7.13. Nightmare In Silver

Series 7 - 2012/2013

Writer: Neil Gaiman
Series Producer: Marcus Wilson
Produced by: Denise Paul
Director: Stephen Woolfenden

Synopsis

After the children Clara were looking after blackmailed her about her time travelling the Doctor takes Clara, Angie and Artie to Hedgewick's World, the biggest and best amusement park there will ever be. Whilst looking around what is supposed to be the moon a man, Webley, appears asking them if they are Dave's Discount Removals. Moments later an armed squad appear asking the Doctor to identify himself.

The leader, Captain Alice Ferrin, tells the Doctor the planet is closed by Imperial Order. The Doctor shows his psychic paper, and is welcomed as the Proconsul. The Captain asks if there is any news of the Emperor, and tells the Doctor if there is anything he needs her platoon is at his service.

After the soldiers have gone Webley re-emerges and shows them Hedgewick's World, or what is left of it. It's now just a collection of broken down and decaying rides. He then takes them to see his collection - Webley's World of Wonders. Webley asks if anyone plays chess, and when Artie says he is in his school chess club Webley shows him a special exhibit - an old broken and rusting Cyberman. Webley tells there is no need to panic as everyone knows there are no more living Cybermen. The Doctor looks inside but finds it's empty, but yet it moves. What no-one sees are the two small metal creatures watching.

Webley offers two Imperial shillings to anyone who can beat the Cyberman at chess. Artie wagers a sandwich and takes the challenge., and loses the first game. The Doctor looks underneath the Cyberman and finds a man, Porridge, controlling the Cyberman. Webley tells the Doctor he has three Cybermen in his collection, as well as a statue of the Emperor.

Originally the Doctor told the children about the Spacey Zoomer ride. Porridge operates the gravity controls, allowing the children to float whilst Clara stands by and takes pictures on her phone. Clara says it is time to get them home, but the Doctor doesn't want to leave just yet. He is more interested in tiny insects. The Doctor settles the children in to a pair of sofas and tells them to get some sleep and he will wake them when he is ready to leave. As the Doctor leaves Angie thinks it would be better to investigate.

Webley is clearing away the chess set when he is grabbed by the Cyberman. As he watches tiny creatures, like insects, start running over the Cyberman, giving it power. The start to crawl over Webley, and the Cyberman announces an upgrade is in progress,

As the Doctor looks for more insects Clara is talking to Porridge about Hedgewick's World. Porridge tells her after the planet was trashed in the Cyberwars against the Cybermen Hedgewick managed to get the planet cheap. Clara asks how the Cybermen, who are able to continually repair and upgrade themselves were beaten. Porridge points to a black region in the sky that used to be the Tiberion Spiral Galaxy, home to a million systems, and a hundred million worlds. No more Tiberion system, no more Cybermen.

In the barracks on the planet the soldiers are having problems with one of the communicators. It's not broken, it's empty. All the parts have gone. To make matters worse Angie finds her way to the barracks. Artie has been left alone, and felling scared he turns the lights back on. An active Cyberman appears behind him.

As Clara and the Doctor turn up in the barracks to find Angie an active Cyberman appears. The soldiers start firing, but the Cyberman has upgraded and is able to move quickly between the gunfire. It picks up Angie and carries her off. The Doctor asks the Captain about her platoon, and she tells him that in is a punishment platoon, and they have been sent to Hedgewick's World where they cannot cause too much trouble. As he is considered the Imperial Consul the Doctor puts Clara in charge and tells Clara to not let them blow up the planet as he goes to find Artie, Angie and insects. Clara tells the platoon to find somewhere defensible. The Captain shows her a layout of the amusement park, and Natty Longshoe's Comical Castle, complete with drawbridge and moat.

Angie is taken by Cyberman to Webley and Artie. Webley has strange metal parts over his face, and Artie has something attached to his head, flashing blue. In a metallic voice he tells Angie to wait whilst an upgrade is in progress. The doctor goes back to Webley's to find Artie, and instead finds a tiny metal insect. Using the sonic screwdriver he is able to deactivate the Cybermite. The Cybermite has an open transmat link to its home, and using the sonic screwdriver the Doctor transmats to what looks like a spaceship where he finds Angie and Artie. Webley, under control of the Cybermen, tells the Doctor that the Cybermen need children, but they stopped coming, until the Doctor brought some. Webley tells the Doctor that the Cyberplanners built the Valkyrie, a place where Cybermen could be brought and repaired. Children were needed as they have the imagination the Cybermen needed. But after scanning the Doctor's brain the Cyberplanner have detects a higher intelligence. Webley throws Cybermites at the Doctor, and immediately they begin the conversion process. Cyberimplants appear, and the Cybermites begin to analyse the new body. They are in control of the Doctor, but he is occasionally able to fight back and take back control of his body.

As the Cybermites, and in turn the Cyberiad, learn more about the Doctor the Doctor also learns about them. He also allows them to understand regeneration, and that he could easily let himself regenerate and wipe out any traces of the technology in his system. With the Doctor fighting no power has overall control of the brain. The Doctor proposes a game of chess, and the winner gets control of the brain.

Meanwhile, in one of the power stations, a soldier, Missy, thinks she can see something ahead. She can't tell if it is another Cyberman. She tries to hide, but the Cyberman detaches its hand, and the hand is able to get through smaller gaps and find Missy. Back at the Castle news of Missy reaches Clara, and she knows an attack is on its way. Clara looks at the weaponry. All there is one anti-cyber gun, a wrist unit that can send an electromagnetic pulse through the head of a Cyberman, and a device that can implode the planet. Clara takes control of the control unit.

