LOST AND FOUND
Doctor Who drops first trailer for ‘darker and scarier’ reboot of lost episode Return of the Cybermen
DOCTOR Who fans may find themselves hiding behind the sofa once more – as show bosses remake a “darker and scarier” version of 1975’s Revenge of the Cybermen.
The original script – which was initially called Return of the Cybermen when penned a year earlier – was totally rewritten before airing the following year for The Doctor’s 12th season.
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Created by legendary show writer Gerry Davis, the original unused draft was buried in the archives until an expert detective was hired to hunt them down.
Now the episode is being brought back to its original form and with its original title as part of the Doctor Who – The Lost Stories range.
Return of the Cybermen will see the Doctor (then played by Tom Baker) returning to space station Nerva to find a mysterious plague killing off the crew.
Baker, 86, is set to reprise his role as the Fourth Doctor in their audio adaptation of the story.
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The new lost story from the distant past of Doctor Who will emerge as a full-cast audio drama due for future release by Big Finish.
Fans of Davis will notice the more ominous vibe, similar to those in the 1960s Cybermen episodes.
Producer David Richardson said: “I’d known of Return of the Cybermen for many years, but it was only relatively recently that I was able to source Gerry Davis' script thanks to some great detective work by archivist Richard Bignell.
“It’s rather different in tone to Revenge of the Cybermen – darker, scarier and more reminiscent of claustrophobic 1960s Cybermen tales like and .”
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Director Nicholas Briggs added: “It was interesting working with Tom on this, because he noticed the difference in style immediately.
“This is Doctor Who as Gerry Davis imagined it in 1974, and it’s very much like he wrote Doctor Who in the mid-1960s.
“We had loads of fun, as usual, with Tom finding it particularly amusing when I was directing him with a Cyberman voice effect.
“At one point, he asked, 'Is he talking to me?' which made us all laugh out loud!”
Doctor Who – The Lost Stories is a series of adventures originally written for the television series but never produced, until now.
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Previous releases include stories featuring many familiar enemies of the Doctor, including , , and .
It’s the second piece of good news in as many days for fans of the popular BBC sci-fi franchise.
We reported yesterday how fans have reacted with joy at watching the first trailer for the latest animated version of a classic episode.
The Faceless Ones, first released in 1967, sees the second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his companions uncover a sinister alien plot at Gatwick Airport, and is the latest story to get the cartoon treatment.
Doctor Who: Return of the Cybermen will be released in 2021 and is now available for pre-order as a collector’s edition 2-disc box set or download from just £12.99, exclusively at .
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