Cyber co-creator Gerry Davis ideas become an audio drama for the Fifth Doctor’s Season 19 team.

While we famously saw the ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ in 1975, the origins of the Cybermen were only alluded to during Doctor Who‘s classic television run.

Instead, they appeared fully formed in ‘The Tenth Planet’, with the cloth-faced monstrosities fleeing their dying world of Mondas.

Modern stories such as ‘Rise of the Cybermen’ and ‘World Enough and Time‘ have attempted to remedy that omission with alternate takes, and Big Finish produced the superlative ‘Spare Parts’ back in 2002, but the co-creator of the Cybermen, former script editor Gerry Davis, had his own ideas.

They were pitched to the Doctor Who production office in the 1980s, but didn’t make it to the screen. However, they did come to light in the 1998 Cybermen book by David Banks, who played the Cyber-Leader during the 80s.

Genesis of the Cybermen

Now, Big Finish have returned to Davis’ plans with writer David K Barnes developing them into a full-cast audio drama. The four-part story stars Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor and his TARDIS team, circa 1982. That’s the mathematical genius Adric (Matthew Waterhouse), scientist Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) and truculent air-hostess Tegan (Janet Fielding).

A King lies dying in his castle. His eldest son Prince Sylvan is an artist with no desire to inherit a kingdom, while Prince Dega toils in his laboratory, dedicated to saving their dying people from extinction. They will all burn unless he succeeds.

When the TARDIS arrives, its crew believe they can help. But this planet is Mondas. And this is the Genesis of the Cybermen…

The regulars are joined by Nicholas Briggs, who voices the Cybermen. The guest cast includes Nuhazet Diaz Cano as Prince Sylvan, Kelly Price as Queen Meta, Colin Tierney as King Dega, Michael Abubakar as Young Dega/Raith, and Evie Ward-Drummond as Young Meta/Shan.

The drama is script edited by John Dorney, and directed and produced by David O’Mahony.

Writer David K Barnes said:

“The Cybermen book loomed large in my early fandom, because when I was 11 my teacher lent me her husband’s copy of it. I pored over that book: all those wonderful pictures of Cybermen through the ages! That’s the reason I’ve always had a sneaking preference for the Cybermen over the Daleks.

“The setting that Gerry envisaged is a wonderful fusion of futurism and fairy tale, all kings and castles and rival princes, with the Cybermen representing the perils of science without culture. I’ve tried to develop Gerry’s characters further, giving the story’s villain a stronger motivation, while digging into themes that seemed especially resonant today like climate change, mental burnout, and the tension between art and AI.”

Doctor Who – The Lost Stories: Genesis of the Cybermen is out now. It’s available on Collector’s Edition CD (+ download), or digital download only, exclusively from Big Finish.

Catch up with our reviews of recent Doctor Who – The Lost Stories releases including ‘Operation Werewolf‘ and ‘Deathworld’.