Doctor Who - The Television Stories

Doctor Who - The Stories

QuickNav to a Season:

QuickNav to a Story:

Revenge of the Cybermen

The Previous Story
(Genesis of the Daleks)

The Next Story
(Terror of the Zygons)

Season
Details

Synopsis

General
Information

The
Episodes

Audience
Appreciation

Archives

Notes

First and Last

The Plot

Quote of
the Story

Release
Information

In Print

Photo
Gallery

Synopsis

The Cybermen

The time ring takes The Doctor, Sarah and Harry back to Nerva, but to a period many thousands of years earlier than their previous visit. This is Voga, also known as the planet of gold as that metal can be found in abundance there. The three friends learn that a space plague has killed all but a handful of Nerva's crew.

A visiting civilian scientist named Kellman is in fact a traitor working with a group of Cybermen who want to destroy Voga as gold dust can coat their breathing apparatus and suffocate them.

Can The Doctor stop them?

Source: BBC DVD

General Information

Season:	Twelve
Production Code:	4D
Story Number:	79
Episode Numbers:	398 - 401
Number of Episodes:	4
Percentage of Episodes Held:	100%
Working Titles:	Whole Story: "The Revenge of the Cybermen" and "Return of the Cybermen". Individual Episodes: "The Beacon in Space" (1), "The Plague Carriers" (2), "The Gold Miners" (3) and "The Battle for the Nerva" (4)
Production Dates:	November 1974 - February 1975
Broadcast Started:	19 April 1975
Broadcast Finished:	10 May 1975
Colour Status:	Colour
Studio:	BBC Television Centre Puppet Theatre and BBC Television Centre (TC1, TC3 and TC8)
Location:	Wookey Hole (Wells, Somerset).

Writer:

Gerry Davis

Director:

Michael Briant

Producer:

Philip Hinchcliffe

Script Editor:

Robert Holmes

Editor:

Sheila S Tomlinson

Production Assistant:

John Bradburn

Production Unit Manager:

George Gallacio

Assistant Floor Managers:

Rosemary Hester and Russ Karel

Designer:

Roger Murray-Leach

Costume Designer:

Prue Handley

Make-Up Designer:

Cecile Hay-Arthur

Cameraman:

Elmer Cossey

Lighting:

Derek Slee

Visual Effects:

Jim Ward

Incidental Music:

Carey Blyton and Peter Howell (Uncredited)

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Dick Mills

Studio Sounds:

Norman Bennett

Title Sequence:

Bernard Lodge

Title Music:

Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire

Cybermen Originally Created By:

Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

Tom Baker (The Fourth Doctor)

Number of Companions: 2The Companions: Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith) and Ian Marter (Harry Sullivan) Additional Cast: Michael Wisher (Magrik), Christopher Robbie (Cyberleader), Jeremy Wilkin (Kellman), Ronald Leigh-Hunt (Commander Stevenson), William Marlowe (Lester), Alec Wallis (Warner), David Collings (Vorus), Kevin Stoney (Tyrum), Brian Grellis (Sheprah), Melville Jones (First Cyberman)Setting: Nerva Beacon and Voga (28th century) Villains: Cybermats, Cybermen, Professor Kellman and Vorus

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
398	Part 1	19 April 1975	24'19"	9.5	PAL 2" colour videotape
399	Part 2	26 April 1975	24'24"	8.3	PAL 2" colour videotape
400	Part 3	03 May 1975	24'32"	8.9	PAL 2" colour videotape
401	Part 4	10 May 1975	23'21"	9.4	PAL 2" colour videotape

Total Duration

1 Hour 37 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

9.0

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)	62.19% (Position = 109 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	65.42% (Position = 130 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	66.40% (Position = 160 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 31 out of 41

Archives

All four episodes exist as PAL 2" colour videotapes.

Notes

This story saw the return of the Cybermen for the first time as major villains since the 1968 Second Doctor story "The Invasion" – an absence of over six years.

The original script was written by Gerry Davis (with the original title "Return of the Cybermen") but Script Editor Robert Holmes rewrote it extensively, adding the Vogan subplots.

Kevin Stoney (who played Tyrum) previously appeared as Mavic Chen in the 1965/66 First Doctor story "The Daleks' Master Plan" and as Tobias Vaughan in the previous Cyberman story "The Invasion" in 1968.

Christopher Robbie (who played the Cyber Leader) previously appeared as the Karkus in the 1968 Second Doctor story "The Mind Robber".

Ronald Leigh-Hunt (who played Commander Stevenson) previously appeared as Commander Radnor in the 1969 Second Doctor story "The Seeds of Death".

