When she isn't adventuring in the TARDIS, Clara is a nanny to Angie and Artie. And when her two charges discover that Clara is a time traveller, they convince the Doctor to take them to Hedgewick's World of Wonders in the far future. Unfortunately, when the TARDIS lands, they discover that the legendary theme park has been abandoned by imperial decree. The only people left are a platoon of half-hearted soldiers, an impresario named Webley, and his assistant, the diminutive Porridge. But lurking in the shadows are the universe's last Cybermen, who believe the Doctor to be the final hope for the survival of the Cyber race.

Fantasy author Neil Gaiman's first Doctor Who script, Season Thirty-Two's The Doctor's Wife, was very well-received upon its broadcast in 2011. Later that year, executive producer Steven Moffat offered Gaiman the opportunity to contribute to the programme's thirty-third season. As a writer of novels, screenplays and comic books, Gaiman was perpetually in demand, and he advised Moffat that he was unlikely to have the time to commit to such a project -- especially since The Doctor's Wife had proved to be a time-consuming endeavour. However, he was persuaded when Moffat suggested that this would be an opportunity to revamp the Cybermen.

Introduced in 1966's The Tenth Planet as cyborgs from Earth's lost twin planet, Mondas, the Cybermen had seen their appearance and technology evolve throughout the Sixties and Seventies. During the Eighties, however, a largely consistent look was adopted, which was not superseded until Doctor Who's twenty-first-century relaunch. In 2006's Rise Of The Cybermen / The Age Of Steel, the Cybermen were reimagined as upgraded humans from a parallel universe. Again, however, the Cyberman costume thereafter underwent only minor changes, surviving for five years until 2011's Closing Time.

Neil Gaiman wanted to make the Cybermen more stealthy and spooky

A lifelong Doctor Who fan, Gaiman had fond memories of the four encounters between the Cybermen and the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton. He felt that it made sense for them to be regularly updated, thinking in terms of the rapid evolution of modern technology like smartphones. He also wanted to make the Cybermen more stealthy and spooky, whereas the modern versions had been portrayed as noisy and slow-moving. Gaiman felt that the parallel-universe Cybermen would likely have merged with their counterparts from Mondas, giving him the freedom to conceive a new form of Cyberman which drew upon the best of all of their previous appearances.

Alongside the Cybermen themselves, Gaiman wanted to revisit the Cybermats: small creatures used for infiltration which had first been seen in 1967's The Tomb Of The Cybermen and had most recently appeared in Closing Time. Gaiman knew that the Cybermats had been inspired by silverfish, which led him to take the concept to its next logical stage, in the form of the Cybermites. He imagined that this microscopic form of Cyber life could actually be a component of the process which turned a human being into a Cyberman.

Another starting point for Gaiman was the story of the Turk -- allegedly a man-shaped, chess-playing automaton constructed by Wolfgang von Kempelen in 1770 and eventually destroyed by fire in 1854. The Turk was, in fact, an elaborate hoax: the cabinet at which the lifelike figure sat was carefully designed to hide an operator, even though the space could be opened to reveal that it seemingly contained only the Turk's mechanisms. By sheer coincidence, Big Finish Productions released an Eighth Doctor audio play entitled The Silver Turk in October 2011, which also married the Cybermen to the legend of the Turk. It was written by Marc Platt, who had scripted the 1989 television adventure Ghost Light.

After considering various settings for his narrative -- including the Greater Cyrrhenic Empire, where 1978's The Ribos Operation had taken place -- Gaiman settled on a Fifties-era seaside fairground. However, when he described potential scenes such as an army of Cybermen emerging from the water onto the beach, he was informed by the production team that his notions were not achievable on the Doctor Who budget. Instead, Gaiman reworked his plans for a futuristic amusement park. At this stage, the Doctor was to be accompanied by a Victorian governess named Beryl and her two charges, Charlotte and Godfrey. Gaiman accordingly conceived elements which would suit Beryl's nineteenth-century origins, such as the presence of an alien freak show and the primacy of Porridge's duty to his subjects.

Neil Gaiman's work on “Silver Ghosts” ground to a halt when he left his laptop behind on an aeroplane

Gaiman began formally developing his storyline during December, initially as “The Last Of The Cybermen” and then “Silver Ghosts”. During January 2012, however, his work ground to a halt when he lost his laptop after leaving it behind on an aeroplane. Too busy with other commitments to reconstruct his Doctor Who work to date, Gaiman deferred further progress on “Silver Ghosts” until March. In the interim, it was decided that Beryl would not be the Doctor's new companion after all; she was replaced by the modern-day Clara Oswald, while Charlotte and Godfrey became Angie and Artie Maitland.

As such, Gaiman's revised narrative -- called “A Nightmare In Silver” -- introduced a number of changes. For instance, the alien freaks were reimagined as Alice's punishment platoon, which was initially conceived as being exclusively female. Meanwhile, the sequence in which the soldiers were attacked by a Cyberman moving at incredible speed was inspired by Gaiman's attendance at a party in late April to recognise the third anniversary of the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. Observing the silver balloons which festooned the venue, he considered how easy it would be for a Cyberman to inveigle itself into the proceedings unnoticed while the guests danced and celebrated.

At this stage, Gaiman's chief obstacle was the absence of a strong narrative thread for the Doctor, beyond a basic inclination to involve him in a game of chess. Ultimately, he turned to another element of Sixties-era Cyber lore: the Cyberman Planner. Although never named on screen, it had debuted in 1968's The Wheel In Space, where it was depicted as an immobile entity which directed the Cybermen's activities. Now it gave rise to the Cyber-Planner, which would manifest in the Doctor's mind as an evil version of the Time Lord, and serve as a more personal adversary than the faceless, emotionless Cybermen themselves. Having been impressed with Matt Smith's performance as the Doctor, Gaiman was delighted that this would provide an opportunity for the actor to play a very different role in Doctor Who.

