Cyberman Ident Interruption (TV story)

The Cyberman Ident Interruption was an ident broadcast on 1 July 2017 by the BBC, preceding the debut broadcast of The Doctor Falls, the finale of series ten of Doctor Who. Two versions of the ident broadcast were broadcast on BBC One and BBC One Northern Ireland, while Wales and Scotland merely got the standard idents.

	Duncan Newmarch, Paul Buckle
	Cyberman
	BBC studio, 2010s
	1 July 2017
	BBC One, BBC One Northern Ireland
	Ident
BBC idents
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Next →	Doctor Who ident (2018)

Unlike the majority of standard BBC idents, this ident — similarly to the Christmas idents that often feature DWU elements — had an in-universe gimmick of a Cyberman hijacking the broadcast.

Plot

BBC One

Duncan Newmarch presents a BBC One continuity announcement when a Cyberman bursts into the BBC studio, Newmarch exclaiming about the state of his door. The Cyberman asserts that it will instead perform the announcement and that Newmarch will be upgraded, proceding to stun him. The Cyberman then delivers its chilling message: "time is running out for the Doctor".

BBC One Northern Ireland

Paul Buckle presents a BBC One Northern Ireland continuity announcement when the same Cyberman bursts in to the studio, Buckle quizzically asking the Cyberman how it entered. Again, the Cyberman asserts that it will perform the announcment and that Buckle will be upgraded, stunning him. The Cyberman delivers the same message about the Doctor.

Cast

• Duncan Newmarch - himself
• Paul Buckle - himself
• Cyberman - Nicholas Briggs

Worldbuilding

• The video shown during the ident are of a group of kayakers in Killyleagh, before, momentarily, cutting to test card featuring a girl. This test card bears the name of the BBC channel of when it was originally used, being BBC 2 and BBC One Northern Ireland.

Notes

• The test cards appear to be Test Card F and Test Card X, respectively.
• The selection of Test Card F — the one used on BBC 2 Colour — was a subtle nod to the anniversary of the BBC having the first regular colour broadcasts in Europe.

Continuity

• This isn't the first time that an ident has been presented by a well known individual from the DWU; the Sixth Doctor also presented a continuity announcement for BBC3, as seen in the second episode of series one of Roland Rat: The Series, however the idents for that programme were fictional as BBC3 didn't exist at the time of broadcast, instead being Roland Rat's personal BBC channel.
• Although featuring the Daleks instead of the Cybermen, the 2021 audio story Incoming Transmission released on the Official Doctor Who Twitter account, they too hijacked a BBC property to announce a message.