William Marlowe (who played Lester) previously appeared as Mailer in the 1971 Third Doctor story "The Mind of Evil".

Michael Wisher (who played Magrik) appeared as Davros, in the previous story "Genesis of the Daleks". He also was in the Third Doctor stories; "Terror of the Autons" (as Rex Farrell), "Ambassadors of Death" (as the TV commentator) and "Carnival of Monsters" (as Kalik). He had also voiced the Daleks in "Frontier in Space" and "Death to the Daleks". He went on to play Morelli in "Planet of Evil".

Alec Wallis (who played Warner) previously appeared as Telegraphist Bowman in the 1972 Third Doctor story "The Sea Devils".

Melville Jones (the first Cyberman) previously appeared as a guard in the 1972 Third Doctor story "The Time Monster".

Pat Gorman (a Cyberman) previously appeared as a Thal Soldier in "Genesis of the Daleks" and appeared in a total of 75 episodes of Doctor Who.

David Collings (who played Vorus) later appeared as Poul in "The Robots of Death" and as Mawdryn in the 1983 Fifth Doctor story "Mawdryn Undead". He would also go on to play an alternate Doctor in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who Unbound audio story "Full Fathom Five".

Brian Grellis (who played Sheprah) later appeared as Saffran in "The Invisible Enemy" and the Megaphone man in the 1983 Fifth Doctor story "Snakedance".

Jeremy Wilkin (who played Kelman) later appeared as Tarrant in the first episode of Blake's 7.

"Revenge of the Cybermen" forms part of a continuous series of adventures for the TARDIS crew, beginning from the end of "Robot" and continuing through to "Terror of the Zygons", although the Virgin Books’ The Missing Adventures novel "A Device of Death" takes place in a possible gap between "Genesis of the Daleks" and "Revenge of the Cybermen", and the BBC Books The Past Doctor Adventures novel "Wolfsbane" is set in another such gap between "Revenge of the Cybermen" and "Terror of the Zygons".

This story was directed by Michael E Briant, who had last worked on "Death to the Daleks" the season before. After deciding against re-using the remaining Cyberman costumes left over from "The Invasion" due to their antiquated appearance, Michael E Briant had four new suits made for "Revenge of the Cybermen" including, for the first time, the Cyber Leader whose rank was distinguished from the other Cybermen by having the ‘handlebar’ section of his helmet black rather than silver.

The Cybermen's voices were provided for the first time by the actors inside the costumes.

This is the only Fourth Doctor story to feature the Cybermen and is the last appearance (barring flashbacks) of the race for seven years until the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "Earthshock".

It is revealed that Sarah Jane Smith has heard of the Cybermen (presumably from their attempted invasion in 1969 ("The Invasion")) and that they were meant to have been wiped out ages ago.

The Cybermen don't recognise The Doctor, and it is revealed that they are bullet-proof, have hydraulic muscles and can fire weapons from their head units. The non-corrodible metal gold clogs up their breathing apparatus and suffocates them. Interestingly in the 1967 Second Doctor story, "The Moonbase", they don't need to breathe so enabling them to walk on the Moon’s surface.

This is the first reference to gold as a vulnerability of Cybermen, and its use to kill the cyber-enhanced creatures. This vulnerability remained a plot point in some subsequent adventures (namely in "Earthshock" and the 1988 Seventh Doctor story "Silver Nemesis").

Despite the fact that Cybermen are emotionless beings, The Doctor easily provokes the Cyberleader into strangling him. Other emotions expressed by the Cybermen include glee, satisfaction (the Cyberleader's hands-on-hips body language), humour ('Nice sense of irony', The Doctor says concerning the Cyberleader's joke about him not being around to see the 'magnificent spectacle' of Voga's destruction), irritation ('I think you've riled him', says Harry), hatred, fear, and enough pride to refer to themselves as 'warriors'.

This story features a new form of Cybermat. However, this is the last on-screen appearance for these cyber-rodents.

The Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan have been on the Nerva Space Station before. However in this story they have travelled back in time before their previous visit where the Space Station is being used as a beacon and before it became The Ark.

This story was shot on the same set as "The Ark in Space" which was filmed out of sequence immediately before this story (which explains why the production code is out of broadcast sequence). Reusing previously used sets represented substantial cost saving.

The location filming in the Wookey Hole Caves, in Somerset, was extremely problematic, including Elisabeth Sladen falling out of a powerboat, the illness of stuntman Terry Walsh an electrician suffering a broken leg when a ladder collapsed. All these problems were attributed to the legendary ‘Witch of Wookey Hole’.

Wookey Hole was later used as a location in the ninth episode of Blake's 7, "Project Avalon".

