Doctor Who Magazine 504

People often come up to me and say, ‘I think your Cybermen were the most frightening,’ I looked at them yesterday, when I re-watched The Tenth Planet, and I thought, ‘I suppose they are a bit scary.’ At the time, they got a lot of press, some of it very negative. Angry parents said that we were scaring the bejesus out of their kids. Am I personally responsible, with my Cybermen, for a whole generation of disturbed people? The number of adults who have come up to me and said, ‘Your Cybermen terrified me when I was a child,’ and I have apologised a thousand times...

At the time, I had no idea that my Cybermen would prove so iconic – none of us did – but I am overwhelmed by the fact that they became such an icon, and I’m really glad that I didn’t know at the time. I look back now and think how privileged I am to have had the opportunity to do something that has lasted for so long, and I enjoy every minute of talking to people about it. It makes me laugh. I think on my tombstone it will say, ‘She designed the Cybermen,’ and I’m okay with that. Cyber-Mum! Yes, I like it. I do love the Cybermen,” she concludes, “and I thank them for what they did for me.