I was really pleased to finally pick this set up before the Warlord Games BBC Dr Who license ran out at the end of 2022.

The series was aired at a time when there was significant ethical debate about heart transplantation, which was eventually to take place only months after the showing of the series.

On December 3, 1967, Dr Christian Barnard transplanted a heart from a 25-year-old woman fatally injured in a car accident into Lewis Washkansky, a 53-year-old South African grocer dying from chronic heart disease. Lung infection and pneumonia claimed Washkansky’s life 18 days later.

The Cybermen have all of the stereotype characteristics that were part of a conservative right wing push to ban organ transplants. The story goes that Telos Cybermen were once like us inhabiting the twin planet of earth, Mondas. Their scientists discovered ways to prolong and upgrade their race by replacing vital organs with metal and plastic. Each had the strength of eight men but all of their emotions had been removed. The Cybermen are more robot than man and are intent of conquering the galaxy and “upgrading” as many humans as possible to become like them. Surely this sort of thing would happen with organ transplants!

The Tomb of the Cybermen was the first serial of season 5 of Doctor Who, and was transmitted for the first time between the 2nd and 23rd of September, 1967. It introduced the first Cyber-Controller and the Cybermats.

The original video tapes of this four part series were wiped by the BBC, and for years only an off-air soundtrack survived.

Luckily, copies of the films were found in Hong Kong in 1991 and returned to the BBC archives, some 25 years after they were first shown. It is now the earliest full surviving series of the Second doctor.

WARNING SPOILER ALERT.

The story begins with the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria arriving on the planet Telos and encounter an archaeological expedition from Earth, who reveal they are searching for the last remains of the Cybermen.

After a controlled explosion , the entrance to the city is revealed. With the Doctor’s help, the expedition led b y Professor parry, enter a vast metallic chamber, with a central control unit and a hatch leading to the underground hibernation tombs where the Cybermen have laid dormant for centuries.

Eric Kleig and his business partner Kaftan, who funded the expedition, reveal their intention to revive the hibernating metal giants. Kleig believes he and his brotherhood of logicians can use their intelligence, matched with the strength of the Cybermen, to create an invincible army to conquer the galaxy.

The travellers soon learn the tomb is an elaborate trap. The Cybermen wanted to lure in suitable humans with enough intelligence to open the elaborate controls to the tomb, and then convert them into their own kind.

Toberman, Kaftan’s manservant is partially converted. The Doctor and the surviving explorers eventually manage to defeat the revived Cybermen, their controller, and robotic insectoids the Cybermats.

The Cyber Controller

They close the doors to the city forever, but with severe casualties.

The Tomb of the Cybermen is available on DVD.