60 Years of the Daleks
Part 1: The 1960s
2023 is not just the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who, but also of the Daleks, who first appeared at the end of 1963. Here, in three posts, I chart the Dalek phenomenon as it unfolded over the following 60 years. I cover developments in all things Dalek as seen in the growing lore of the show itself and in the real world (their realisation, spin-off appearances, etc).
JULY 1963
Terry Nation provides a Doctor Who story outline called The Survivors. This introduces the planet Skaro and the Daleks, survivors of a neutron war who now live in mobile life support machines which are dependent upon electricity drawn through the floor of their city. The Daleks are described as “terrifying machine-like creatures ... The “eye” of the suit is a television lens on a flexible shaft. The suit has no legs, the base being mechanized for movement.” They have “strange metallic” voices and carry weapons that can paralyse or kill. Within the machine, the Dalek creature is “a frog like animal”. Nation’s story is commissioned at the end of the month.
AUGUST 1963
Nation submits the seven draft scripts of his story, now called Doctor Who and the Mutants. Aside from a different ending, the scripts essentially follow the original storyline. Nation fleshes out his description of the Daleks: “They are legless, moving on a round base. They have no human features. A lens on a flexible shaft acts as an eye. Arms with mechanical grips for hands … The creatures hold strange weapons in their hands.” They speak with an “echoing metallic voice.” Nation specified that these weapons make “a hissing noise as they fire” and “The picture goes negative.”
OCTOBER 1963
With the story now in production, work begins on designing and building the Daleks. Ray Cusick is the allocated designer but he is assisted by the special effects teams of Bernard Wilkie and Jack Kine, who help build a rough model of a Dalek. The design is then further refined by Cusick’s assistant Jeremy Davies, who draws up the plans, and by Bill Roberts at Shawcraft Models, the outside contractor brought in to build the props. Ultimately, the £500 budget allowed only four Dalek props.
NOVEMBER 1963
The Daleks go before the cameras as their debut adventure starts recording. During recording their design is modified slightly to replace their rollers with castors to aid manoeuvrability and reduce the noise the props make while moving. Recording continues weekly until 10 January 1964. The Dalek’s metallic voices are achieved using a Post Office ring modulator, as recommended by Brian Hodgson of the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop. Needless to say, there are a lot of firsts here, most notably the appearances of veteran-to-be Dalek voice artists David Graham and Peter Hawkins, and operators Robert Jewell, Kevin Manser, Peter ‘Murphy’ Grumbar and Gerald Taylor.
JANUARY 1964
The Daleks (or one at least) make their first television appearance outside of Doctor Who. Alongside William Hartnell as the Doctor, a Dalek appears in a scene written by Terry Nation on Junior Points of View. It was the first of many Dalek guest appearances on a wide variety of programmes, but few would have this pedigree.
FEBRUARY 1964
Thinking they are no longer needed, the BBC gives two of its four Dalek props to the Dr Barnardo’s charity. This is covered by Blue Peter, which will go on to feature numerous Dalek appearances in the following decades. Over the coming years, Barnardo’s use the props in all manner of fundraising and promotional events across the country. Later in February, one of the BBC’s two remaining Daleks appears in a sketch on the children’s series Crackerjack. Many more comedic appearances follow, from the ridiculous to the… even more ridiculous. Some of the more problematic later examples include Spike Milligan’s ‘Pakistani Dalek’ sketch from a 1975 episode of his series Q6, and Victor Lewis-Smith’s ‘Gay Daleks’ from TV Offal in 1998.
MARCH 1963
Blue Peter shows children how to build their own Dalek out of household items and cardboard boxes, with the assistance of Ray Cusick, who earns a gold Blue Peter badge for his troubles.
MAY 1964
The Daleks’ first known appearance in a newspaper cartoon comes with a cameo in the Daily Mirror’s ‘The Flutters’ strip. Cartoon appearances became more common later in the year. The first known satirical use of a Dalek came in the November 1964 Daily Mail cartoon titled ‘The Degaullek’, which featured obstinate French president Charles de Gaulle in the guise of a Dalek. It was the moment the Doctor Who team realised the great public recognition of the series and of the Daleks.
