When the Doctor and Martha land in modern-day Cardiff, Captain Jack Harkness hitches a ride, inadvertently propelling the TARDIS forwards in time to the last days of the universe. On the barren planet Malcassairo, the Doctor and his friends discover the remaining vestiges of humanity, marooned and preyed upon by the degenerate Futurekind. The elderly Professor Yana is trying to perfect a spaceship which will take his people to a fabled Utopia beyond the dying stars. But even the Doctor fails to suspect that there is more to Yana than even the professor realises.

Virtually from the moment he became Doctor Who's executive producer in 2003, Russell T Davies was publicly adamant that there was one classic character he had no interest in resurrecting: the Master. The Doctor's Time Lord arch-nemesis had originally been created for 1971's Terror Of The Autons, with Roger Delgado cast in the role. He bedevilled Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor for a total of eight stories, but his villainy came to a premature end when Delgado died in a car accident. Several years later, the Master was brought back in a decayed form, initially portrayed by Peter Pratt and then by Geoffrey Beevers. A new, revitalised incarnation was introduced in the closing seconds of 1981's The Keeper Of Traken, with Anthony Ainley taking over the part. He matched wits with the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors; his last appearance in Survival happened to coincide with Doctor Who's cancellation in 1989. Finally, Doctor Who (1996) depicted the Master's apparent execution, with actor Gordon Tipple seen only in long-shot. The telefilm then revealed that the Master had somehow transformed himself into a serpentine entity, which inhabited the body of a paramedic named Bruce, played by Eric Roberts.

In fact, Davies' professed aversion to the Master was a ruse; he was actually a fan of the character and had every intention of bringing him back. However, Davies felt that the Master worked best when his appearances were rare and would surprise the audience. He was also initially unsure how to write for the villain in a modern context, and wanted to give himself time to figure out his approach. In late 2005, with the success of Doctor Who's revival earlier in the year having prompted the BBC to commission two additional seasons, Davies began to lay the groundwork for the Master's return. Having already brought the Daleks back in 2005, and with the Cybermen set to be reintroduced during 2006, he decided that the Master would be the Doctor's key nemesis for Season Twenty-Nine in 2007.

Russell T Davies began seeding references to a politician called Mr Saxon into episodes as early as 2006

With this in mind, Davies began seeding references to a politician called Mr Saxon into episodes as early as 2006's Love & Monsters, in which a newspaper headline read “Saxon Leads Polls With 64 Per Cent”. In that year's Christmas special, The Runaway Bride, the British military was seen to be acting on Saxon's orders. Spin-off series Torchwood got in on the act, too: a Saxon election poster was glimpsed in Captain Jack Harkness, the penultimate episode of its first season in 2006. The same poster could be seen in Doctor Who's 2007 premiere, Smith And Jones, in which Saxon's name was also mentioned during a news broadcast. Agents of Mr Saxon -- now given the first name Harold -- began influencing Martha Jones' mother, Francine, in The Lazarus Experiment and 42. Meanwhile, 2006's New Earth had foreshadowed the climax of the following year's Gridlock, in which the dying Face of Boe revealed to the Doctor that he was wrong to believe himself to be the last surviving Time Lord. Finally, a critical plot point in 2007's Human Nature / The Family Of Blood revealed that Time Lords could alter their genetic structure to become human. This transformation was effected by the Doctor using a device called a chameleon arch, with his true identity concealed in a receptacle resembling a fob watch.

Davies' plan was to reveal that Harold Saxon was, in fact, the Master. The Doctor's inability to detect the presence of a second surviving Time Lord would be explained by the Master's decision to become human via a chameleon arch. This meant that Davies could initially introduce the Master as a friendly character, in order to explore the relationship between the two foes. Drawing upon the Face of Boe's prophecy to the Doctor -- “you are not alone” -- this human guise was called Professor Yana. He would be the focus of an episode which Davies intended to write as a prologue for the two-part season finale, The Sound Of Drums / Last Of The Time Lords. It would culminate with the Yana identity being stripped away, revealing the Master. By December 2006, the prologue had become known as Utopia.

