In 1981, the BBC screened an unprecedented number of Doctor Who repeats. Even more unprecedented was the number of stories older than 2 years. For fans like myself, these repeats gave a hint of a previously unknown era of the series. Although I knew about Hartnell and Troughton and had read the few novelisations of their stories, it was another matter entirely to actually see some of their stories.

Of course, fans were not entirely satisfied. The story chosen to represent the Troughton era was by no means the best. If the criteria for the broadcast was that the story should be 4 episodes why not show the vastly superior Tomb of the Cybermen? The BBC issued a response that saddened many a Doctor Who fan, myself included. It seemed that the BBC had been clearing out its stocks of old shows during the 70s, destroying them, to make space for new shows. Among the shows destroyed were a lot of the 1960s Doctor Who stories. At the time, only 15 Hartnell and 5 Troughton stories remained intact. Of the other 14 Hartnell stories, 10 were completely lost and of the other 16 Troughton, 8 were completely lost - including that much requested Tomb of the Cybermen.

Like many other fans, I consoled myself with Gerry Davis's fine novelisation of the television story. Like many fans I was amazed at the announcement in early 1992 that a copy of the complete story had been located in a Hong Kong television station. Within a few months, the story had been released on video. The Saturday before it was due to be released I spotted the video and so I bought it and dashed home to watch this long-awaited classic. I hated it!

I now know that it is possible to build up your expections so that the reality cannot even come close. That was what had happened with Tomb of the Cybermen. A couple of months after that initial viewing I watched it again. This time I did like it and subsequent viewings saw it quickly resume its place as a great Doctor Who story. The basic plot is probably that most loved of Science Fiction and horror plots - a small group, isolated and under threat from without. I would admit to this being one of my favourite plots - Aliens being perhaps the best example of such a story. Years later and the story remains highly watchable and it proudly wears its crown as one of the finest stories the series has produced. I'll give this one 89.25%.