AUGUST 1964
Dalek outings, such as the charitable appearances of the Dr Barnardo’s props and the location filming for the Daleks’ next TV adventure, lead to renewed press and public interest in the monsters. The nation’s developing Dalek obsession gets a name with the coining of ‘Dalekmania’ (after ‘Beatlemania’) by a BBC spokesperson late in August, although real Dalekmania was still a few months away. Dalekmania included a tidal wave of Dalek merchandise, notably Dalek toys by Louis Marx & Company, who received their licence this month. Their ‘Tricky Acton’ Dalek was selling well by Christmas 1964 and sold over half a million units in 1965.
SEPTEMBER 1964
The Daleks make their print debut in The Dalek Book, a lavish hardback published by Souvenir Press which chronicled their adventures of galactic conquest in comic strips and text stories. The book had no other connection to Doctor Who and set the precedent for the Daleks to have a life in spin-offs without the Doctor. Several similar books would follow in the 1960s and 70s. From The Dalek Book we learn that Dalek casings are made of Dalekenium, a fact that would be confirmed a few months later in the television series itself. It was the first time the Daleks had been presented as spacefaring aggressors, rather than as the insular and contained menace seen in their sole (so far) appearance in Doctor Who. This change would also be confirmed on television shortly. The Dalek Book had three sequels in the 1960s and a series of Dalek Annuals followed in the 1970s.
OCTOBER 1964
Probably the most impressive and expensive piece of Dalek merchandise of the 1960s was launched this month. Scorpion Automotive’s Dalek Suit was a surprisingly accurate child-sized replica of the real thing. Despite their high retail price, they rapidly sold out in the approach to Christmas. Disaster struck in April 1965 when stocks of components for the suits were destroyed by fire, and a few months later the company collapsed.
NOVEMBER 1964
Transmissions of The Dalek Invasion of Earth begins. The serial shows us Daleks that have not only adapted themselves to move outside their city, but have also mastered space travel. We see a Black Dalek leader for the first time and encounter Robomen, humans adapted to be mindless servants of the Daleks. We also meet the Slyther, a fearsome creature from Skaro kept as a ‘pet’ by the Black Dalek. This is the point at which the Daleks transition (on television) from scared survivors of a devastating war to campaigning space villains.
The two Dalek props given to Dr Barnardo’s were borrowed back and two new props were built by Shawcraft, making six props in total. As well as cosmetic modifications, all six were adapted to contain tricycles to aid the operators in manoeuvring them on location, in what was the Daleks’ first exterior film work. The story was promoted with a Radio Times cover; it was the first of many times the Daleks would grace the magazine’s cover.
Also this month, Frederick Muller published David Whitaker’s Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure With the Daleks, a novelisation of the Daleks’ first television appearance. Whitaker employed artistic licence to embellish the story, notably introducing a transparent glass Dalek. Numerous further novelisations featuring the Daleks would follow but not until the 1970s.
DECEMBER 1964
I’m Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek by the Go-Go’s [sic] becomes the first novelty pop song to feature a Dalek. With such uncharacteristic Dalek dialogue as “I love you” and “more custard!”, it was not the Daleks’ most menacing appearance that Christmas. The record failed to chart. Several Dalek-themed records arrived the following year, including Landing of the Daleks by The Earthlings and Dance of the Daleks by Jack Dorsey and his Orchestra.
JANUARY 1965
The Daleks get their own weekly comic strip in TV Century 21, written by Terry Nation and David Whitaker. The first story gives a variation on the Daleks’ origins, not for the last time. The strip ran for two years, concluding with a storyline that tied-in with the second Dalek film (more on which later). Throughout the strip the Daleks are led by the bulbous-headed golden Emperor Dalek.
APRIL 1965
The Daleks’ penetration into British popular culture was so complete in 1965 that the Daleks even started to be referenced in the Houses of Parliament. The first instance occurred in a bizarre exchange on 15 April in which Labour MP Roy Mason referred to himself as a Mechonoid (having seen them in newspaper publicity), only to be asked by William Hamling (also Labour) whether a Mechonoid was any relation to a Dalek; this was denied by Mason. Later references to the creatures in parliament typically involved MPs likening a political opponent to a Dalek, or suggesting their opponent’s pronouncements are Dalek-like.