A second objective for Utopia was the return of Captain Jack Harkness to Doctor Who. Played by John Barrowman, the former Time Agent had accompanied the Doctor and Rose Tyler for the final five episodes of Season Twenty-Seven, after which he became Torchwood's central protagonist. Davies had always intended to revisit Jack in Doctor Who, and he used the closing moments of Torchwood's 2006 finale, End Of Days, to set up the character's reappearance. Here, Jack was found to have vanished from the Torchwood Hub beneath Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff after hearing the sound of the TARDIS materialising. This sequence was designed to segue directly into the opening moments of Utopia. Barrowman confirmed his involvement in Season Twenty-Nine via an interview with the SyFy Portal website published on November 26th. Jack would bring along the Doctor's hand -- severed in 2005's The Christmas Invasion -- which had been on display in the Torchwood Hub throughout the spin-off's first season. At one point, Jack was to explain that the hand had been recovered from a newsagent's roof.

One lucky Blue Peter viewer would be offered a speaking role in Doctor Who

Meanwhile, Doctor Who had once again entered into a partnership with the long-running children's programme Blue Peter to hold a special contest. The year before, the Abzorbaloff in Love & Monsters had been the victorious entry in a “Design A Monster” competition. This time, the two production teams decided to push the envelope even farther by offering one lucky Blue Peter viewer nothing less than a speaking role in Doctor Who. Following the contest's launch on October 16th, a wide field of applicants was winnowed down by a combination of online voting and the decisions of three judges: Blue Peter editor Richard Marson, Doctor Who casting director Andy Pryor, and actress Annette Badland, who had played the Slitheen masquerading as Margaret Blaine in 2005's Aliens Of London / World War Three and Boom Town. Finally, Davies himself selected the winner on December 8th. This was nine-year-old John Bell, who would now play Creet in Utopia. The contest would launch Bell's acting career; he later appeared on shows such as Tracy Beaker Returns, Into The Badlands and Outlander, while his movie roles included Wrath Of The Titans, T2 Trainspotting, and the final two installments of the Hobbit trilogy.

Two other pivotal pieces of casting for Utopia were the two faces of the Master. In order to hide the Master's fob watch in plain sight, Davies had decided that Professor Yana should dress in a vaguely Edwardian style, echoing the image of the First Doctor, William Hartnell. As such, an older actor was required -- one who would be equally capable of affecting the professor's kindly demeanour and the Master's icy malevolence. The role went to Derek Jacobi, a winner of BAFTA, Tony and Emmy awards who had cemented his reputation when he played the title character in the 1976 television production of I, Claudius. In fact, Jacobi had already lent his voice to a robotic simulacrum of the Master in the BBC Online webcast Scream Of The Shalka during 2003. He had also played writer Martin Bannister -- an alternative Doctor, of sorts -- in the 2003 Doctor Who Unbound audio play Deadline for Big Finish Productions. Following the announcement of Jacobi's casting on January 26th, 2007, the Doctor Who production team was careful to ensure that any advance publicity for Utopia referred to his character only as “the Professor”, lest the meaning hidden within his surname be deciphered prematurely.

Jacobi would play Yana as the Master only briefly, because Davies intended for him to regenerate at the climax of Utopia into the incarnation which would take centre stage in The Sound Of Drums / Last Of The Time Lords. This version of the character would be played by John Simm, who had recently garnered acclaim for his starring role as a time-tossed police detective in Life On Mars, commissioned by Doctor Who executive producer Julie Gardner. The offer to play the Master came on the heels of several previous efforts by Gardner and Davies to recruit Simm for Doctor Who, and his involvement was finalised in September.

For John Simm's Master, Russell T Davies wanted to draw parallels with David Tennant's portrayal of the Doctor

For Simm's Master, Davies wanted to draw parallels with David Tennant's portrayal of the Doctor -- but viewed through the prism of an utter sociopath, which he felt would make the Master a more dangerous and interesting character. For this reason, Davies gave Yana a “companion” in the form of the insectoid Chantho, whom he would murder once he had metamorphosed into the Master. Davies also gave tacit acknowledgment to the final fate of the evil Time Lord in Doctor Who (1996), in which he was engulfed by the black hole which powered the TARDIS. However, the explanation for his survival -- that he had been resurrected by the Time Lords to aid in the Time War against the Daleks -- would be deferred until The Sound Of Drums. Rather than creating a new fob watch for Professor Yana, the prop introduced in Human Nature / The Family Of Blood would be used again, cementing the connection between the two stories. Davies had also intended that the chameleon arch prop constructed for the earlier adventure would reappear in Yana's laboratory, but this idea was eventually abandoned.

