Stories Audio Drama The War Master Episode: 1 2 3 4 The Castle of Kurnos 5 1 image Back to Story Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Default Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 2 reviews 9 July 2025 · 774 words Review by SteveMcQwark 1 Flashing back to before the beginning of his mission, the Master remembers his scheme on Kurnos 5, where he was kidnapping residents to try and find a DNA match for the body of an ancient necromancer of which he has stolen from his tomb and has grand ambitions for. Unluckily, or luckily, however, the Doctor has arrived in hot pursuit, and he’ll stop at nothing to put a stop to the Master’s plans. The Castle of Kurnos 5 was written by David Llewellyn, directed and produced by Scott Handcock, and stars Derek Jacobi as the War Master, Paul McGann as the Doctor, Henry Nott as Dieter, Tanya Moodie as Kilda, and Amanda Shodeko as Meri. It was released in October 2020 as the third part of The War Master: Hearts of Darkness box set, which is the fifth volume of the War Master series. This is tough to examine, because it serves as a flashback to before the events of The Edge of Redemption, and while it tells a fun and exciting story, it is also entirely superfluous to the wider plot. These events could have been elaborated on by the Master in some lines of exposition before we continued the main plot with Morski and the Scaramancer, so it’s a shame less work is being put in to develop the characters we have already spent the first half of the box set getting to know. In terms of the meat of the production itself however, Paul McGann takes a turn as the lead here, which while making it feel less like a War Master story and more like a standard Doctor Who story, he does bring some life and humour to a dark world only lit by sun, moon and torchlight. He spends the majority of the story opposite Tanya Moodie’s Kilda, and the two play off each other wonderfully. Kilda is the village elder and is very untrusting of the Doctor, focused solely on rescuing her from the Master’s castle keep, but manages to trust the truth in the Doctor’s voice when he tries to hide how scared he is of the Master. Fantastic if subtle little piece from both actors. We get some lovely little interactions along the way, such as the Doctor being amazed that the villagers have horses but no chickens, and equally as confused when despite having no chickens, they still use the term “sitting ducks!” Jacobi doesn’t get as much to do until the climax, as he spends the story inside the titular castle with his servant Dieter, who Henry Nott makes the most out of, almost Igor-like to the Master’s Doctor Frankenstein. He does play the smug explanation of his scheme to the Doctor deliciously though, relishing in what he has put the Doctor through to find him up until this point. I thoroughly enjoyed Jacobi and McGann’s chemistry in their previous meeting, the Rage of the Time Lords box set, the third volume of the War Master series, and again they are superb when paired against each other. I only wish they had more interaction, but no doubt there will be more scenes with them together in the final story. The sound design does some great work, as it helps paint a medieval-style world coated in blackness. I found myself subconsciously squinting my eyes to try and focus under the imaginary darkness! The effects used for the Vultra’s are fantastic, they felt huge and equally savage. I had the image of bats the size of pterosaurs in my head while listening! The music also compliments the dialogue and setting, helping to make the Doctor and Kilda’s trek to the castle truly epic. Synthy undertones when the action shifts to the castle helps to intensify the full extent of the Master’s plan once it is revealed, accompanied by long and drawn piano strings, helping to make it feel very Frankensteinesque. Overall, while the production itself is of little fault, and provides an interesting prologue to the rest of the box set, I can’t help but feel that it detracts from the already established world and character work already put in thus far, as it takes up a full slot of a rather tightly-packed four-story box set. It makes future listening feel almost unnecessary if you want to go back and listen again after finishing, as it only serves to set up why the Master has been tasked with going after the Doctor in the first place. It’s enjoyable in its own right as a Doctor Who story, but not compulsory listening for the box set or the War Master series for that matter. SteveMcQwark View profile Like Liked 1 28 January 2025 · 20 words Review by KamelionFan27 3 Great episode. Paul McGann and Derek Jacobi are so good, the plot was really great and the characters well written. KamelionFan27 View profile Like Liked 3