Peter Capaldi will end his tenure on Doctor Who fighting off the original Cybermen

It was with a degree of sadness (and a small dose of surprise) that we met the news that Peter Capaldi announced he was leaving Doctor Who. The actor’s take on the role has been an uneven affair, though some of the greatest hours of television the show has produced has been with Capaldi in the lead.

RELATED: Five good reasons to watch Peter Capaldi’s final season of Doctor Who.

We have twelve further episodes of the 13th Doctor to enjoy. Details of the final season for Capaldi (and showrunner Steven Moffat) have been scant thus far. We have Pearl Mackie’s introduction as Bill, our latest companion, and a lingering return for Matt Lucas’s Nardole. The trailer for season Ten of the show did offer up some clues as to what’s to come however today we have confirmation of a few old faces ready to wave goodbye to The Doctor.

Yesterday the official Doctor Who twitter account revealed that the final two episodes of the new series would feature a classic Who villain, with a twist however. There is a certain deliberate poetry to the return of the original iteration of the Cybermen. They first appeared, looking very similar to how they appear below, in the William Hartnell episode The Tenth Planet. It was the first episode to feature not only the Cybermen but Patrick Troughton, who made his first appearance as the Second Doctor.

Rachel Talalay returns to direct the season closer, having made some of the finest Who episodes of recent years. She directed the two-parter Dark Water and Death in Heaven, which featured the Cybermen as well as marking the return of The Master. She was also behind the two parter Heaven Sent and Hell Bent – the conclusion of the previous season of the show. Hugely talented, and with a big story to tell it should be a very good season indeed.