Gold Gold was a chemical element much prized by human s , and a major weakness of Cybermen . ( TV : " Revenge of the Cybermen " et al ) It was a traditional Christmas gift . ( PROSE : " All I Want for Christmas " ) Gold had several isotopes . Gold - 197 was very stable . Gold - 198 had a half - life of three days , and Gold - 194 had a half - life of one and a half days . ( PROSE : " Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna " ) According to the Tenth Doctor , gold was non - corrosive , malleable and ductile . ( TV : " Planet of the Dead " ) As it was prized by humans ; it was an item that could be invested in . During a huge market collapse during Miracle Day , the best advice the people were given was to invest in gold . ( TV : " End of the Road " ) " Worth your weight in gold " was an Earth compliment . ( TV : " Rendition " ) The Animus could control beings that were in contact with gold , which led to it controlling the Zarbi . ( TV : " The Web Planet " ) The Keratin could similarly use gold to conduct and amplify their psychic power s . ( AUDIO : " The Glittering Storm " ) Nero gave Barbara Wright a gold bracelet . ( TV : " The Romans " ) The Animus was able to control her through the bracelet . In addition , Ian Chesterton owned a gold pen which disappeared when he went onto the surface of Vortis and took it out . ( TV : " The Web Planet " ) Gold was used to power the teleportation devices of the Linkton s , which allowed them to travel vast , inter - galactic distances . ( PROSE : " The Living Wax " ) The Seventh Doctor kept some Warlock in a gold snuff box . ( PROSE : " Warchild " ) Lady Peinforte dipped her gold - headed arrows in poison as her " calling card " . ( TV : " Silver Nemesis " ) Flidor was rich in blue - veined gold , which was used to construct the Dalek Emperor ' s casing . ( COMIC : " Genesis of Evil " ) Prospecters flocked to Mal Oreille , mistakenly believing its yellow - algae infested seas to be rich in gold deposits . ( PROSE : " Biology Lesson on Mal Oreille " ) In payment for his service , offered Chang Lee two bags of gold dust that was kept within the Doctor ' s TARDIS . The Master claimed the dust , along with the TARDIS , had been once his before the Doctor stole it . After the Eighth Doctor defeated the Master , he let Lee take the gold dust . ( TV : " Doctor Who " ) Using gold as currency fell out of favour in the late 21st century . ( AUDIO : " The Evil One " ) Owing to its non - corrosive nature , gold essentially choked the Cybermen ' s respiratory systems . The glittergun , a weapon used during the Cyber - Wars , fired gold dust at its targets to exploit this weakness . Adric ' s badge was gold - edged , allowing for the Doctor to grind it into the Cyber Leader ' s chest and asphyxiate him . ( TV : " Earthshock " ) Gold appeared to affect some varieties of Cybermen in the way that silver affected werewolves , so that gold coins or gold - tipped arrows fired at them had the same effect . ( TV : " Silver Nemesis " ) During a time period in which the Cybermen had been reduced to small remnant groups wandering around the galaxy , one group tried to take revenge by making a desperate attempt to blow up the remnants of the planet Voga , a planetoid of pure gold that had wandered into the solar system and had become a moon of Jupiter . They hoped that this would disrupt their enemy ' s supply of the element . ( TV : " Revenge of the Cybermen " ) Sometimes gold was the element used to construct golden casings for Gold Dalek s and Supreme Dalek s . ( TV : " Day of the Daleks " , " Frontier in Space " ) While trapped on San Helios , the Tenth Doctor determined that he needed gold to combine the anti - gravity clamp s with the systems of the 200 bus . In order to do so , the Doctor took the golden Cup of Athelstan from Lady Christina de Souza , smashed it to bits with a hammer and successfully used the gold to combine the two systems . As a result , the Doctor was able to fly the bus back through the wormhole to Earth . ( TV : " Planet of the Dead " ) During the Battle of Hedgewick ' s World of Wonders , the Eleventh Doctor used a golden ticket to temporarily disable the Cyber - Planner known as Mr Clever . ( TV : " Nightmare in Silver " ) After the Sky vessel crashed in Nottingham in the 12th century , the robotic knights manning the ship worked with the Sheriff of Nottingham to use gold to repair the ship ' s engines . To this end , the Sheriff stole the gold from the local population for their use . While onboard the ship , the Twelfth Doctor didn ' t believe that the knights had enough gold to repair the ship . After the Sheriff was killed when Robin Hood knocked him into a vat of molten gold , the two remaining knights launched their ship . The Doctor recognised that the ship lacked enough gold content to make it and if it exploded on Earth , it would take out " half the country . " Working together , the Doctor , Robin Hood and Clara Oswald shot a golden arrow into one of the engines , providing enough gold content for the ship to make it into orbit . Once there , the engines went critical and the ship harmlessly exploded . ( TV : " Robot of Sherwood " )