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James Dreyfus (born 9 October 1968[1]) 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.[2] Dreyfus later denied being transphobic on Twitter.[3]

Following appeals to Big Finish to make a statement regarding Dreyfus,[4] in July 2019 Katy Manning[5] and John Dorney expressed their support for trans rights[6] 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.[7]

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".[8] Dreyfus tweeted Big Finish, claiming that the reports of the transphobic remarks were "misinformation, fiction and downright lies."[9]

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".[10] Dreyfus was accused of taking the quote out of context and weaponising it against trans people.[11] Following the announcement of Masterful in May 2020, Dreyfus claimed in August to have been "erased from history".[12] Though later claiming not to have received any proper contact or work from Big Finish following the middle of 2019,[13] Dreyfus had previously stated at the end of 2019 to "still [be] working with Big Finish."[14] Despite both these accounts, Dreyfus's last recording had actually been for The Fourth Doctor Adventures - Solo during May, June & July of 2017.[15][16]

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".[17] Dreyfus responded with a long Twitter statement, denying being transphobic[18] despite liking of tweets claiming that many trans women are "deluded men".[19] 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.[20]

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,[13][21] 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"[22] 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.[23]

In October 2022, Dreyfus gave an interview to The Spectator regarding "cancellation" from Doctor Who.[24]

On 19 October, Dreyfus tweeted a screenshot of this wiki page, stating that it was "inaccurate" and "devoid of examples",[25] 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."[26]

Personal life[]

Dreyfus is gay,[27] does not personally identify as "'cis'", and "[chooses] not to use 'pronouns'."[28]

Credits[]

As The Master

Audio[]

Doctor Who Main Range[]

The Fourth Doctor Adventures[]

The First Doctor Adventures[]

The Early Adventures[]

Other Roles

Television[]

The Sarah Jane Adventures[]

Audio[]

Tales from New Earth[]

External links[]

Footnotes[]

  1. People Pill
  2. Duffy, Nick (4 October 2018). Singer Alison Moyet joins anti-trans activists in letter attacking LGBT charity Stonewall. PinkNews. Retrieved on 8 February 2022.
  3. https://twitter.com/DreyfusJames/status/1050131518612475904
  4. https://twitter.com/sisterhood_karn/status/1154370176323850240
  5. https://twitter.com/ManningOfficial/status/1154379236540657664
  6. https://twitter.com/MrJohnDorney/status/1154351926819115008
  7. https://twitter.com/E11iotChapman/status/1154161551886213120
  8. Equality and diversity at Big Finish. Big Finish News (25 July 2019). Retrieved on 8 February 2022.
  9. https://twitter.com/DreyfusJames/status/1154343854545473536
  10. “A lot of gay men are gay men as a consolation prize because they couldn’t be women”, Says Trans Author Juno Dawson. Attitude Magazine (25 September 2017). Archived from the original on 26 September 2017. Retrieved on 8 February 2022.
  11. https://twitter.com/robholley/status/1252890118077251585
  12. https://twitter.com/DreyfusJames/status/1298194166388789248
  13. 13.0 13.1 GB News interview with James Dreyfus, October 2021
  14. https://web.archive.org/web/20191215054339/https://twitter.com/DreyfusJames/status/1205603426966671365
  15. https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-the-fourth-doctor-adventures-series-11-solo-2100
  16. https://twitter.com/DreyfusJames/status/933791717815455744
  17. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9254979/Actor-James-Dreyfus-slam-trans-activists-misogynistic-guys-skirts.html
  18. https://twitter.com/DreyfusJames/status/1355219625768845321
  19. https://twitter.com/doublehelix/status/1355252618394796034
  20. https://twitter.com/DreyfusJames/status/1416105950457569285
  21. https://twitter.com/DreyfusJames/status/1370818545903357952
  22. [1]
  23. https://www.thesun.co.uk/tv/16466827/james-dreyfus-doctor-who-bbc/
  24. [2]
  25. https://twitter.com/DreyfusJames/status/1582949406118416384
  26. https://twitter.com/DreyfusJames/status/1583154891932913670
  27. https://twitter.com/DreyfusJames/status/1488588646211100674
  28. https://twitter.com/DreyfusJames/status/1355219625768845321
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