ANTHONY AINLEY: 1932-2004
23 MAY 2004

Anthony Ainley, who played The Master on "Doctor Who" throughout the 1980s died on 3 May, aged 71.

Ainley first appeared in the series in the season 18 story, 'The Keeper of Traken', in which he played Tremas. That story saw the return of the Master (played in a decayed form by Geoffrey Beevers) after four years, as well as the introduction of the Doctor's companion, Nyssa, who was also Tremas' daughter.

At the end of the story, the Master took over Tremas' body, returning in the following story, the Fourth Doctor's swansong, 'Logopolis'. As part of the production team's attempt to smooth the transfer between the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, the Master was also called upon to usher in the Peter Davison era in 'Castrovalva'.

As the production team came to increasingly rely on the series' own history, the Master returned many times throughout the 1980s. He faced off against the Fifth Doctor in 'Time-Flight', 'The King's Demons' and Davison's penultimate story, 'Planet of Fire', as well as the 20th anniversary story, 'The Five Doctors'.

Ainley continued to play the Doctor's arch-nemesis in the series' later seasons, appearing in 'The Mark of the Rani', 'The Trial of a Time Lord' and the final story of the original ongoing series, 'Survival.' He was also called upon for the 'Destiny of the Doctors' computer game.

Although Ainley's Master was often compared unfavourably with Roger Delgado's original incarnation of the rogue Time Lord, this was often the fault of the production team. Their insistence on having the Master initially in disguise (for no obvious reason) and desire for an OTT moustache-twirling villain clearly hampered the character, with visitors to the studio recording of 'Planet of Fire' recalling Ainley giving an intense, serious performance only to be told to go "more OTT" on retakes. This story, and 'Survival' are amongst Ainley's best on the show, as his more serious performances give the character a sense of real menace.

The Independent was the first to report his death on 10 May, as follows:

Anthony Ainley, actor: born London 20 August 1932; died Harrow, Middlesex 3 May 2004.

To generations of "Doctor Who" fans, Anthony Ainley will be remembered as the Master, the extra-terrestrial who "killed" their television hero. This ushered in the Time Lord's fifth incarnation, played by Peter Davison, after the eccentric Tom Baker's flamboyant years, which were regarded by some viewers as the sci-fi serial's high point.

For this, many did not forgive Ainley. He was also unfortunate to follow in the footsteps of the highly regarded Roger Delgado, who originally played the Master in the early 1970s but died in a car accident.

The Master was Moriarty to Doctor Who's Sherlock Holmes, the nemesis and renegade Time Lord who was once a friend but turned into his arch-enemy. He used his evil genius and ability to hypnotise lesser minds with a gaze in pursuit of his villainous schemes to gain power and destroy his former Time Lord Academy classmate. Like the Doctor, he could regenerate himself and change his appearance.

In a convoluted plot twist typical of science fiction, Ainley first appeared in 1981 as the widower Tremas, whose body was taken over by the Master on the planet Traken. Ainley portrayed the character alongside four incarnations of the Doctor, played by Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, until the programme was dropped by the BBC in 1989.

Anthony Ainley was born in London, iin 1932, into an acting dynasty. Anthony's father, Henry, was a star of note on the West End stage and in silent films, and his half-brother Richard was a stage and film star who appeared in Hollywood pictures. At the age of five, Anthony appeared uncredited as a boy in the wartime film drama "The Foreman Went to France" (1942) [IMDB gives his date of birth as 1937, although the Indy's date of 1932 - which conflicts with this point - is believed to be more accurate], but he started his working life as an insurance clerk. When the pull of the stage was too much, he trained at Rada.

On screen, Ainley had small roles in films such as "Naked Evil" (1966), "You Only Live Twice" (1967), "Inspector Clouseau" (1968), "Oh! What a Lovely War" (1969) and the horror picture "Satan's Skin" (1970), but he enjoyed greater success on television.

He played Detective Sergeant Hunter in "It's Dark Outside" (1965), the second in a trilogy of series featuring William Mervyn as the acidic Chief Inspector Rose. Ainley joined the cast for its second run, replacing Keith Barron, who had acted Detective Sergeant Swift. (The programme also gave the singer Jackie Trent a No. 1 hit with its theme song, Where Are You Now (My Love).)

Ainley later stayed on the right side of the law by starring as Clive Hawksworth in the popular comedy thriller "Spyder's Web" (1972), about a mysterious organisation that handled problems outside the brief of the police and MI5.

He switched to period drama to play Henry Sidney in "Elizabeth R" (1971), Lord Charles Gilmour in three episodes of "Upstairs Downstairs" (1973), Sir Mulberry Hawk in "Nicholas Nickleby" (1977), and Lord Carrington in "Lillie" (1978).

It was his role as the villainous Reverend Emilius in "The Pallisers" (1974) that led to Ainley's joining "Doctor Who" (1981-89). John Nathan-Turner, who had worked as production manager on the series based on Anthony Trollope's novels, remembered Ainley on taking over as producer of the BBC's long-running science-fiction serial, when he sought to bring back and re-cast the Master, complete with false beard.

The actor continued, on and off, through 10 "Doctor Who" stories and the 20th-anniversary special, 'The Five Doctors' (1983). In 'Survival', the last in the final series, the Master confronted the Doctor in a climactic duel after luring him to an alien planet where he was being enslaved by the Cheetah People and turning into one himself - unusually not able to control his own fate. Ainley subsequently appeared as the Master in the "Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctors" CD-ROM video game (1998) and was a regular at fan conventions.

For more than 30 years, the actor enjoyed playing for the London Theatres Cricket Club team, who knew him as an enigmatic opening batsman whose unstinting passion for the sport meant that he would even turn down jobs rather than miss a game. Ainley never married, saying he valued his independence too much. He once listed his unfulfilled ambition as "to play with Faye Dunaway." BACK TO THE TOP