Dr Who returns to fight Cybermen

Colin Baker played the sixth TV doctor

Doctor Who is to return to cyberspace for his second instalment online, battling his old arch enemies the Cybermen.

The Doctor will be played by Colin Baker, the sixth TV doctor, known for his flamboyant and colourful dress sense.

The return of the Doctor online follows the success of the audio story Death Comes to Time, which starred the voice of Sylvester McCoy as Dr Who.

It was an experiment to see if there was still the fan base out there that wanted to listen to more time travelling tales.

And with 2.6 million page impressions recorded, a second new story was quickly commissioned, featuring a mixture of audio drama and comic strip animation.

Baker will play the Doctor in six 10-minute episodes, which can be downloaded from the BBC Cult website from noon on 2 August, and every Friday thereafter.

The Cybermen are one of the most famous Doctor Who enemies

In the second series, called Real Time, the Doctor is sent to planet Chronos to find and bring back several survey mission teams that have vanished.

He will be accompanied by his companion Dr Evelyn Smythe, played by Maggie Stables, and another survey crew, which includes the comedians Richard Herring and Stewart Lee.

"It's nice to get back to storytelling - it's a thumping good Cybermen story," said Baker.

Posse

Richard Fell, head of BBC Fictionlab, said: "The previous series was a huge hit with the fans but this time we've added a little humour and a few surprises that the fans won't be expecting.

"We are positive the Cybermen won't disappoint the Doctor Who posse."

Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction series with the very first episode being broadcast in November 1963.

The show was cancelled in 1989 but returned for a TV movie in 1996 starring Paul McGann.