On September 2nd, Gaiman accepted the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) for The Doctor's Wife at Chicon 7 in Chicago, Illinois. During his speech, he revealed that he was working on a second Doctor Who screenplay when he admitted that “it would be the act of a fool or a madman to try to do it again... so I'm on the third draft right now.” The new adventure was now called “The Last Cyberman”, with the showdown between the soldiers and the Cyber army taking place on an island attraction accessible only by boat. Like the castle which later replaced it, this environment was intended to come from the fictitious stories of a character called Natty Longshoe -- an homage to the eponymous heroine of Astrid Lindgren's 1945 children's novel Pippi Långstrump (that is, Pippi Longstocking).

The episode was to end with a scene featuring Cybermen from throughout their televised history

In the aftermath of the Cybermen's defeat, there was initially a sequence in which Angie saw an older version of herself -- wearing a wedding dress -- who had apparently been brought to the imperial ship by a future Doctor. The episode was to end with an ominous scene in the Cyberiad featuring Cybermen from throughout their televised history, including the “Oldest Cyberman” -- resembling those seen in The Tenth Planet -- who would hint at a broader plot to snare the Doctor.

Artie was still called Godfrey in Gaiman's first draft, while an auditory joke was provided by the revelation that the Captain's full name was Alice Ferrin Loveandwar. Nehemiah Webley, meanwhile, was named after folk and alternative musician Jason Webley, who had collaborated with Gaiman's wife, Amanda Palmer. The chess-playing Cyberman was dubbed Marvello, and then The Amazing Marvel, before losing its moniker altogether. Until a very late stage, the theme park was called Lampwick's World after the delinquent boy -- also known as Candlewick -- who led the title puppet astray in Carlo Collodi's 1883 classic Le avventure di Pinocchio. However, the name was amended to Hedgewick's World when it was discovered that there was an actual retailer of light fixtures called Lampwick's World.

“The Last Cyberman” was made as the tenth block of the Season Thirty-Three production calendar by director Stephen Woolfenden, for whom this would be his only Doctor Who story. It was the third of four consecutive episodes produced by Denise Paul, while Marcus Wilson -- who would receive a credit as series producer on these occasions -- turned his attention to the show's forthcoming fiftieth-anniversary special. Headlining the guest cast was Warwick Davis as Porridge. The diminutive actor, who was born with a bone condition called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, had enjoyed a long career in science-fantasy. Amongst his many roles were Wicket W Warrick of the Ewoks in Return Of The Jedi, Willow Ufgood in Willow, the title character in the Leprechaun series of horror films, and Professor Filius Flitwick in the Harry Potter movies.

The first scenes recorded for “The Last Cyberman” took place at Natty Longshoe's Comical Castle, which was actually Castell Coch in Cardiff. This work spanned November 7th to 9th and saw the debut of the revamped Cyberman costume. The new design had largely followed Gaiman's suggestion that it be more sleek, echoing the version introduced for 1967's The Moonbase. Filming on November 10th started on the TARDIS console room set at Roath Lock Studios, before the imperial ship stateroom was staged at Cardiff City Hall.

After a break on Sunday the 11th, it was back to Roath Lock on November 12th for sequences on the Spacey Zoomer ride. On the 13th, scenes in the barracks were taped at Newbridge Memorial Hall in Newbridge. Most of the remaining material in the Comical Castle took place in the headquarters area; this was the focus on November 14th and 15th at Caerphilly Castle in Caerphilly, with part of the latter day also spent on footage of the gatehouse and the moat. On the 16th, effects shots -- mainly set in the Doctor's mindscape -- and inserts were completed at MOD St Athan. The season finale, The Name Of The Doctor, began production the same day, as the requirements of the Doctor Who schedule necessitated the overlapping of Blocks Ten and Eleven.

Following the weekend, cast and crew returned to Roath Lock on November 19th for more sequences in the moonscape and the start of recording in the waxworks. The latter was completed on the 20th, after which Woolfenden moved on to the chess room. Scenes in the Cyber bunker were the focus during the early part of November 21st, but severe weather then scuppered plans to record the battle in the service area at Mir Steel in Newport. Meanwhile, a second unit under Jamie Magnus Stone was taping various effects and pick-up shots; Stone would later become a fully-fledged Doctor Who director himself, starting with Spyfall in 2020. Most of the footage which remained to be recorded for “The Last Cyberman” consisted of inserts, which were completed at Roath Lock on November 23rd, 29th and 30th, as well as December 1st. The exception was the deferred material in the service area. It was relocated to a different Newport site, Uskmouth Power Station, and filmed on November 26th.

During editing, a scene was dropped in which the Doctor mimicked Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, while masquerading as the Proconsul; ironically, Smith would later play the Duke of Edinburgh in the first two seasons of The Crown. Meanwhile, Gaiman was having second thoughts about the title of his episode. During an interview in early March 2013, he indicated that one candidate was now “The Saviour Of The Cybermen”. In the end, however, it was decided to go back to an amended version of one of the earlier working titles, and the story became Nightmare In Silver.

The new Cybermen blazed across television screens from 7.00pm on May 11th, fifteen minutes later than The Crimson Horror the week before. This was due to the insertion of additional programmes into the afternoon schedule, thereby delaying BBC One's entire evening block. As a result, shows like Doctor Who largely avoided ITV's coverage of the FA Cup Final between Wigan Athletic and Manchester City.

• Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #37, Autumn 2014, “Nightmare In Silver” by Andrew Pixley, Panini UK Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Complete History #74, 2018, “Story 238: Nightmare In Silver”, edited by John Ainsworth, Hachette Partworks Ltd.