Attack of the Cybermen Part One

The one where the Cybermen invade the TARDIS...

It's January 5th, 1985. Doctor Who's 22nd season bursts onto the screen on a Saturday teatime for the first time since Tom Baker regenerated in 1981. It feels like Doctor Who was back where it belonged, back home where it all began on that fateful November evening in '63. Fittingly, this episode would see the Doctor return to the place where it did all begin - a junkyard at 76 Totter's Lane. There would also be a policeman wandering about, as there was in An Unearthly Child. What delightful symmetry!

Something is different though, and that's the length of the episodes. For 22 years an episode of Doctor Who had been 25 minutes, with a handful of exceptions, but Season 22 would see each episode almost twice the length at 45 minutes. Previously, an average story would consist of four 25 minute episodes, but now they'd mostly be made up of two 45 minute episodes. It was a gamble with the format, perhaps to make it more commercial overseas, but you can't just stitch together two 25 minute episodes and get away with it. There's an entirely different ebb and flow to a 45 minute drama, so let's hope the requisite adjustments were allowed for...

The opening sequence sees a couple of sewage workers finding that the map they've got for the tunnels under Fleet Street isn't strictly accurate (there's a wall where it shouldn't be). Marjorie Pratt's tunnel sets are well designed, but far too clean and dry (Roger Murray-Leach's sewers in The Talons of Weng-Chiang were pretty unbeatable - and had actual water!). The tension is built nicely by director Matthew Robinson though, with first David going missing, and then Bill encountering a terrible something which attacks him. It's a great start to the story.

Meanwhile, aboard the TARDIS we're reunited with the Sixth Doctor, who's tampering behind roundels in an effort to repair the chameleon circuit (obliquely hinted at in The Twin Dilemma when the Doctor called the police box "hideous"). Colin Baker is much less volatile now, more settled and even-paced. There are finally glints of charm among the egotism and bravado, offering a possibility that I might find a way to like this Doctor. Peri, who is bursting out all over this week, scampers after him dressed in lurid pink (what is her preoccupation with wearing shorts?) and chomping on an apple, which the Doctor craftily takes a bite of at one point. This is a delightful little eccentricity, the sort of gesture which makes a Doctor more Doctorish. More of this kind of thing please.

The incidental score is by Malcolm Clarke, who also composed for The Twin Dilemma and reuses his harpsichord-inspired theme for the Sixth Doctor. Harpsichords are a clever shorthand for dandyish behaviour, alluding to this Doctor's Beau Brummell-esque tendencies, although I still find the score itself jarring and jagged (not unlike this Doctor, I suppose). Clarke's scores were always challenging and slightly more discordant than the synthesised soundscapes of Peter Howell or Paddy Kingsland. I adore his highly controversial work on The Sea Devils, and admire the memorable new theme he concocted for the Cybermen in Earthshock (and here).

There is a noticeable attempt to reassure any viewers who were put off the Sixth Doctor in his rocky debut adventure (you know, the one where he tried to strangle his companion to death and acted like a complete knob). The Doctor tells Peri that he is now completely stable, adding: "This is the real me, Peri. Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. I promise." The sweet little nudge Baker gives Nicola Bryant's nose is the icing on the cake, foreshadowing a more convincingly tender use of it between the Seventh Doctor and Ace a few years hence. But for now, this marked softening of the Sixth Doctor is appreciated.

The Doctor and Peri spend far too long bickering and sniping in the TARDIS while the story proper is getting underway elsewhere, on film. This would be a hallmark of Season 22, in which it seems to take an age for the Doctor to actually get involved in the plot, as if the production team was reluctant to make Doctor Who, and were more interested in the thrilling adventure yarns they could drum up for themselves. This story is credited as having been written by Paula Moore, but time has told us that she had nothing to do with it, and it's actually cobbled together by script editor Eric Saward and super-fan Ian Levine.

Amongst all the cheap shots and arch ripostes there's mention of Halley's Comet, which is dropped into the story as if it's going to mean something, but then swiftly forgotten about for the rest of the episode. Halley's Comet was a talking point around this time because its next appearance passing Earth was due in 1986 (it hadn't been seen since 1910, and won't be again until 2061). Peri mentions that Halley's Comet is always associated with impending disaster, which makes me wonder whether Kevin Clarke was inspired by this idea when he came to write Silver Nemesis?

