Really!
Information has now come to light that Pearl Mackie (Bill Potts) was not the one in the Mondasian Cyberman outfit. Is that really a surprise? Well, after reading this article and thinking about all the Cybermen stories which have aired, the answer is no.
To be honest, there should not be a fan anywhere who thinks that Pearl was in the Cyberman suit. You know for me, I just took him as Pearl without considering the facts. Being a little bit gullible or even naive one might say. Now, the voice was Bill, but because of a height descripancy they had to use someone much taller.
How many fans may have thought it was Pearl? But then others may have thought otherwise. Sorry, if this fan did not even consider it was not Pearl. You get caught up in the storyline without looking at the facts. A fact like the Cybermen are taller than Pearl Mackie’s chatacter Bill Potts, so if she in the suit, they had to make her legs longer. As a result, you ask the question how do you make her legs long enough to be as tall as a Cyberman. That is one major obstacle in making Pearl a Cyberman. What are you going to do? Teach Pearl how to walk on stilts. Right, and spend a lot of extra time training Pearl to walk on stilts. I don’t think so.
As a result, Moffat and the production team chose to cast a bloke named Liam to be Bill’s Mondasian Cyberman. Their actions are sensible and truthfully what anyone who knows the business would do. After reading the article, I am not really surprised and don’t believe any of the other fans are either.
It doesn’t matter who was in the Cyberman outfit as long as it worked. Replacing Pearl with Liam didn’t hurt anything. As a fan, it worked for me. Not sure whether other fans will see that way or not, but it is all good. That final episode was great. I loved it and would watch it again.
In conclusion, the showrunner for any television program does what they believe is best for the show. We as fans must trust their judgment and hope we get the shows from them.