The Age of Steel

From his hovering zeppelin, moored near the Cyberman factory at Battersea Power Station, Lumic activates the EarPod devices and uses them to control the people of London, including Pete's wife Jackie, and bring them in to be upgraded.

The Doctor plugs the phone into the computer systems, causing the inhibitor signal to drop and sending the army of Cybermen into despair.

The Cybermen explode, setting the factory on fire, and Rose, the Doctor and Pete escape to the roof, where Mickey and Jake have control of the zeppelin.

The enraged Cyber Controller attempts to follow, but Pete causes him to fall by destroying part of the ladder using the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

According to an interview with Andrew Hayden-Smith, and comments given by Russell T Davies in a press conference, Ricky and Jake were initially intended to be gay lovers.

This episode, along with "Rise of the Cybermen", was produced in the same production block as the series finale story, "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday".

However, he noted that it worked as a "popcorn episode", with the Cybermen story being a "letdown" and "by-the-book", with the conversation between the Doctor and Lumic about emotions something that was commonly covered in science fiction.

[5] Nick Setchfield of SFX gave the two-parter a positive review, highlighting Harper's direction which he felt added imagination and menace to the Cybermen and the parallel universe.