The TARDIS materialises in a scrapyard at 76 Totter's Lane, taking him right back to where it all began in An Unearthly Child (complete with naff Steptoe and Son music). It's a nice tip of the hat to the past, but for no discernible reason other than a smart continuity reference (which no one watching other than fans would pick up on). The chameleon circuit takes effect and turns the TARDIS into a French dresser, which is simply rubbish. The fixing of the chameleon circuit was obviously a cheap publicity stunt because I know it won't last, but changing it into random pieces of furniture (it also turns into a pipe organ) is just, well... silly.

It's really weird seeing the Sixth Doctor on location in a contemporary suburban street, especially in that ridiculous clobber ("I suddenly feel conspicuous," says the Doctor, to which Peri amusingly retorts: "I'm not surprised in that coat!"). We're used to seeing the Sixth Doctor in sci-fi situations, or more rural locations as in The Mark of the Rani and The Trial of a Time Lord, so scenes of him capering around the back streets of London are quite odd. When was the last time Doctor Who visited a high street? If you discount trips overseas to Amsterdam and Paris, you'd have to go way back to Terror of the Zygons, and the emergence of the Skarasen.

The Doctor is tracking a distress signal which he presumes is being sent by a stranded alien. He traces it first to an abandoned house, but when he realises the house is merely a relay point, he tracks the source back to the scrapyard in Totter's Lane, where they originally materialised! Earlier, we'd seen Lytton operate some high tech machinery hidden in a locker at the yard, so presumably it's he who is trying to attract attention.

Ah yes, Lytton, the mercenary commander last seen in Resurrection of the Daleks. Still on Earth, it seems he's teamed up with a bunch of diamond thieves and is about to stage a robbery via the sewer tunnels beneath Fleet Street. Lytton's three heavies - Griffiths (played by the wonderful Brian Glover), Payne, and Russell - bicker and snipe just as much as the Doctor and Peri, which gets a bit wearing after a while. Does nobody get on in Doctor Who these days?

The robbers descend into the sewers armed with guns and plastic explosives, but it's not long before whatever it was that attacked David and Bill starts to follow them. Foreshadowed by a few strains of Clarke's plodding Cyberman theme, it turns out to be a black Cyber Scout, which grabs Payne from behind and kills him in a well-directed scene full of shock and bite. Later, the trigger-happy Griffiths fires on the Cyber Scout, prompting an explosion of green goo (is it 'blood' or a form of lubricant?). Robinson's big reveal of the Cybermen - at the halfway point in the episode where we'd usually have a cliffhanger - is masterfully done. The wall slides away in the background and a bright light streams out, silhouetting the towering Cybermen as they advance. A great moment which looks great visually thanks to Robinson's eye for surprise and lighting director Henry Barber's own skills.

Unexpectedly, Lytton knows of the Cybermen, and is fully aware they are here, hiding away in their subterranean base in the sewers of Fleet Street. He admits he traced the signals emanating from the base they have on the dark side of the moon, and also that he knows why they are here. He forges an uneasy alliance with the Cyber Leader, who is, as ever, aided by an overwrought Lieutenant, here played by Brian Orrell instead of the usual Mark Hardy. Orrell makes the Lieutenant rather angsty, and vocally sounds quite comical, like a robotic Fozzy Bear.

I love the performance given by Brian Glover, who was so much better than casting directors usually gave him credit for. His bald and battered appearance naturally made him suitable for heavy roles like this, but Glover has enviable comic timing too, and delivers a handful of zingers which bring much-needed levity to the piece. He's very funny when he refers to the Cybermen as a "fancy dress party" (made all the funnier when the Cyber Leader asks: "What does he say?"), and then there's recurring jibes about Griffiths' character, such as him being allergic to nylon, or having ill-fitting boots. Best of all though is when Lytton reveals he is an alien mercenary from Riften 5 in the star system 690. "You said you were from Fulham," says a quizzical Griffiths. Wonderful!

