Doctor Who: 5 Great Uses For A Cyber-Head

They're the impassive enemy who have faced the Doctor since the end of his first incarnation, plaguing his footsteps like rust on a Ford Cortina. Yet despite being emotionless killing machines dictated by cool logic, there is one way in which the Cybermen have lost their heads - and that way is quite literally!

Yes, for some reason the former citizens of Mondas are the most-decapitated of all the Time Lord's foes. Quite why this is the case is a question for the ages, but once their distinctive noggins started getting lopped off, writers seemed to include some form of beheading in every story. The Cyber-Head has become a recurring element of our beloved Gallifreyan's travels, used for a surprising variety of purposes.  The resurgent version of the series has taken this up with a vengeance, as the silvery giants' detached bonces appeared in key roles for the adventures of certain NuWho regenerations.

This article picks up the recently-severed head, gives it a shake, and peeks inside for a full lowdown on the flagrant use of the highest form of Cyber-anatomy throughout the first 50 years of Doctor Who. As the Cyber Leader might say, "This is illogical!" But it's too late to raise any objections now as the range of functions for a discombobulated super-soldier are definitively revealed...

Christopher Eccleston's tantalisingly-titled story Dalek was much-anticipated, but fans were in for an extra treat during the episode's opening moments when the TARDIS landed in a futuristic museum in Utah. Accompanied by Billie Piper's Rose, the Doctor stopped at a particular glass case, hardly believing his hard Northern eyes.

Staring back at him was a Cyber helmet and, unusually for this rebooted series, it was retro in nature, acquired via early Tom Baker era hotchpotch Revenge of the Cybermen. In fairness, it was probably the quickest evidence of Mondasian dominance the production team could lay their hands on. Even so, it provided a chilling echo of the Time Lord's history.

The collection turned out to be the pet project of overindulged American Henry van Statten, who thought it a good idea to keep a Dalek chained up as the ultimate exhibit. How wrong he turned out to be, but he went down in the canon for a singular and bizarre reason - as the first man to display a Cyber-head as a talking point for the wealthier end of society, putting the mighty race on a par with hummus and the state of the pound. Put it like that and you can see why Eccleston's reaction was one of utter sympathy.