Attack of the Cybermen is the first serial of the 22nd season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on 5 and 12 January 1985.
The Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown unsuccessfully attempt to fix the TARDIS when it picks up a distress signal from Earth in the year 1985.
Peri, Lytton, and his right-hand man Griffiths escape when the group is attacked by a damaged, maddened Cyberman, and the Doctor is imprisoned with the Cryon leader, Flast, who tells him that the Cybermen intend to use a time ship that they have captured to prevent the destruction of their original homeworld, Mondas.
Lytton and Griffiths make contact with the time ship's original crew, Bates and Stratton, who turn out to have been failed victims of conversion into Cybermen.
Both Nathan-Turner and script editor Eric Saward believed the tone of the story did not align with the more recent seasons and rejected it.
[4] In 2004, during an interview with Doctor Who Magazine, Saward said that he "effectively" wrote the script himself, incorporating Levine's story outline, with a "minor contribution" from Woolsey.
[12] According to Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times, Robinson "fought the lighting crew to keep the sewer scenes dark and effectively creepy".
[20] Doctor Who: The Television Companion's own review of the story is similarly critical of the scene, describing it as a "gratuitous incident" which is "unnecessarily nasty and gory".
It acknowledges some "saving graces", including Matthew Robinson's "polished direction" and Maurice Colbourne's return, who "manages to give a boost to every scene in which he appears", but states the story is "superficially exciting but it does not stand up to considered scrutiny or repeated viewing", describing it as "one of the most derivative stories that Doctor Who ever turned out".
He described the plot as "almost a rehash" of The Tomb of the Cybermen and thought Lytton's motivations were unclear and made little sense.
Mulkern stated that the story was not as bad as he remembered it to be and that there was "plenty of amusing lines and well-shot action."
Mulkern was critical of aspects of Peri's character and Bryant's inexperience as an actress, but enjoyed a "never less than entertaining, and often very funny" performance by Baker.
He concluded his review by stating "on balance Attack of the Cybermen is a brash start to season 22 that would benefit from another polish.
"[23] In the book Doctor Who: The Episode Guide, Mark Campbell awarded it three out of ten, describing it as "badly written and continuity-obsessed, with a predilection towards needless violence.