The plot moves up a gear halfway through when we are suddenly transported to the planet Telos, last seen in 1967's The Tomb of the Cybermen. That's a bit of a shocker, although again, it's far more relevant to fans than the casual viewer. On Telos we are reunited with the Cyber Controller, who looks nothing like the Cyber Controller we saw in The Tomb of the Cybermen, but who I'm guessing is supposed to be the same one (maybe there's been a data upload into a new model?). The Controller looks silly. As well as having a domed head that makes him look like one of Dan Aykroyd's Conehead aliens from Saturday Night Live, the Controller looks like he's been hibernating for the winter, resulting in a rather tubby figure. This is because he's played by Michael Kilgarriff, reprising his role from Tomb, but now aged 48 instead of a svelte 30. Maybe Kilgarriff thought he was reprising the K-1 from Robot rather than the Cyber Controller, because his robotic movements are totally wrong here. In fact, everything about the Cyber Controller is misjudged.

Outside on the planet's surface, which looks awfully washed-out and colourless, slaves Stratton and Bates stage an escape and attempt to storm Cyber Control. Bates is played by Michael Attwell (a former Ice Warrior) who plays the part in a constant state of rage, which is a shame as Jonathan David gives a much calmer turn as Stratton. The escapees are intent on beheading Cybermen to get their helmets so they can infiltrate Cyber Control, steal a ship and fly to freedom. The location scenes are handled well by Robinson, and I particularly like the way the Cyberman tries to shoot at them at the top of the hill, but when it fails, it begins to inexorably climb up to the brow. Sadly, it tumbles back down the slope like a drunken Oliver Hardy.

There's so much to comment on I'm going to have to do one of my bullet point specials:

• The brashness of this era even filters through to the shouty opening titles: ATTACK OF THE CYBERMEN, they holler. By PAULA MOORE (I heard you!). But ssshhhh, it's "Part One"...
• "I have perfect rapport with this machine!" the Doctor says of the TARDIS. "I only hope the TARDIS knows it!" is Peri's amusing rejoinder.
• As if all the other continuity references aren't enough, there are also name-checks for Susan, Jamie (coming later this season), Zoe, Tegan (coming soon in Jim'll Fix It) and even the Terrible Zodin.
• This story has a very gritty feel, and is quite violent. We see firearms with silencers, knives are placed against throats, the Doctor disappears into a pit to knock seven bells out of a policeman, a Cyberman attempts to crush Griffiths at the temples, the Doctor makes Peri hold Russell at gunpoint, and Russell's attack on the Cyberman in the TARDIS near the end is graphic, shooting point-blank into the creature's face, complete with "matter" flying out the back of its head!
• When Russell enters the TARDIS there's no reaction from him at all that the pipe organ he just walked into the back of is bigger on the inside, and a spaceship. That's a pet hate of mine: poor acting, scripting and direction.
• The Doctor seems to be better informed about Lytton than he should be, having barely met him in Resurrection of the Daleks. Maybe he read up on him afterwards?
• The Cybermen in the sewers detect time distortions nearby, which would seem to be explained by the mere presence of the Doctor. Why? Is it because he is a Time Lord, or that he has travelled in time? Surely the Doctor isn't a walking time distortion in and of himself? This doesn't make sense. Something else which doesn't make sense is that Lytton says he was expecting the Doctor to reappear. Why's that then?

The ending sees the Doctor, Peri and Russell retire to the TARDIS, only to find that the Cybermen have got there first. How did they get inside the TARDIS, this shouldn't be possible. It's a great image to see the Cybermen in the TARDIS, however, and that they are there in force, emerging from the internal door and leaping from corners. The demise of the Cyberman Russell kills is quite gruesome. After having bullets pumped into its face, the creature's head blows up and it emits a horrible, guttural scream before collapsing to the floor.

The cliffhanger sees Nicola Bryant pulling one of her unflattering scrunched-up faces again as a Cyberman prepares to knock her block off. A violent end to what has been a violent opening episode all round.

First broadcast: January 5th, 1985

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Brian Glover: "You said you came from Fulham."
The Bad: The tubby robotic Cyber Controller.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

Word repetition: 4 - Peri dares to suggest the Doctor is still undergoing post-regenerative trauma. "Unstable? Unstable! Unstable?"

NEXT TIME: Part Two...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part Two

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site.

Attack of the Cybermen is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Attack-Cybermen-DVD/dp/B001P5GIOQ