Well, there’s your first out-and-out classic 9DA! Absolutely lovely marriage of ideas, a great script from John Dorney, fantastic sound design, Eccleston in full effect, one of Nick Briggs’ best performances…basically everything works. Not to rewrite history too much, but when I share these with my dad I am going to point him to Girl, Deconstructed, Planet Of The End, The Curse Of Lady Macbeth, and this as if they were the first box set. It’s a very clever riff on the TV story Dalek, reducing this monster race down to just one of them and really digging in on its particular psychology and situation, and it’s ultimately pretty moving, nicely tragic. It also finds its true villain’s motivation and a really lovely last scene in tying the Cybermen’s ideology to the slow motion slide into an authoritarian regime. Great supporting cast, well-directed. Loved this very much, a top end BF production! 4.75/5