Hour of the Cybermen written by Andrew Smith and directed by Jamie Anderson

What’s it about: Answering a call from UNIT, the Doctor arrives in London to find the streets deserted, apart from looters in possession of a valuable commodity - water. Britain is suffering an extreme and bizarre drought. The cause is suspected to be extra-terrestrial. The discovery of a signal being transmitted into space, and of a spacecraft whose crew are desiccated corpses, provides a possible answer. But the true enemy is an old foe of the Doctor’s. The Cybermen have been patient, setting their plans in place over a number of years. As the final stage is implemented, in the darkest hour, the Doctor must identify who among his allies he can trust. Not everyone wanted the Doctor called, even a month after the operation.

Softer Six: This is probably the sort of story we needed during season 22, a familiar sort of tale where the Doctor is called back by UNIT, welcomed and recognised. Whilst there was a shit ton of continuity in the Colin Baker, his was such a shockingly different and in your face Doctor it might have taken something as comfortingly familiar as this to help the audience to warm to him. Once again, I’m enjoying Sixie travelling on his ow. He’s the one incarnation that I would trust to have a monstrous enough ego to find it effortless to travel with himself. Should the Doctor be enhancing spectrometry software and progressing the Earth’s technology ahead of its time? Hypnotism isn’t a trait that the Doctor gets behind much these days (and if he did it would be the sonic screwdriver that did all the work) but it was always an endearing trait of the classic Doctors, as highlighted here. For once I had no clue how the Doctor was going to get the Earth out of this particular problem because the ransom that the Cybermen hold humanity to is airtight. Any attempt to intervene with their attempt to murder the people of England, then the peoples of the world will suffer the same fate. The Doctor refuses condemn a man for turning to the Cybermen to take away his pain, especially when he has been through such a trauma. It’s thoughtful characterisation of a Doctor who can occasionally be very heartless. Dealing with a heartbroken man who wants betray humanity gives the Doctor a chance to restate his faith in human emotions, but a more powerful and less florid way than he did in Earthshock (eating a well-prepared meal, indeed). It’s gorgeous when the Doctor and Cyberleader finally get to interact, it gives Sixie a chance to let rip with some cutting remarks and insults. He even gets a moment where he can be a right clever clogs as he turns the tables on the Cybermen.

Standout Performance: There was a genuine buzz about David Banks as the Cyberleader returning that I just couldn’t get my head around at the time it was announced. I thought, because the voice is treated surely an actor can play this part. Then while listening to this audio I was absolutely blown away at the amount of menace that Banks brings to the role and just how nice it is to have a Big Finish play where Nick Briggs isn’t having a monopoly on all the alien voices. Banks brings gravitas to the role, which really made this audio stand out from the other recent Cybermen attempts. And as ever the Cyber Lieutenant is a bit rubbish, like Bloodaxe to Irongron, he’s in complete awe of his superior.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘That gun is all flash and no bang I’m afraid.’
‘Removing emotion isn’t only a strength! It’s a kindness!’
‘They will relinquish all their fears when they become like us’ isn’t a great line in itself but coming from Banks it is a gripping promise.

