Who, What, Where, When And How

At the end of Doctor Who on Saturday night, the BBC played a trailer for what appeared to be the next episode. It looked surprisingly good.

And now I find out that the trailer was, in fact, for the entire remaining half of the series. What a swizz. No wonder they found forty seconds of good material in six epsiodes or so. That's about their usual ratio, isn't it? Okay, that's not fair - but you get my point.

High-points include sack-headed creepies, John Simm gassing the folks at No. 10 Downing Street, and what appears to be a view from inside a TARDIS - though not necessarily the TARDIS.

John Simm, Time Traveller - Again

I've had it spelled it to me by somebody who really understands Dr. Who that two different actors will play The Master in this series. I'm about to reveal all, so look away if you want to play at home.

Apparently, Derek Jacobi is playing a character called The Professor. He's actually The Master, and when he regenerates, he's going to be John Simm - apparently, the tabloids have already covered this bit and I'm rather late to the party. The Master is currently using the alias of Saxon on the show - and, I'm told this is because Mister Saxon is an anagram of Master No. Six - which, if Russell T Davies' maths is correct, is the amount of actors to have played the Master in canon, up to and including Jacobi's Professor, the originator of the Saxon pseudonym. There is reportedly a tradition of using anagrams whenever and wherever The Master is concerned. How 1960's Batman of them.

Some clips of Simm in the role have been screened to a select few - Johnathon Ross amongst them - and, apparently, he was absolutely fantastic.