Doctor Who: Every NuWho Cyberman Story Ranked Worst To Best
Doctor Who's second best villains have had their share of good and bad episodes.
While the Daleks may be the most famous Doctor Who villains, the Cybermen can stake a claim for a close second. Originally from the planet Mondas, the Cybermen were humans who upgraded themselves into emotionless cyborgs in a bid for self-preservation, who now seek to upgrade and uniform the universe in their image.
They first encountered the First Doctor in 1966's The Tenth Planet and over the subsequent decades they have continued to terrorise the Time Lord and leave children watching the TV from behind their sofa in fear. Such was their popularity, the Cybermen returned to become a recurring nemesis during the revival era and they have had the honour of being the big bad in multiple series finales.
Although not every episode they have appeared in has been a hit, some can count themselves among the best Doctor Who has to offer. With that in mind, we're ranking every NuWho story that the Cybermen have played a significant part in, so episodes where they have small cameos such as A Good Man Goes To War and The Time Of The Doctor won't be included. And we're basing this ranking on a mixture of the overall quality of the episode, as well as the Cybermen's contribution to it.
10. Closing Time
Sorry James Corden lovers, but this is a pretty terrible episode.
After first appearing in Series 5's The Lodger, Craig Owens (Corden) is reunited with the Eleventh Doctor as the pair investigate a Cybermen invasion taking place at a nearby department store.
In fairness the Gavin And Stacey star turned talk show host is hardly at fault for the episode's shortcomings. In fact Corden and Matt Smith's comedic chemistry is about the only thing the story has going for it.
Aside from bringing back the Cybermats from the classic series, the story offers nothing new for the Cybermen, who are defeated by one of the most over-used plot devices from the Steven Moffat era - love. Yes it's cute that the power of love for little baby Alfie is what wins the day for The Doctor and co. but it's also horribly cliched and just feels very bland on a rewatch.
Overall the whole episode is very forgettable, a bit of filler before the Series 6 finale. And given how overly convoluted and rushed The Wedding Of River Song turned out to be, it makes one wonder if Closing Time should have been scrapped in favour of a traditional two-part finale.