James Dreyfus

James Dreyfus
Birth date:	9 October 1968
Work in the DWU
Main roles:	Inventor Master
Main jobs:	Actor
Stories:	See Credits Section
Main time period active:	2011, 2017-20, 2022
Twitter
IMDb profile

James Dreyfus (born 9 October 1968) played John Harrison in The Sarah Jane Adventures television story The Man Who Never Was.

Dreyfus later played the Master in an early incarnation in several Big Finish stories and the Most Exalted High Persian in The Cats of New Cairo.

Controversy

On October 4th 2018, The Times published a letter against Stonewall's backing of trans-inclusive changes to the Gender Recognition Act, for which Dreyfus was one of the seventeen signatories. Dreyfus later denied being transphobic on Twitter.

Following appeals to Big Finish to make a statement regarding Dreyfus, in July 2019 Katy Manning and John Dorney expressed their support for trans rights and Elliot Chapman indicated that he would donate to Mermaids, a trans-supportive charity, the equivalent of his fee for The Home Guard, in which he co-starred with Dreyfus.

In the wake of this, Big Finish released a general Equality & Diversity statement, acknowledging the fan concerns about certain individuals and emphasising their commitment to "never want[ing] Big Finish to be a company that people felt uncomfortable working with, or to produce content that people would feel uncomfortable listening to". Dreyfus tweeted Big Finish, claiming that the reports of the transphobic remarks were "misinformation, fiction and downright lies."

In April 2020, Dreyfus criticised a quote from trans writer Juno Dawson, in which she said that "a lot of gay men [were] gay men as a consolation prize because they couldn't be women". Dreyfus was accused of taking the quote out of context and weaponising it against trans people. Following the announcement of Masterful in May 2020, Dreyfus claimed in August to have been "erased from history". Though later claiming not to have received any proper contact or work from Big Finish following the middle of 2019, Dreyfus had previously stated at the end of 2019 to "still [be] working with Big Finish." Despite both these accounts, Dreyfus's last recording had actually been for The Fourth Doctor Adventures - Solo during May, June & July of 2017.

In early 2021, the Daily Mail reported on further transphobic comments that Dreyfus had made during a Zoom meeting, including the assertion that trans activists criticising J.K. Rowling were "misogynistic guys in skirts". Dreyfus responded with a long Twitter statement, denying being transphobic despite liking of tweets claiming that many trans women are "deluded men". By July, Dreyfus was openly clashing on Twitter with Doctor Who fans who were raising the "misogynistic guys in skirts" quote in discussions, and claiming that the quote was false.

Dreyfus's name was removed from the front covers of The Home Guard and The Psychic Circus. In October 2021, Dreyfus tweeted that Big Finish were removing the name and image, although the image remained on the aforementioned covers and the credit was still on the cover of Solo and Blood of the Time Lords. Dreyfus also claimed to have been "erased" for publicly asking Stonewall for a "respectful debate" despite Blood of the Time Lords still being released. When approached by The Sun for comment, Big Finish clarified that Dreyfus would be appearing in said story.

In October 2022, Dreyfus gave an interview to The Spectator regarding "cancellation" from Doctor Who.

On 19 October, Dreyfus tweeted a screenshot of this wiki page, stating that it was "inaccurate" and "devoid of examples", despite the content in question solely consisting of statements that Dreyfus or others made, all cited to the source of these statements. The next day Dreyfus compared the response following this tweet, in regards to how Doctor Who-related articles described Dreyfus, to when "[Big Finish] put out that disingenuous tweet suggesting [Dreyfus] was transphobic."

Personal life

Dreyfus is gay, does not personally identify as "'cis'", and "[chooses] not to use 'pronouns'."

Credits

As The Master

Audio

Doctor Who Main Range

• The Psychic Circus

The Fourth Doctor Adventures

• Blood of the Time Lords

The First Doctor Adventures

• The Destination Wars

The Early Adventures

• The Home Guard

Other Roles

Television

The Sarah Jane Adventures

• The Man Who Never Was - John Harrison

Audio

Tales from New Earth

• The Cats of New Cairo - Most Exalted High Persian

External links

• James Dreyfus at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Twitter account