The incidental music for this story was composed by Carey Blyton. This would be his final work for the show. However, Producer Philip Hinchcliffe tasked the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to enhance the score, which was done by Peter Howell by adding some synthesiser cues to Carey Blyton's score. Peter Howell though did not receive an on-screen credit. Peter Howell would go on to arrange the 1980 Doctor Who theme music and provide incidental music for the show from the 1980 Fourth Doctor story "The Leisure Hive" to the 1985 Sixth Doctor story "The Two Doctors".

The launching of the Skystriker is represented by rather obvious NASA stock footage of a Saturn V rocket taking off. In addition a very obvious spinning roll of lunar landscape simulates a near miss between the beacon and the asteroid.

In this story, Jupiter has twelve moons (as was believed to be the case at the time). However, since this story was broadcast many more moons have been discovered orbiting Jupiter (sixty-three at the last count). This discrepancy is explained in the 2005 BBC Books The Eighth Doctor Stories novel "To the Slaughter", written by Stephen Cole, where the additional moons were destroyed between the present and the time of "Revenge of the Cybermen" to improve the solar system's feng shui and attract business investment. In his endnote to this book, Stephen Cole admits that the idea for this story came about specifically to explain away the ‘error’ in "Revenge of the Cybermen".

This story includes the first appearance of the symbol which would eventually be known as the Seal of Rassilon. In this story, however, it is a symbol of the Vogans. Designer Roger Murray-Leach reused the Vogan symbol for the Time Lords in the 1976 story "The Deadly Assassin" and it has remained associated with the Time Lords ever since including in the revived show, where it can be seen in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords".

"Revenge of the Cybermen" was the fifth and final story of Season Twelve - although it was not originally intended as the finale. It had long been planned that, despite the order in which they were recorded, "Revenge of the Cybermen" would succeed "Genesis of the Daleks" in the broadcast schedule, making it the fifth adventure of Season Twelve. However, the season was originally planned to contain 26 episodes but was cut short by a change in the start date for the following season – which would now begin in the autumn - the first time this had transpired since 1968. This was done in order to get a jump on rival ITV's lavish new science-fiction drama, Space: 1999. Therefore "Terror of the Zygons", the final story to be made as part of the twelfth recording block, became the first story in Season Thirteen and the broadcast of the final episode of "Revenge of the Cybermen", on the 10th May 1975, brought an end to Doctor Who's truncated twelfth season.

Sadly between the broadcast of the first and second episodes William Hartnell, who played the First Doctor, passed away. Ironically he died during the broadcast of a story that served to re-introduce the Cybermen. His final solo appearance as The Doctor occurred, in 1966, at the end of "The Tenth Planet" - the story that introduced the Cybermen.

A novelisation of this story, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in May 1976. Differences between the televised version and this novelisation include; the lines on the plague victims being black (as in "The Moonbase"), the Cybermen discharge green gunge when dying, the Cybermen carrying blasters instead of projectile headsets and the character of Magrik surviving at the end.

"Revenge of the Cybermen" has the peculiar distinction in the programme's history when it was chosen to be the very first Doctor Who story released for public consumption on videocassette. It was released, in an edited omnibus format (with the opening and closing titles of each episode removed) on VHS, Betamax and Video 2000, by BBC Home Video in 1983. It was also one of the select Doctor Who stories to be released on laserdisc. This story was later released in an unedited, episodic format in May 1999. The Video 2000 and Betamax releases are very rare.

The honour of being the first Doctor Who story released on videocassette was more than a little dubious. Although touted as the choice of attendees at the ‘Twenty Years of a Time Lord’ event at Longleat House that April, "Revenge of the Cybermen" was actually selected by BBC Video to replace the fans' true choice: "The Tomb of the Cybermen", which at that time was missing from the BBC Archives. Nonetheless, "Revenge of the Cybermen" spearheaded a range which would grow to encompass more than 130 titles before coming to an end - having essentially exhausted its supply of material and on the verge of being superseded by the DVD format - twenty years later.

First and Last

The Firsts:

The first appearance of the Cybermen for 6 years - since the 1968 Second Doctor story "The Invasion".

The first (and only) Fourth Doctor story to feature the Cybermen.

The first Cyberman story made in colour.

The first time the Cybermen's voices were provided by the actors inside the costumes.

The first apearance of a Cyber Leader.

The first reference that the Cybermen are vulnerable to gold.

The first appearance of the symbol which would eventually be known as the Seal of Rassilon.

Peter Howell's first involvement in the show providing the incidental music.

The first Doctor Who story released for public consumption on videocassette.

The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):

The last story of Season Twelve.

