Cybergene, the fourth boxset in The War Doctor Rises series (starring Jonathon Carley), was promoted as having “every Cyberman ever“. That unfortunately didn’t turn out to be the case, when it was originally released on 11th December 2025.
The main issue was that a number of Cybermen voices (all performed by Nicholas Briggs) were not modulated to match the vocal effects of their respective designs across the three-part story. After its release, Big Finish received complaints from listeners who felt misled by the marketing, including one named Liam whose email was read out on The Big Finish Podcast by co-presenters Nick Briggs and Benji Clifford, released on 30th January 2026 (listen from 36:08-43:56).
Here’s what Liam sent in:
“I am and have been a long time an avid supporter of your work, practically since Big Finish’s inception. However, I feel a little miffed and misled by the most recent War Doctor Rises boxset Cybergene. From all the marketing and YouTube trailer, I was expecting to hear all the Cybermen from all aspects of the show.
“However, this is not the case in the final product. The Wheel in Space, Revenge of the Cybermen, Earthshock, and I believe the Nightmare in Silver voices were heard in the YouTube trailer. Why then are these completely absent from the finished product?”
In response, Briggs sincerely apologised and clarified that it was down to “human error”, involving numerous technical issues and communication difficulties when recording the audio story. He even used his electrolarynx to demonstrate the voice of the Cyber designs from The Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen. Alongside the examples that Liam cited, I also noticed the Mondasian Cybermen voices sounding less like the ones from The Tenth Planet and World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls in the original version.
From a personal perspective, I fully understand the backlash and frustrations about the Cybermen voices, and I never blamed Briggs for the mistakes that happened behind the scenes. But let’s be thankful that sound designer and composer Howard Carter has gone back and fixed them all, which are indeed a massive improvement and far superior than the original version. On that note, a similar thing happened with Goth Opera (Novel Adaptations) upon release in 2024, albeit with minor sound effects issues and the incorrect closing theme for each episode.
The updated (or as I prefer to call it, “upgraded”) version of Cybergene is now available to download from the Big Finish website and via the app. Replacement discs have also been sent to customers who purchased the boxset on CD (now out of print, but available through third-party sellers, though you’ll likely not get those replacement discs if purchased through a different store). For more information, please check out this Reddit post and the Cybergene TARDIS Wiki page, which brilliantly summarise the issues. And feel free to watch my comparison video with the original and upgraded versions of the Cybermen voices.
