delgado; Delgado played the villain until his tragic death in 1973. The character was resurrected in the 1976 story The Deadly Assassin in which he was played by Peter Pratt. The character did not return again until Tom Baker’s penultimate adventure in 1981; The Keeper of Traken this time portrayed by Geoffrey Beevers. At the conclusion of the story the role was taken over by Anthony Ainley who continued in the role until Doctor Who’s cancellation in 1989 although he did reprise the role once more for the computer game Destiny of the Doctors in the 1990s.

The character of The Master next appeared in the 1996 television movie starring Paul McGann in which he was played by Hollywood actor Eric Roberts. The character didn’t reappear in Doctor Who until 2007, the third series of the revival, in which he was briefly played by Derek Jacobi in Utopia with John Simm assuming the role at the end of that episode.