The last appearance of the Cybermats in the original television series.

Carey Blyton's last involvement in the show providing the incidental music.

The Plot

WARNING: May Contain Spoilers

Hide Text

Arriving on Nerva Beacon

After leaving Skaro, The Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan use the Time Ring, given to The Doctor by the Time Lords, to travel back to Nerva, but on arriving it soon becomes clear to The Doctor that they have arrived in the 29th century - a period of time many thousands of years earlier than their previous visit.

While they wait for the TARDIS to turn up – The Doctor informs Sarah and Harry that it is travelling back in time to meet them – they decide to explore and discover that the station is currently acting as a beacon warning space traffic of the existence of an asteroid that has become a new moon orbiting Jupiter. This asteroid is actually the remains of Voga, also known as the planet of gold because of the abundance of that metal that can be found there.

The Doctor, Sarah and Harry also discover that the beacon is in the grip of a fatal space plague which has killed most of the crew. The Doctor though soon realises that the 'plague' is in fact the result of poison injected into its victims by Cybermats – metallic creatures controlled by the Cybermen.

In A Corridor Full of Dead Bodies
In A Corridor Full of Dead Bodies

As well as the beacon’s crew a visiting civilian scientist, called Kellman, is also aboard. He is in fact a traitor working with a small group of Cybermen who want to destroy Voga as gold is lethal to the Cybermen as in the form of dust it can coat their chest units and so suffocate them.

After Sarah is attacked by a Cybermat, which infects her, The Doctor uses the teleport system to send her, along with Harry, to Voga so that the teleport system can remove the poison from her body. As soon as they arrive Sarah recovers and they start to explore the underground cavern they have arrived in. But it is not long before they are captured by a group of Vogans.

The Doctor Picks a Lock
The Doctor Picks a Lock

Meanwhile the Cybermen invade the beacon. Powerless to stop them The Doctor tries to get away but the Cyberleader fires its head-mounted weapon at him and he collapses to the ground. Thankfully he is only stunned. With the beacon now in the Cybermen’s control they force The Doctor and two of the remaining humans, Commander Stevenson and Lester, to take some cobalt bombs down into the heart of Voga which they then plan to detonate and so destroy the asteroid.

What the Cybermen don't know is that Kellman is really a double-agent, secretly working with one faction of the Vogan race - The Guardians led by Vorus. Their plan is to lure the Cybermen onto the beacon and then destroy it with a rocket, known as the Skystriker. After being chained up with chains made of solid gold - which is a soft metal so making them easier to file through - Sarah and Harry manage to escape. On learning of the Vogans plan Sarah returns to the beacon, so as to warn The Doctor, unaware that he is no longer aboard.

Back on Voga, deep underground, Harry, who has become aware of The Doctor’s presence on Voga, locates The Doctor but, after causing a rockslide, finds him unconscious, After concluding that there is nothing seriously wrong with The Doctor, Harry starts to unbuckle the straps by means of which the Cybermen's bomb is attached to The Doctor's back, unaware that this will cause it to detonate. Luckily they are so far underground that the signal, to warn the Cybermen that the bomb has been tampered with, does not penetrate through the dense rock. The Doctor soon recovers and prevents the other bombs from going off.

Professor Kellman
Professor Kellman

When The Doctor enquires about Sarah, Harry informs The Doctor that she had earlier returned to the beacon to warn him about the Vogan’s plans to destroy the beacon with the Cybermen aboard. The Doctor therefore rushes back to the beacon so as to rescue Sarah. But when he arrives, by the teleport system, he discovers that she has been captured by the Cybermen. In trying to rescue her he also gets captured himself.

Frustrated at their plans being thwarted by The Doctor, and on learning of the Vogans' intentions, the Cybermen evacuate the beacon leaving The Doctor and Sarah tied up. But not before they load even more bombs onto the beacon and then set it on a collision course for Voga. At the same time the Vogan's launch their missile at the beacon.

With the missile heading towards them The Doctor manages to free himself and gives instructions for it to be redirected away from the beacon and onto a collision course with the Cybermen's ship, which is thus destroyed. This just leaves The Doctor with the task of preventing the out of control beacon from colliding with Voga which he manages to do by some nifty piloting.

Harry then teleports back to the beacon just as the TARDIS conveniently arrives on the beacon, having been gradually drifting back to this point in time. The Doctor, Sarah and Harry then depart for a rendezvous with The Brigadier, who has sent an urgent message requesting assistance with a problem on Earth.

