In the serial, the neo-Nazi De Flores (Anton Diffring), the 17th-century sorceress Lady Peinforte (Fiona Walker), and the Cybermen fight for control of the Nemesis, a statue containing a living metal which crash-landed near Windsor Castle in 1988.
This asteroid has been approaching the Earth at twenty-five yearly intervals ever since, leaving a succession of disasters in its wake, and has now crash-landed near Windsor Castle.
At the crash site through some suspicious power outages, and evidence to support a third party, De Flores arrives with a regime of men at his side.
De Flores has only one man by the time the Cybermen are through with them, and as The Doctor seizes the bow Peinforte fires an arrow which hits the TARDIS and remains there.
Going back on said deal The Cyber Leader prepares to have De Flores converted to a Cyberman before The Doctor and Ace temporarily unite the statue with the bow, scattering all groups.
Peinforte and Richard arrive laying claim to the statue from The Doctor on threat of revealing a secret of his true identity.
[4] Writer Kevin Clarke, who appears twice in the serial itself playing a tourist at Windsor, discusses the development of the plot on the DVD.
He made up a story on the spot in front of producer John Nathan-Turner that the Doctor is literally God, though this was not realised on-screen.
[5] According to the DVD commentary, scenes were shot in woodland areas around Arundel Castle, notably the climax of Part Two, when the Doctor and Ace discuss the Cyber-threat while sitting near a fallen tree.
Leslie French, who plays the Mathematician, had turned down the role of The Doctor in 1963; thus, his casting was another nod to the series' beginnings in this Silver Anniversary story.
The production team tried to get Prince Edward involved in the show,[7] but his office politely declined in March 1988;[citation needed] the programme instead used an Elizabeth II look-alike.
[12] DVD Talk's Ian Jane gave Silver Nemesis three out of five stars, describing it as "phoned in" and a remake of Remembrance of the Daleks.
Despite this, he noted that the serial still had "a great concept, ... some cool moments, a couple of enjoyably awful puns and one superb character: nutjob Jacobean villainess Lady Peinforte".