On This Day... 8th March

You really had to be there...

To watch it, already knowing that the Cybermen appear at the end, just isn't the same. On the evening of 8th March, 1982, fans were utterly gobsmacked to see the newly redesigned Cybermen pop up out of nowhere at the cliff-hanger of Earthshock Part One. There had been no publicity, no spoilers. The episode itself ramped up the tension brilliantly as various troopers were bumped off one by one by mysterious figures in a set of darkened tunnels.

I recall dancing round the room with joy, tempered only by the fact that I'd have to wait another day to see them properly in Part Two.

In earlier times, The Space Pirates got underway in 1969. Its first episode was when every one of the publicity photos were taken.

In 1975 Genesis of the Daleks debuted, giving us our first ever glimpse of Davros at the cliff-hanger to its first episode.

The Black Guardian trilogy reached its final third today in 1983 with the opening instalment of Enlightenment, which saw the return of Cyril Luckham's White Guardian.

Finally, the Peter Davison era was drawing to a close as The Caves of Androzani delivered its first episode.