Krail
Krail was the name taken by the Mondasian Eric Krailford following his conversion into a CyberMondan. He was one of the first wave of Cybermen to invade the Snowcap Base in Antarctica in December 1986 with the intention of detonating a Z-Bomb in its missile silo.
Biography
Life on Mondas
Eric Krailford was a friend of Yvonne Hartley. He was recruited by the Central Committee of Mondas to work as one of the "Surface teams" that worked on Mondas' propulsion engines on the surface of the planet. However, due to the freezing nature of the conditions on Mondas' surface, he was converted into a Cyberman to be able to work on the surface of Mondas, like all of the other surface teams. Yvonne's brother Frank taunted her with this information over dinner during Nyssa's stay at their family house. (AUDIO: Spare Parts)
Invasion of Earth
During their invasion of Earth, Krail acted as Cyber-Leader, (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet, AUDIO: The Five Companions) and spokesman of the Cybermen at their point of contact at Earth's South Pole. When he and the other Cybermen of his wave invaded Snowcap Base, Krail explained that they were Cybermen, and explained briefly about their background and intentions before Cutler activated a control which gave an emergency signal to Europe. Krail ordered Cutler to contact Europe and tell them that nothing further had happened and that all was well, but Cutler refused and was knocked unconscious by another Cyberman. He refuted the First Doctor's statement that emotions had value.
Krail forced Barclay into contacting Europe by saying that he would destroy communications with Zeus IV, and Barclay briskly did as he was bid. Then, Barclay and everyone else were allowed to try to help Zeus IV get back to Earth, but Krail claimed it was a waste of time and a forlorn conclusion as the pull of Mondas was too strong. After Ben Jackson tried to use a gun on the Cybermen, Krail took it from him, broke it with his strength and had him locked in the projector room. The capsule then exploded, and Krail used this to back up his point that Earth wasn't safe, and in order to save everyone, he required everyone's name and age as he intended to take them back to Mondas to become like them. He didn't see why he and the Cybermen should mind if everyone on Earth died.
Along with Shav, Krail was killed by a handheld Cyber-weapon used by Cutler. (TV: The Tenth Planet)
Behind the scenes
There are no individual credits for any named Cybermen in the serial The Tenth Planet, leading to some debate as to which Cybermen were voiced by Peter Hawkins and which by Roy Skelton; however, as Skelton is the only listed voice actor for Episode 2 - Krail's only appearance - it follows that he is the voice actor for Krail.
Krail's original Mondasian name is only heard in Spare Parts; however, Krail does not physically appear in the story and is only mentioned in passing by Frank Hartley.
Krail was to appear in the abandoned script of Genesis of the Cybermen.[1]
