The voices of the Cybermen in The Tenth Planet were provided – and created by – actors Peter Hawkins and Roy Skelton. Hawkins was a well-known voice actor who had already had a dramatic impact on Doctor Who by creating the distinctive voice of the Daleks.
“It is one of my biggest regrets that I never got to meet or work with Peter Hawkins,” says Nick. “To me, he’s the guv’nor, the ultimate voice artist and the best ever Dalek voice man. His Cybermen were great too. I have so much respect for him doing those Cyber voices for [1967 stories] The Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen. That vibrating electro-larynx thing must have been tortuous. When I recreated these for our Tom Baker audio story Return to Telos [2015], I didn’t have access to the plate that goes into your mouth and buzzes, but I did use an electrolarynx, and it left me feeling sick and with a stinking head-ache. That Hawkins chap is a legend to me.”