Great Ideas: This isn’t a story that wants to keep you waiting to get involved. Like Invasion of the Dinosaurs (which the Doctor references), the Doctor arrives in a deserted London only to find UNIT troops rounding people up. It’s strange how the UNIT stories are being spread over the year rather than being told sequentially but it does give this new team a chance to establish themselves. In the 80s the Brigadier turned up in Mawdryn Undead, The Five Doctors and Battlefield and so if you think of this like that then the approach makes sense. Perhaps the idea is to make their appearances a treat rather than a chore. It also means that you can surprise people with developments, such as the death of Daniel’s family. Imagine England where water is a rare commodity and it is being sold on the black market to those who can afford it. A drought without any obvious cause and being targeted in one geographical location. Because of modern day techniques they are having bottled water shipped in but it’s not enough to meet demand. Britain is having a taste of third world thirst. Cerberus is UNITs new line of self defence against alien incursions. A network of alien satellites that orbit the Earth as an early warning system against the incursion of alien craft in Earth space. UNIT has its own astronauts now and use of American shuttles to deploy them to the satellites. This is a pretty exciting development for the organisation, one I would have loved to have seen in the eighties. A spaceship in orbit of the Earth filled with desiccated copses. It makes perfect sense to explore Cyber-conversion in a Colin Baker story, continuing the grisly work of Attack of the Cybermen. I always thought it was a crying shame that the classic series never capitalised on that in Silver Nemesis now the nastier aspects of conversion had been brought to light. The human body is 60% water and the Cybermen have a weapon that can evaporate every drop. They are exploiting a physical weakness this time around rather than an emotional one. The Varidians came to Earth to take revenge upon the Cybermen – they attacked their world and kidnapped tens of thousands of people! You have a character who has suffered a massive emotional shock and he finds the idea of the Cybermen taking away that grief a relief. Is that understandable or a betrayal? Plenty to think about. The trouble with having powerful satellites in orbit of the Earth is what if the alien life they are scanning for take control of them and use them for their own purposes? 200,000 Cybermen is enough to subdue the people of the Earth if they have the dehydration weapon. That will subdue, waiting for the Cybermen to mop up. Even 1% of the Earth’s population would be a significant boost to the Cybermen’s numbers, to spread their menace further out into the galaxy. One of the Cybermen’s most effective strengths is that they are patient. They will wait years for a plan to fall into place. When a slow protracted death by dehydration is the alternative, the Cybermen are banking on humanity taking the logic decision to walk into their conversion chambers.

Audio Landscape: The Cyber shuttle coming in to land at the end of episode one is beautifully done. It sounds genuinely epic.

Musical Cues: There’s a phenomenally foreboding score for the Cybermen this time around, that makes their arrival in the story a moment to remember. Steve Foxon is often imaginative in his use of music and this is no exception, I loved the heavy percussion and discordant stings during the Cybermen scenes. It really stressed that something quite inhuman was going on. Parts of this score feel as though they have leapt straight out of the mid-eighties whilst never feeling like a rip off. Bravo.

Standout Scene: There’s a fantastic moment in episode two where we are exposed to the sort of atrocities that the Cybermen commit when the Doctor isn’t around to stop them. Their abuse of Varidia and the mass conversion of their people is powerfully depicted. The cliff-hangers for episode two and three are something a bit special too. I don’t want to spoil any surprises. I don’t care if one nicks its moment from Resurrection of the Daleks because all the set up that has gone into making that moment stick is extraordinary. A great twist.

Result: ‘We rely upon the vulnerability of the human condition…’ An intriguing and riveting Cyberman story and one that plays out a little like The Flood from DWM (they’ve taken away the rain this time rather than infusing it with emotion) but with so many fun extra details it makes for a substantial and hugely enjoyable experience in its own right. I’m not the biggest fan of the metal meanies but even I have to admit that when they are presented well they are just about the most terrifying foe that the Doctor can face. The combined talents of several people ensure that this is a memorable spin for the walking cadavers from Mondas. Andrew Smith has written a terrific script that allows the Cybermen to prey on a weakness of humanity in an insidious way. I also loved how he exposed some of the Cyber atrocities that happen off screen away from the Doctor, it helps to give them an epic sense of threat. David Banks makes a startling return as the Cyberleader, all gravelly menace and aggressive threat. Steve Foxon ensures this is a truly immersive audio experience with some truly memorable sound effects and a terrifically robust score for the Cybermen. And the rest of the cast treat them with appropriate caution and fear that really sells the idea of their menace. A few examples aside (Spare Parts, The Harvest), I can’t think when I’ve enjoyed the Cybermen more on audio. Reunited with his old foes, Sixie is defiant, ruthless and smart. All his best qualities. Smith’s no-nonsense writing fits him like a glove. It’s not a story that is quick to reach its apex which allows for some fine suspense but when things finally blow we’re afforded some fantastic cliff-hangers and the discovery that I’ve come to care so much about the characters introduced in The Helliax Rift came as a complete surprise. Jamie Anderson is proving to be a real hotshot new director and how he assembles this piece really is avant garde. The plot is familiar, but the presentation is simply too gripping to miss out on. This isn’t a case of ‘just another return of the Cybermen’, they’ve made their reappearance into an event. I think Big Finish captures the best of the Cybermen in a way that eludes most of the TV series (although even they can have an off day like Sword of Orion and Last of the Cybermen) and they truly capitalise on the horrors of what these creatures represent. As classic Who as you can get, whilst still being brilliant listening: 8/10