Hour of the Cybermen (audio story)

 was the two hundred and fortieth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Andrew Smith and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, Blake Harrison as Daniel Hopkins, Russ Bain as Lewis Price, David Banks as the Cyber Leader and Mark Hardy as the Cyber Lieutenant.

The story is noted for David Banks and Mark Hardy reprising their respective roles of the Cyber-Leader and the Cyber-Lieutenant for the first time for Big Finish, and for the first time in performed Doctor Who since Silver Nemesis 30 years earlier.

Publisher's summary
Answering a call from UNIT, the Doctor arrives in London to find the streets deserted, apart from looters in possession of a valuable commodity - water.

Britain is suffering an extreme and bizarre drought. The cause is suspected to be extra-terrestrial.

The discovery of a signal being transmitted into space, and of a spacecraft whose crew are desiccated corpses, provides a possible answer. But the true enemy is an old foe of the Doctor's.

The Cybermen have been patient, setting their plans in place over a number of years. As the final stage is implemented, in the darkest hour, the Doctor must identify who among his allies he can trust.

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Colin Baker
 * Cyber Leader - David Banks
 * Cyber Lieutenant - Mark Hardy
 * Riva - Frog Stone
 * Daniel Hopkins - Blake Harrison
 * Atriss / Bill Parker / Captain Weaver - Wayne Forester
 * Lewis Price / Kel - Russ Bain

Worldbuilding

 * Riva, Atriss, and Kel are Veridians from Veridia.
 * Hopkins lost his family five years ago. He encountered the Cybermen four years ago.
 * The Cybermen's attack on Veridia, where they killed or converted tens of thousands of Veridians, occurred three or four years ago.
 * Cyber-conversion begins with changing the biological chemistry of the subject, increasing adrenalin and endorphins.
 * The Cyber-Force is a typical Cyber-Fleet of at least twenty Cyber-Warships, with a conservative estimate of two hundred thousand Cybermen. They hide on the sea bed beneath the Atlantic Ocean.
 * The flagship contains Cyber-Control.
 * The Cybermen use a shuttle.
 * Cybermen measure time in "cycles."
 * Each warship has several vaults, each holding at least a thousand cyber-pods, which serve as hibernation units.
 * Water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen. The Cybermen's weapons evaporate hydrogen molecules.
 * The Cybermen broadcast a message in all languages to everyone on Earth, giving them one hour to surrender.
 * Cyber-nanotechnology is sentient. UNIT does not have the capability to detect cyber-technology.

Continuity

 * The Doctor hopes that dinosaurs are not responsible for a deserted London again. (TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
 * Price and Hopkins reference previously meeting the Doctor in his fifth incarnation. (AUDIO: The Helliax Rift)
 * The Doctor mentions that Cybermen have utilised the poles before. (TV: The Tenth Planet)
 * The Cyber-Leader immediately identifies the Doctor. (TV: Silver Nemesis)
 * The Cybermen are of the design identified by ArcHivist Hegelia as "CyberNeomorph". (AUDIO: The Ultimate Cybermen)