Assigned to direct Utopia was Graeme Harper; it would be made together with Season Twenty-Nine's seventh episode, 42, as Block Seven of the Doctor Who production slate. In December, it was decided that Utopia would be filmed before 42 but, on January 5th, it was realised that Jacobi would be unavailable for the resulting filming dates. As such, 42 was brought forward, with production on Utopia delayed until late January. Davies had originally intended the surface of Malcassairo to be represented by the Welsh valleys, but it was now decided that this was impractical, due to both the distance which would have to be traversed from Doctor Who's studio home in Upper Boat, and the likelihood of adverse winter weather. Also dropped was the notion that the Futurekind would travel on vehicles similar to quad bikes, after it was deemed unnecessarily hazardous.

The first sequences completed for Utopia were those in TARDIS featuring the Doctor and Martha, filmed at Upper Boat Studios on January 15th. Two weeks later, cast and crew gathered at the old Nippon Electric Glass site in Cardiff, which offered spaces suitable for the radiation room, the rocket silo door, the holding area and various corridors. In addition to John Bell as Creet, the team was also joined by Lizzie Watkins and Jonathan Wharton, who had been the runners-up in the Blue Peter contest. Davies had been so impressed by their auditions that he arranged for them to appear in Utopia as extras. Recording at NEG began on January 30th -- Barrowman's first day on Doctor Who in twenty-two months -- and wrapped up on February 2nd.

The team then spent February 5th to 9th at Upper Boat, principally working on scenes in Professor Yana's laboratory. Part of the 8th was given over to effects work and inserts, while some of the last day saw cameras again rolling on the TARDIS set. The latter work included Jacobi's half of the Master's regeneration, which reused the effect seen in 2005's The Parting Of The Ways for the transition from the Ninth to the Tenth Doctor, in order to clearly communicate to viewers that they were witnessing the same phenomenon. Sequences on the Malcassairo moorland were filmed next, on February 12th and 13th at Argoed Quarry in Llansannor. The area immediately outside the silo was really Wenvoe Quarry in Wenvoe, where Harper's team spent a less-than-romantic February 14th. Although further recording had originally been planned for the 15th, Harper had managed to get ahead of schedule, thereby providing a rare opportunity for Doctor Who's cast and crew to enjoy an early end to principal photography.

Much debate had surrounded the question of whether Simm's Master should sport a goatee, as both Delgado and Ainley had done. Davies and Simm each changed their minds on the issue several times, before ultimately deciding that it was unnecessary. Simm's debut as the Master came on the TARDIS set at Upper Boat on February 20th. A late change to the script affected the start of Utopia, which originally depicted the Doctor and Martha outside the TARDIS in Roald Dahl Plass. The Time Lord then ushered his companion back into the Ship, pointedly ignoring Jack's approach. However, it was decided that this action should be simplified to avoid bringing Tennant and Freema Agyeman out on location for such a brief scene. Instead, Davies revised this material to take place solely in the TARDIS console room, and the sequence was recorded at Upper Boat on February 23rd. As such, only Barrowman was required at Roald Dahl Plass on March 1st, to perform Jack's dash towards the departing TARDIS.

John Barrowman would now be credited in the opening title sequence

Unlike Barrowman's original tenure on Doctor Who, it was agreed that he would now be credited in the opening title sequence alongside Tennant and Agyeman. Meanwhile, Davies decided to give a nod to the past by including audio clips of previous Masters in Utopia, to be heard emanating from Yana's fob watch. They included Delgado's Master exhorting Azal for power in 1971's The Daemons, and one of Ainley's iconic chuckles.

Live coverage of the Stella Artois Championships tennis semi-finals earlier in the day pushed Utopia five minutes later than usual, to a scheduled start time of 7.15pm on June 16th. With Any Dream Will Do having concluded the previous week, Doctor Who was now followed by Casualty, which was pulled forward from later in the evening; The National Lottery Saturday Night Draws still aired in between. As it happened, the medical drama's old timeslot was now occupied by Jekyll, created by regular Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat. Meanwhile, the production team chose to delay the preview of the next episode, The Sound Of Drums, until after the closing credits -- a technique normally reserved only for two-part stories. In fact, from a narrative standpoint, both Davies and producer Phil Collinson considered Utopia, The Sound Of Drums and the season finale, Last Of The Time Lords, to comprise the first three-part adventure since Doctor Who's revival in 2005.

• Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #17, 22nd November 2007, “Episode 11: Utopia” by Andrew Pixley, Panini Publishing Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Complete History #56, 2016, “Story 187a: Utopia”, edited by Mark Wright, Hachette Partworks Ltd.