'Ascension of the Cybermen' (Story Code 12.09) by Chris Chibnall

“The death of everything is within me.” - Ashad

Years ago, an Irish farmer named Patrick finds a baby abandoned in a country lane; after taking the child home, Patrick and his wife Meg adopt the child as their own, naming him Brendan…

In the far future, the Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz arrive at the location of Shelley’s coordinates: the shattered remains of a human settlement in the aftermath of the Cyberwar, where the last few survivors of humanity are sheltering. As two Cyber-Shuttles land nearby, the Doctor and her fam offer their help to the refugees; the leader, Feekat agrees, and watches as the new arrivals set up the equipment they have brought with them: a neural inhibitor to disrupt their enemies’ minds, a particle projector to lace the air with gold particles, and a force field. The Doctor instructs Feekat to get everyone inside the nearest building, while she and her gang hold off the enemy. The Cybermen attack using Cyber-Drones, flying heads whose deadly energy blasts make short work of the Doctor’s equipment, killing two of the humans in the attack. Left with no plan and the way to the TARDIS cut off, the Doctor orders her friends to stay with the refugees while she faces the enemy. The battle-damaged Cyberman named Ashad arrives and instructs his two Cyber-Guards to target the Doctor’s fam; in the confusion, Ryan is separated from Graham and Yaz, who manage to avoid the Cyber-Drones’ gunfire and reach the shelter of the humans’ damaged Grav-Raft spaceship. Three of the survivors, Ravio, Yedlarmi and Bescot, manage to get the Grav-Raft to take off, blasting into space with Graham and Yaz aboard. Ashad tracks down and kills Feekat, but another refugees, Ethan, is saved by the Doctor and Ryan thanks to a grenade and some timely running. Unable to reach the TARDIS, the Doctor decides to steal a Cyber-Shuttle…

[Brendan grows up to be a fine young man, pleasing his adoptive parents by applying to become a policeman.]

Aboard the Grav-Raft, Graham and Yaz wonder how they can return to the Doctor and Ryan. Ravio and her comrades resolve to fly to Ko Sharmus and ‘The Boundary’, a gateway out of the galaxy to a safe place away from Cybermen; unfortunately, the ship’s systems suffer a meltdown under the strain, and the controls explode. Aboard the hijacked Cyber-Shuttle, the Doctor and Ryan are impressed by Ethan’s hotwiring and piloting skills; as they travel to Ko Sharmus at warp speed the trio receive a holo-message from Ashad, who vows to find and destroy them. Ashad proves a very emotional Cyberman: gloating of bringing glory to the Cyber-Empire, the zealot believes he was chosen to revive the Cyber-Race…

[Brendan is shot point-blank while chasing a thief, and falls off a cliff. But to everyone’s surprise he survives the incident, without a mark on him…]

As Ravio and her crew conserve the last of the Grav-Raft’s power, they hear a banging on the hull; Yaz looks out a viewport and reports that they are surrounded by bits of dead Cybermen, floating in space. Seeing a number of dormant spaceships nearby, Graham and Yaz suggest channelling the life support power into the raft’s propulsion system so that they can dock with one of the vessels; the plan works, and the Grav-Raft blasts into the docking bay, where it is safely landed by the ship’s automatic systems. Aboard his Cyber-Shuttle, Ashad and his guards reach the end of their quarries’ trail and set course for the dormant carrier ship… As her stolen shuttle arrives at Ko Sharmus, the Doctor calls out on the radio; surprised to discover that Ko Sharmus is a man, the Doctor brings her ship in to land. Aboard the carrier ship, Graham and Yaz are perturbed to learn that they are inside a Cyberman War Cruiser. The group of humans reach the control deck, where Yedlarmi and Bescot begin reactivating the ship’s systems and set course for Ko Sharmus. Graham and Ravio set off to search the ship, and soon discover that it contains over a million metal cannisters, each containing a sleeping Warrior-Class Cyberman. Elsewhere, Ashad and his guards arrive on the carrier… The Doctor, Ryan and Ethan learn that Ko Sharmus is an ex-soldier from the Cyber-Wars, and an internment camp escapee; after founding the settlement on this world, he helped everyone through the Boundary, but remained behind in case any other survivors came there. On the carrier ship, an alert warns Yedlarmi, Bescot and Yaz that they have been boarded. Warned by the others over the ship’s comms system, Graham and Ravio evade Ashad and his guards and reach the control room. When Ravio realises they cannot take the Cybermen to Ko Sharmus, Graham and Yaz resolve to find a way to find the Doctor and take down their enemies. Using the ship’s obs system the humans watch as Ashad starts to reawaken his army, using a device that makes the Cyber-Warriors scream in agony… Ko Sharmus takes the Doctor, Ryan and Ethan to the shoreline, where a purple-tinged portal opens in mid-air…

[Brendan retires from the police force. But instead of going home with his retirement clock, he is escorted by his father and an old police friend - both showing no signs of age - into the station’s back office. Handcuffing Brendan to a chair, the two men place a set of headphones on him, then activate a strange bank of machinery. Brendan screams in pain as his memories are wiped…]

Aboard the War Cruiser, Ashad leads his Cyber-troops through the ship to the control deck. As the vessel comes out of warp around the Boundary planet, Yaz manages to get a radio call to the Doctor, warning of the reawakened Cyber-Army. Graham tries locking the control room door, but it gives way under the onslaught of the Cybermen… On the shore, the Doctor is astonished to see the ruins of Gallifrey through the Boundary. Then a figure bursts from the portal and lands on the beach: none other than the Master, who brings a warning to the Doctor that everything is about to change forever…


Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Bradley Walsh (Graham O'Brian), Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), Sacha Dhawan (The Master), Patrick O'Kane (Ashad), Julie Graham (Ravio), Ian McElhinney (Ko Sharmus), Alex Austin (Yedlarmi), Steve Toussaint (Feekat), Rhiannon Clements (Bescot), Matt Carver (Ethan), Jack Osborn (Fuskle), Evan McCabe (Brendan), Branwell Donaghey (Patrick), Orla O'Rourke (Meg), Andrew Macklin (Michael), Caolan Byrne (Sergeant), Nicholas Briggs (Voice of Cybermen), Matthew Rohman (Cyberman), Simon Carew (Cyberman), Jon Davey (Cyberman), Richard Highgate (Cyberman), Richard Price (Cyberman), Mickey Lewis (Cyberman), Matthew Doman (Cyberman), Paul Bailey (Cyberman)

Directed by Jamie Magnus Stone
Produced by Nikki Wilson
Executive Producers Chris Chibnall and Matt Strevens
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC 1 & BBC 1 HD):
23rd February 2020 @ 7.10 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz

*Part two of a three-part story