The Sound of Drums ( TV story ) The Sound of Drums was the twelfth episode of the third series of " Doctor Who " . It marked the first full appearance of John Simm as the Master , disguised as Harold Saxon , revealing the significance of that name across the series . It also introduced a fictitious version of the United States President . At the end of this episode , the Doctor appeared profoundly defeated , with catastrophic consequences for his companion s and the residents of planet Earth . The episode is also notable for showing the Master as a child , making it the only known appearance of the Master ' s first incarnation on television . The story also revealed Jack ' s involvement with Torchwood . Synopsis . The Tenth Doctor , Martha Jones and Jack Harkness return to present day London , horrified to discover that Prime Minister Harold Saxon is the Master . " Saxon " informs the world about receiving contact from an alien race called the Toclafane . Framed as fugitives , the Doctor , Martha and Jack try to sneak in and stop the Master before he unleashes a wave of terror . But his dark ambitions reach beyond the stars . . . Plot . The Tenth Doctor , Martha Jones , and Jack Harkness are trapped by the Futurekind . The Doctor fixes Jack ' s vortex manipulator to get them to 21st century Earth ; the trip , however , is not comfortable , with the Doctor complaining that time travel without a capsule is " a killer " . He also explains that when he used his sonic screwdriver on the TARDIS as stole it , he fused the coordinates so that it would only go to the last place and time it had been - 21st century Earth . They know he will be approximately where they are . Meanwhile , Harold Saxon is on the news with his wife Lucy , having just come from Buckingham Palace after winning the election and being confirmed as Great Britain ' s new Prime Minister . Martha tells the Doctor that she recognised the Master ' s voice inside the TARDIS : it was that of Harold Saxon . The Doctor realises with horror that not only is the Master now Prime Minister , but he is " married " as well ! In 10 Downing Street , the Master is on his way to his first Cabinet meeting . He meets Tish Jones , who now works at 10 Downing Street . After speaking to Tish , he walks into the Cabinet Room . He tosses dossiers into the air , but his enthusiastic attitude only manages to elicit a smile from Albert Dumfries . The Master quickly changes his attitude and insults the Cabinet , calling them traitors for abandoning their political parties and jumping on his political bandwagon as soon as they saw the vote swinging his way . As their " reward " , he quickly sits down and puts on a gas mask . Albert asks the Master why he is wearing a mask , and the Master replies that he ' s wearing it because of the gas ( a process made difficult to explain because the mask muffles his voice ) . Before anyone can figure out what he means , toxic gas is sprayed into the room from the two deskphones ' speakers . Albert manages to splutter out , " You ' re insane ! " to the Master ( who replies with a double thumbs up ) before he drops dead on the table , following the other ministers . The master , surrounded by his dead cabinet , begins to tap his fingers on the table in a four - beat rhythm . Martha returns home with Jack and the Doctor and they quickly set up a computer search about " Harold Saxon " which shows he was the former Minister of Defence who entered the public eye when he shot down the Racnoss Webstar on Christmas Eve . Martha points out that he has a complete biography , his education and achievements are all known to the public . At Downing Street , Lucy Saxon is speaking to Tish when a woman named Vivien Rook arrives from the " Sunday Mirror " , saying she is here to interview Lucy about being the Prime Minister ' s wife , and asks Tish to leave . After Tish leaves , Rook confronts Lucy about her husband ' s fictitious life story : he only appeared shortly after the downfall of Harriet Jones , but all of his background prior to that has been forged , and curiously , no one is bothering to question the forgery . Lucy responds that she made her choice for better or worse , revealing the Master ' s presence in the room . The Master admits that " Harold Saxon " doesn ' t exist , at which point he conjures four robotic balls the size of footballs . He tells one to kill Vivien as he and Lucy leave . As they rush in on Vivien and slice her to death with tiny knife blades , Lucy angrily remarks that the Master told her that " Archangel " was 100 percent and questions him on how Vivien knew everything ; the Master demurs , admitting it was more like 98 - 99 percent . Lucy then fearfully remarks other people may be asking questions about them and that their time is running out . The Master embraces his wife and promises her that tomorrow , the world will end . At Martha ' s flat , the Doctor explains that the Master couldn ' t have arrived more than eighteen months earlier so doesn ' t understand how he has the entire country supporting him in such a short time . Martha and Jack admit they thought he was a nice guy , and they had even planned to vote for him . The Doctor asks what exactly Harold Saxon stood for , but Martha struggles for an answer stating he just had a voice she felt she could trust . During this , Martha begins tapping her fingers in a four - beat rhythm which the Doctor picks up on . Suddenly a Saxon Broadcast comes on the television . In the broadcast , the Master mentions several previous alien attacks , namely the destruction of Big Ben , the spaceship over London , the ghosts and metal men , and the Christmas Star that came to kill . He then says he has been contacted by a new species , called the Toclafane . The Doctor is aghast upon hearing the name , knowing it ' s false . The Master then claims that tomorrow morning , " We will take our place in the universe . Every man , woman , and child . Every teacher and chemist and lorry driver and farmer . I don ' t know — every " medical student ? " " The Doctor , knowing the Master is talking to them , looks behind the television and finds a bomb ; he , Martha and Jack run out on to the street just before the flat explodes . The Doctor , Martha and Jack climb into a car and Martha calls her mum against the Doctor ' s advice . Francine asks her to come to her house , claiming she has plans of getting back together with Clive . Martha realises something is wrong , as she knows her mother can barely stand to be in the same room as her ex - husband under normal circumstances . Francine hands the phone to Clive , and Martha asks him to just