During his chess match the Doctor is able to learn that the implants are still using some of the old Cybertechnology which was susceptible to various items, including gold. Uisng a golden ticket the Doctor is able to temporarily disable the implant. He grabs the chess set and moves to a different area.

Even thought Captain is technically under Clara's orders she is still willing to blow up the planet. She tells Clara that standard procedure is if you find a Cyberman, and cannot destroy it, you implode the planet it is on, even if that means suicide. The Captain prepares to activate the weapon, using the vocal code that only she knows, Before she can finish saying the code a Cyberman fires.

The Doctor, along with Webley, Angie and Artie make it to the castle where he is greeted by Clara. He first tells her about the way he has the Cyberplanner in his head, and the breaks the news about the children being under Cyber control. The Doctor tells Clara that more Cybermen are on the way, and that someone should tie him up - leaving his hands free for chess.

With more Cybermen on the way, and with the Doctor immobilised and playing chess against himself, Clara is in charge. She spots a power cable, and tells two solider to drop it in to the moat in the hope it will fry anything that enters. The Cyberplanner tricks Clara into handing over the remote trigger for the bomb, and destroys it, as millions of Cybermen prepare to take the castle. One of the Cybermen steps into the moat, and is temporarily affected by the electricity until it upgrades. All the other Cybermen upgrade accordingly and start to make their way through the moat.

The Doctor is losing his chess match. The Cyberplanner gives him a choice. Keep limping along, or sacrifice his queen and get the children back. The Doctor sacrifices the queen, and the Cyberplanner relinquishes control of the children. Before the Cyberplanner takes control of the Doctor he tells the Cyberplanner that it would have been checkmate in three moves. When the Cyberplanner demands to know how the Doctor tells it to work it out. To do that it devotes all possible computing power to the problem - and this means using all the Cybermen. The Cybermen attacking the castle slowly halt as all the power is diverted to solving the chess problem.

Earlier on Porridge had entered the room but had been knocked unconscious by Webley. He had one of the electromagnetic hand pulsars. The Doctor is able to use this, with a bit of help from the sonic screwdriver, against himself. The Cyberplanner is redistributed amongst the Cybermen, and the implants leave the Doctor, leaving him back to his normal self. The Doctor tries to activate the bomb, but it needs an activation code.

Angie then tells them to ask Porridge. She seems to be the only one to notice that Imperial coins, and the statue, have is face, only the statue is bigger. Porridge is really the Emperor, and does know the codes. Porridge, or rather Emperor Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, called Longstaff the 41st defender of humanity and Imperitor of known space, arms the bomb. It has a timer set to 80 seconds, which is long enough for the Imperil Flagship to identify and locate him and transmat him, and any other survivors, aboard, along with the TARDIS. As they watch the Hedgewick's World is destroyed.

Regular Cast

  • Clara Oswald: Jenna-Louise Coleman

Guest Cast

  • Angie: Eva De Leon Allen
  • Artie: Kassius Carey Johnson
  • Webley: Jason Watkins
  • Porridge: Warwick Davis
  • Captain Alice Ferrin: Tamzin Outhwaite
  • Beauty: Eloise Joseph
  • Brains: Will Merrick
  • Ha-Ha: Calvin Dean
  • Missy: Zahra Ahmadi
  • Cyberman: Aidan Cook
  • Voice of the Cybermen: Nicholas Briggs
Uncredited:
  • Psycho: Georgina Burford
  • Platoon: Anneliese Murray, Sasha Latoya, Alphaues Daniel, Eugene Henderson, Julian Saeger, Danielle Saunders
  • Double for Artie: Morgan Baulch
  • Double for Angie: Sian Boudreaux
  • Hand Double for Webley: Matt Humphreys
  • Doubles for Webley: Ian William George, Justin Beaver
  • Hand Double for the Doctor: Matt Humphreys
  • Hand Double for Angie: Charlotte Lane
  • Double for the Doctor: Ian William George
  • Cybermen: Martin Challinor, Toby Rattery, Angus Brown, Paul Bailey, Charlie Smith, Simon Carew
  • Female Guard: Anne Lyken Garner
  • Female Guard (Gloria): Katie Dowler
  • Male Guards: Remmington Croney, Sy Turner

Original broadcast on the BBC

Channel Title Date Viewers Rating
BBC 1 (HD) 13. Nightmare In Silver Saturday, May 11, 2013 7:00 PM - 7:45 PM 6.64M 84

Click here to show repeat broadcasts on the BBC

Studios

  • BBC Roath Lock Studios: Studio 1
  • BBC Roath Lock Studios: Studio 2
  • BBC Roath Lock Studios: Studio 3
  • BBC Roath Lock Studios: Studio 4

Outside Locations

  • BBC Roath Lock Studios: Exterior
  • BBC Roath Lock Studios: Exterior (Studio 2)
  • Caerphilly Castle, Castle Street, Caerphilly
  • Castell Coch, Tongwynlais, Cardiff
  • City Hall, Cathays Park, Cardiff
  • MOD St Athan, St Athan, Barry
  • Newbridge Memorial Hall, Celynen Colliers Institute & Memorial Hall, High Street, Newbridge
  • Uskmouth Power Station, West Nash Road, Newport