It’s the face-off that Doctor Who fans have been waiting for… and as the Time War looms, Big Finish is finally pitting Paul McGann’s eighth Doctor against the War Master (Derek Jacobi).

The War Master: Rage of the Time Lords – the third series to have Jacobi reprise his role as the Doctor’s arch-nemesis – will be released in July.

A synopsis reads: “With all of space and time in chaos, the Master plots his most audacious project yet. Only one other Time Lord has ever been able to stop him. But where is that Time Lord when the universe needs him?

“This new series of adventures take the Master into darker terrain as he gathers his forces against the Daleks in one of his most nefarious schemes to date. Will the Doctor stop him? Will he want to? Or has the Master’s deadly scheme proved too great to be controlled…”

The audio spin-off will be made up of four stories exploring the Master’s exploits in the Time War: ‘The Survivor’ by Tim Foley, ‘The Coney Island Chameleon’ by David Llewellyn, ‘The Missing Link’ by Tim Foley, and ‘Darkness and Light’ by David Llewellyn.

Jacobi, who appeared in just a single TV episode – 2007’s ‘Utopia’ – as the Master, said of reprising his role: “I didn’t expect to come back to it all these years later but I was thrilled to be remembered. The plots in all these episodes have been very good indeed, very interesting, very dramatic and beautifully written. The whole process has been a delight!”

A fourth series of the War Master spin-off from Big Finish, The War Master: Anti-Genesis will complete the saga in December 2019 and will be written by Nicholas Briggs and Alan Barnes.

Both series are available for pre-order now each at £23 on CD or £20 on download, with the first two series in the War Master range – Only the Good and The Master of Callous – available each at £35 on CD or £30 on download.