10 Doctor Who Easter Eggs Only Hardcore Fans Spotted

Fans might've reasonably expected the Cybermen to crop up in the 50th anniversary special, alongside the Doctor’s other greatest enemy, the Daleks.

In the end, we didn’t get so much as a cameo – but what you might not know is that the Cybermen weren’t entirely absent from the story either.

For starters, there’s the Cyberman head on display in UNIT’s Black Archive, but this isn't the first time the metal monsters were glimpsed in the episode.

Earlier on, we see the Doctor and Clara explore the Under Gallery for the first time. Our attention, like the Doctor’s, is drawn to the display case containing a fez. But in the background, there’s something else waiting to be found: a painting of a shipwreck laden with… Cybermen?!

Quite what’s going on here is unclear. Does the ship belong to the Cybermen, or have they simply attacked it? And just what are they doing at sea anyway? (Then again, if Sea Devils can be pirates…).

And what of the painting’s origins? Who was the artist? And how did it get here? Does it depict an imagined scenario, or something that actually happened?

Whatever the case, it’s an awesome detail, and the perfect desktop background for any Doctor Who fan.