On the Cyberman's Ship

A Cybermat

Sarah is Attacked

Saving Sarah

Vorus

The Doctor with Lester and Commander Stevenson

Sarah Eavesdropping

The TARDIS Returns

Quote of the Story

'You've no home planet, no influence, nothing! You're just a pathetic bunch of tin soldiers skulking about the galaxy in an ancient spaceship!'

The Doctor

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
VHS	Revenge of the Cybermen	October 1983	BBCV 2003	Photo-montage	Omnibus format Released on VHS, Betamax and Video 2000
Laser Disc	Revenge of the Cybermen	December 1983	BBCL 2003		Episodic format
VHS	Revenge of the Cybermen	May 1984	BBCV 4013	Photo-montage	Omnibus format Re-released budget-priced
VHS	The Tom Baker Years	September 1992	BBCV 4839	Photo	Clip only Introduced and commented on by Tom Baker Double cassette release
CD	Vogan Suite	1998			A suite of music was released on "Sherlock Holmes Meets Dr Who" arranged by Carey Blyton from Upbeat Classics
VHS	Revenge of the Cybermen	April 1999	BBCV 6773	Photo-montage	Episodic format
DVD	Revenge of the Cybermen	August 2010	BBCDVD 2854	Photo-montage	Part of a Cyberman Box Set released along with "Silver Nemesis"
CD	The 50th Anniversary Collection	December 2013		Photo-montage	Original Television Soundtracks
Blu-Ray	Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 12 (Limited Edition)	June 2018	BBCBD 0435	Photo-montage	Blu-Ray Limited Edition boxed set containing 5 specially restored stories
Blu-Ray	Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 12 (Standard Edition)	May 2021	BBCBD 0526	Photo-montage	Blu-Ray Standard Edition boxed set containing 5 specially restored stories
CD	Revenge of the Cybermen	November 2023	SILCD1585	Photo-montage	Original Soundtrack Music by Carey Blyton with Peter Howell and The BBC Radiophonic Workshop

In Print

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Publisher	Author	Cover Art	Remarks
Novel	Doctor Who and the Revenge of the Cybermen	May 1976	Target No. 51	Terrance Dicks	Chris Achilleos	ISBN: 0-426-10997-X (1st Edition Target Cover)
Novel	The Doctor Who Omnibus	1977	Target No. 51	Terrance Dicks		Book Club Associates edition. Released along with "Doctor Who and the Web of Fear" and "Doctor Who and the Space War".
Novel	Doctor Who and the Revenge of the Cybermen	August 1978	Target No. 51	Terrance Dicks	Chris Achilleos	ISBN: 0-426-10997-X (Reprinted Target Book Cover)
Novel	Revenge of the Cybermen	May 1991	Target No. 51	Terrance Dicks	Alister Pearson	Virgin new cover reprint. ISBN: 0-426-10997-X
Script	The Scripts Tom Baker 1974/75	October 2001	BBC Books	Gerry Davis	photo-montage	Hardback. Contains an introduction by Terrance Dicks. ISBN: 0-563-53815-5
CD	Doctor Who and the Revenge of the Cybermen	February 2022	Target No. 51	Terrance Dicks	Chris Achilleos	Audio version of the Target Novel read by Nicholas Briggs.

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (In Vision)	Issue 5 (Released: June 1988)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 97 (Released: February 1985)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 297 (Released: November 2000)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 347 (Released: September 2004)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 488 (Released: August 2015)
Doctor Who DVD Files	Volume 111 (Released: April 2013)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companions

The Fourth Doctor

Sarah Jane Smith

Harry Sullivan

On Release

Original VHS and Betamax Video Cover

VIDEO

Laser Disc Cover

VIDEO

1st Re-release VHS Video Cover

VIDEO

Tom Baker Years VHS Video Cover

VIDEO

Sherlock Holmes Meets Dr. Who CD Cover

AUDIO

Episodic Release VHS Video Cover

VIDEO

DVD Cover

VIDEO

The 50th Anniversary Collection Cover

AUDIO

The Collection Season 12 Limited Edition Blu-Ray Cover

VIDEO

The Collection Season 12 Standard Edition Blu-Ray Cover

VIDEO

Soundtrack CD Cover

AUDIO

In Print

Original Target Book Cover

NOVEL

Book Club Associates Edition

NOVEL

Reprinted Target Book Cover

NOVEL

Reprinted Virgin Book Cover

NOVEL

BBC Script Book Cover

SCRIPT

Target Audio CD Cover

Magazines

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (In Vision): Issue 5

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 97

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 297

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 347

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 488

Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 111

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
Fourth Doctor

Season 12

References

Doctor Who is the copyright of the British Broadcasting Corporation. No infringements intended. This site is not endorsed by the BBC or any representatives thereof.