- published: 08 Apr 2014
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Attack of the Cybermen is the first serial of the 22nd season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 5 January to 12 January 1985. Beginning with this serial and continuing for the remainder of Season 22, episodes were 45 minutes in length (as opposed to previous episodes which were 25 minutes long); for syndication, in some markets, this serial is re-edited into four 25-minute segments.
In the sewers of London, two workers are attacked by an unseen force. The Doctor's attempts to repair the TARDIS's systems, in particular the chameleon circuit, which enables the ship to alter its external form to something more suitable than the police box, cause the ship to behave chaotically in-flight. The Doctor eventually manages to pilot the TARDIS to Earth in the year 1985, where he shows Peri Halley's Comet, although she is more worried about the prospect of crashing into it.
On Earth, the former Dalek mercenary Lytton (from Resurrection of the Daleks) has apparently taken up a new life as a London gangster, and is plotting a £10 million diamond raid on the Bank of England with his cohorts Griffiths, Payne and Russell (the latter is played by Terry Molloy, normally seen in the role of Davros). The four intend to enter the bank through the same sewers where the two workmen were ambushed, but Lytton activates a strange transmitter before they enter the sewer. This emits a distress signal that the Doctor picks up, and he lands the TARDIS in a scrapyard in Totter's Lane to investigate. The TARDIS changes shape, to a rather conspicuous ornamental stove. After searching the area, he determines that the transmitter is a dummy, and returns to the TARDIS to find the real source. They arrive at the sewer entrance (where the TARDIS reshapes itself into an organ) and find the transmitter, but are held up by two policemen who are under Lytton's control.