The Longleat Cyberman - A Doctor Who Monster Story

The BBC Exhibitions
After several years in storage with only an occasional appearance in front of a camera, the Cybercontroller costume was given a very public role when the new Doctor Who exhibitions opened on Blackpool's Golden Mile and at Longleat House in 1974.
The new displays drew mainly from the series' more recent seasons, and the Blackpool exhibition opened with monsters including Alpha Centauri, a Draconian, an Axon, a Sea Devil, plus a few newly-made Daleks. The earlier years of the series were represented by a Yeti and a Cyberman, and it was the old Cybercontroller costume - with a chest unit from The Invasion and a head from The Wheel in Space - which became the Blackpool exhibition's Cyberman. This same combination of parts was previously seen on the 1969/70 photoshoot, which may have been used as a guide when gathering the components for the display costume - although perhaps not for assembly, as the chest unit was attached upside-down. The two venues would exchange and replace exhibits while closed during the winter. Possibly transferred to Longleat in the late 1970s, the costume was back in Blackpool for the 1980 season where exhibition visitor Craig Robins took the picture seen at right. By this time, the Wheel in Space head used in the early years of its exhibition career had been replaced with the then up-to-date Revenge of the Cybermen style. Based on all the photos and descriptions I have managed to find, the Cyberman / Cybercontroller bodysuit was the oldest original costume ever to appear in the exhibitions.
	Aside from the chest unit being upside-down, there was another notable difference from the costume's previous appearance. Extra strips of tubing had been added; one at the neck, either to keep the mask from slipping or to hide a gap between the mask and costume, and two at the hips to connect with the chest unit. The impressions from these hip tubes are still visible on the Longleat Cyberman. Only temporarily tied on for the photoshoots, the chest unit was now attached with clips at each corner which pierced the bodysuit fabric; the small holes made by these clips are still present today, their positions matching the exhibition unit's lopsided placement exactly.
Examination of the Longleat Cyberman had revealed a significantly greater accumulation of dust on the front of the right forearm tube as compared to other parts of the suit. The rear of the same tube is noticeably cleaner than average. This suggested that at some point the costume had been posed standing upright and with the right arm slightly raised, and it must have stayed that way for a considerable time. Photos from the exhibitions consistently show that the costume was displayed in just such a posture from 1974 until at least 1980, explaining the dust pattern.
	It is just possible to discern that the second rows of leg tubes were still present during the costume's years in the exhibitions. As on the photoshoots, the lower leg tubes are being buckled due to the inadequate height of the display dummy. Other visitor photos appear to show that the Longleat Cyberman's Moonbase/Revenge chest unit was also on display (appropriately enough at Longleat), attached to a Revenge Cyberman costume.
The number of rings on the exhibition costume's tubing is consistent with both the TV Cybercontroller and the Longleat auction costume. Comparing the right shoulder tube as before, the diagonal cut on the final ring is evident at all four stages of the costume's life; in the TV episodes, in publicity photos, at the BBC exhibitions, and as it is today. Although present right from the opening day, the hybrid Cyberman display eventually lost its place in the exhibition; 1982's debut of the redesigned Mark VI Cybermen in Earthshock meant new exhibits for both venues. The Cybercontroller costume was retired, its fourteen year career finally at an end.
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