Background The idea behind the episode came from series creator
Russell T Davies, who realised there was a story "begging to be told" after the
Doctor Who episodes "
Army of Ghosts" and "
Doomsday"; When
Chris Chibnall was appointed head writer for
Torchwood, Davies asked him to write an episode about a cyber girl in the basement of the Hub.
Writing In writing the beginning, Chibnall envisaged Ianto meeting Tanizaki at an airport and then escorting him to a hotel before entering the Hub, however that was cut from the final draft as it would be an expensive sequence to film. Chibnall wanted the episode to take place several weeks after the previous episode, "
Ghost Machine", as to show Gwen knowing all the protocols and how to handle weapons, where as in the last episode, Gwen was still considered a rookie. Despite the episode being about stopping Lisa, Chibnall still wanted the beginning to be a love story between her and Ianto, The line where Ianto calls Jack the "biggest monster" was intended to be cut out, but Chibnall decided to keep it because of its impact to the audience. The scene where the team lines up to execute Lisa towards the end was the first scene Chibnall had in mind for the episode, though in the first draft, it was Ianto who killed her. After the episode was written and filmed, Chibnall discovered two main
plot holes in the story. The first is that he did not make clear that everything about Lisa, including the scene where she acted human was all part of her plan for her Cyberman-influence to take over, and reflected to adding at least two lines of dialogue to explain her motives clearly. The second was Jack having a cut lip in the end, even though he is immortal and all his wounds would have healed quickly. In the
audio commentary for the episode, both Chibnall and actor Gareth David-Lloyd stated the reasoning behind the cut being there is because Jack's immortal powers would only deal with life-threatening wounds and not minor injuries.
Filming Before filming took place, David-Lloyd met with Caroline Chikezie and got to know each other to help give their respective characters their chemistry. The episode was filmed as part of the third production block of the first series, along with eighth episode "
They Keep Killing Suzie". Director
James Strong wanted to film the episode in a sort of
real time format. Filming largely took place at the
Upper Boat Studios outside
Pontypridd, where the Torchwood Hub set is located. The scene where Jack threatens to kill Ianto if he does not kill Lisa was the first scene to be shot. The flashback scene where Ianto finds a half-converted Lisa in
Canary Wharf took a full day to film; it was originally supposed to take only a few hours, but the camera failed to record the scene. It was replaced, but the second camera failed to record also. Eve Myles and Burn Gorman were both trained how to handle guns and a torch like a "secret agent." Strong noted that they both held the gun and torch in each hand like professionals. The external shots of the Hub were filmed at
Roald Dahl Plass in
Cardiff, which is what exists above the Hub in the series. Filming the scenes at the Plass took place during the middle of the night, and was disrupted by
hooligans. The basement where Ianto holds Lisa was filmed at a cellar in
Tredegar House,
Newport. The original ending to the episode is where Toshiko hands Ianto
coffee while he is cleaning the Hub. However, after it was filmed, Strong decided to cut that scene out, as he felt the overhead shot of the Hub before that scene would have made a more suitable ending. Because it was filmed in only a handful of locations, mostly in the Hub set, and there were only a few guest cast members, "Cyberwoman" was considered one of the cheapest episodes in the first series.
Costume and effects The producers noted there were a history of "sexy, pneumatic, hydraulic women" in
science fiction, and wanted to "tap into that." To make the cyberwoman costume, the props department wanted to make it as "sexy" as they can. Director
James Strong wanted to make the costume look "amazing," but threatening and scary as well. There were discussions about which parts of Lisa would be human, and which parts would be cyborg. Made out of rubber, it was custom made to fit Chikezie as much as possible. It took an entire day for the actress to get her body cast. After the costume was completed, it would take an hour to apply each morning, and an hour to remove by lunch break. Chikezie found it difficult to hear anything from the helmet while shooting scenes. It was also uncomfortable for her, but the producers noted she remained stoic throughout filming. The fight scene between Lisa and Myfanwy was difficult to shoot, as the actress had to interact with a
visual effect creature that would not be added until post-production. The producers added a plastic green beak stuck on the end of a stick to be used as a guide. The scene where the team go up on the invisible lift was made by making the platform stationary, but the camera below it would descend, giving the illusion the platform is ascending. The visual effect of the tools used to create Cybermen were reused from the
Doctor Who episode "
The Age of Steel", while the UFO footage when the Torchwood team return from the drinks was a
tin foil-covered
frisbee on a fishing line. ==Broadcast, reception and analysis==