say ' Yes ' or ' No ' when she asks if anyone is there with him not knowing Miss Dexter , a government official working for the Master , is listening to the conversation . Clive , after considering for a second , answers " Yes , " and tells Martha to run . Miss Baxter orders the police to arrest the entire Jones family . Martha phones Tish at Downing Street , just as Tish is dragged away by two guards . Martha , the Doctor , and Jack arrive at Francine ' s house as Francine and Clive are being forcibly dragged by police to a jail transporter van . As they screech to a stop , Francine shouts a warning to Martha , and Miss Dexter orders armed police to ready their rifles . With no choice but to make a run for it the Doctor , Martha and Jack quickly put their car in reverse and drive off as the police officers open fire , bullets shattering the back windshield and the sides of the car . As they drive off , the police officers shove Francine and Clive into the back of the van and lock the back doors . As the three of them abandon the car , Martha phones Leo , who is in Brighton with his partner and child visiting a friend . As Martha warns her brother to hide , the Master interrupts the phone call . The Doctor takes the phone and talks to his old enemy : the Master is horrified to learn that Gallifrey is lost , and mercilessly berates the Doctor when he learns how the Time War ended and the Doctor ' s part in it . The Master says that the Time Lord s resurrected him as the perfect warrior to fight in the war , but he ran away in fear when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform , explaining that he used a chameleon arch to turn himself into a human and fled to the end of the universe so he couldn ' t be found . He informs the Doctor that he , Martha , and Jack have now been deemed as armed and extremely dangerous terrorists and that Jack ' s friends have been sent on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas . The Master then suggests that they start by turning to the right . The Doctor turns , sees a surveillance camera there , and realises that the Master is watching him through it . He promptly shorts it out with his sonic screwdriver . They decide to take the Master ' s advice , and take off running . That evening , one of the Toclafane appears before the Master asking if " the machine " is ready . The Master informs it that it will reach a critical mass at 8 : 02 AM , two minutes after the " first contact " . The Toclafane reminds him of the darkness that is coming from which the Toclafane must run , but the Master merely reminds the creature of their deadline . As the TARDIS crew hide in an abandoned warehouse , eating takeaway chips , the Doctor gives Martha and Jack some insight on the Master ' s origins . After denying Martha ' s suggestion that he and the Master were brothers , he explains that at the age of eight , initiates were taken by the Time Lords to look into a gap in the fabric of reality known as the Untempered Schism , through which could be seen the whole of the time vortex . Some were inspired ; some ran away ; and some were driven mad . While the Doctor ran and has never stopped running , he believes the Master went mad . Jack then receives a posthumous message from Vivien Rook to Torchwood Three about the Archangel Network . The Doctor is initially disgusted about Jack ' s involvement with Torchwood , but Jack insists that not only was the old Torchwood regime destroyed at Canary Wharf , but that under his command Torchwood no longer perceives the Doctor as a threat . The Doctor discovers that the Master has been using the Archangel Network of communication satellites to hypnotise people to vote for him . This also kept the Doctor from detecting him earlier — Time Lords have an ability to sense when another one of their own is around , as well as recognise another Time Lord after they have regenerated . The Doctor produces three keys equipped with perception filter s allowing himself , Martha , and Jack to be seen , but not detected , if they put them on . The American president , Arthur Winters , arrives in Air Force One in London . He tells the Master that UNIT has control over the operation , citing a United Nations protocol . Winters insists on moving first contact to the neutral ground of the UNIT aircraft carrier " Valiant " and conducting the meeting with the Toclafane himself . The Master brings along Francine , Tish and Clive , and the Doctor and friends follow using Jack ' s vortex manipulator . On board , they find the TARDIS , its cloister bell ringing , and the interior glowing an ominous red . It has been changed by the Master into a paradox machine , set to go off at 8 : 02 AM , two minutes after first contact . The trio head for the room in which the first contact is being held . The Doctor has a plan : if he manages to put the TARDIS key around the Master ' s neck , then everyone will see the Master for who he truly is . When the first contact begins , the Toclafane complain that the president is not their " Master " . The Master reveals himself to the entire world and tells the Toclafane to kill the president ; Winters is promptly incinerated on sight . The Doctor is captured by the guards — the Master had ignored the perception filter and knew he and the others were there all along — before ( temporarily ) killing Jack with his laser screwdriver , equipped with LazLab ' s Genetic Manipulation technology . With access to DNA from the Doctor ' s hand , it allows the Master to artificially ( and visibly ) age the Doctor by 100 years adapted from Richard Lazarus ' s de - ageing technology . The Master brings in the Jones family to witness this attack . With the paradox machine ready , the Master tells the people of Earth to witness the end of the world . The paradox machine activates , creating a massive rift above the " Valiant " from which six billion Toclafane descend as the Master and Lucy dance to " Voodoo Child " . He orders them to kill one tenth of the Earth ' s population . When asked , he refuses to reveal the true identity of the Toclafane , saying it would break the Doctor ' s hearts . Whilst the Master is distracted , Martha glances at the Doctor , Jack and her family . She teleports to Earth using the manipulator ( given to her by Jack as he came back to life again ) , promising to return , as she watches the Toclafane descend and start laying waste to Earth . The Master and his wife look down on the planet , calling it his " new dominion " , with the aged Doctor between them , forced to confront his failure to stop the Master . Story notes . Filming locations . " to be added "