MAY 1965
The casing of an empty, defeated Dalek is used as a hiding place by the Doctor in The Space Museum. Imitating a Dalek voice, the Doctor chants “I am the master!” It’s the first time a Dalek is used for a joke within Doctor Who itself.
The Chase also begins this month, in which we discover the Daleks have mastered time travel and can create android duplicates. We see a deliberately comedic, ‘stupid’ Dalek. The Chase gives us the first chant of “exterminate”. The previous two stories had included uses of ‘extermination’, ‘exterminated’ and instructions to “exterminate him” and “exterminate them”, but no simple “exterminate” as a battle cry until now.
For this production Ray Cusick, designing again, gave the Dalek props slats around their ‘shoulders’ which he viewed as solar panels. Prop numbers were bolstered by borrowing film Daleks from Aaru (see below). Shawcraft built an additional lightweight Dalek prop for special effects sequences. It was the first appearance as a Dalek operator for John Scott Martin. He would go on to operate a Dalek in all of their television stories until Remembrance of the Daleks, bar only Destiny of the Daleks.
AUGUST 1965
The Aaru film Dr Who and the Daleks reimagines the first Dalek adventure for the big screen. It was the first time the Daleks were seen in colour and to capitalise on this Shawcraft were commissioned to build eight new props in colourful liveries. They were equipped with weapons firing bursts of carbon dioxide after the film censor objected to the early (and surely impractical) idea of giving them flame-throwers. 10 crude dummy Dalek were also constructed at Shepperton Studios, the first time anyone other than Shawcraft had built Dalek props. Many of the props were later given away in promotional competitions.
OCTOBER 1965
Mission to the Unknown is broadcast and The Daleks’ Master Plan begins. Here we see the Daleks as strategists who have forged a sham alliance with other alien species as part of a plan to conquer the galaxy. Their fearsome new weapon, the time destructor, can advance or regress time, while other new Dalek technologies include the pyro-flame flame gun attachments. Terry Nation was joined by Dennis Spooner in scripting duties; it was the first time anyone other than Nation had written for the Daleks on television and the last time Nation would do so until 1973. It was also the last Doctor Who credit for Dalek designer Ray Cusick.
DECEMBER 1965
The Daleks make their West End stage debut in The Curse of the Daleks, written by Terry Nation and David Whitaker. The Doctor doesn’t feature but, set around the Dalek city on Skaro, the storyline is true to the continuity of the Daleks’ first TV appearance. This was the first instance of a female Dalek operator being employed, when regular television Dalek operator Murphy Grumbar was joined by his wife Dorothy. Shawcraft built five new Daleks for the production, which were borrowed by Aaru for use in their second Dalek film, and four were later bought by Terry Nation for his own personal use.
MAY 1966
Terry Nation presents a pilot script, titled The Destroyers, for a Daleks spin-off series to the BBC. The aim is to sell a series on film, in colour, to an American network. The BBC and other parties are interested in backing it but the Corporation pulls out before the end of the year and in 1967 the project eventually falls apart. Nevertheless, the potential for a Dalek series leads Nation withholding the Daleks from Doctor Who in 1967, resulting in the depiction of their ‘final end’ in their last story of the decade.
SUMMER 1966
The Daleks make their debut in an audio adventure, albeit one cribbed from a TV story, when Century 21 Records release a version of the soundtrack to the last episode of The Chase as a ‘mini album’ on disc. The edited soundtrack had added narration by Dalek voice artist David Graham which, strangely, refers to the Daleks as ‘humanoids’. A further Dalek soundtrack became a staple of fans’ collections when the BBC released a reduced record version of Genesis of the Daleks in 1979 with narration by Tom Baker.
AUGUST 1966
Aaru release their second Doctor Who film, Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD. We learn that Daleks are susceptible to the effects of the Earth’s magnetic energy. This time, Shepperton Studios made a huge cohort of around 14 new Dalek props. The five Curse of the Daleks props were also adapted for use. Despite a greater budget, the film’s box office performance was disappointing and there were no further sequels.
NOVEMBER 1966
The Daleks are duplicitous schemers as The Power of the Daleks begins. Notably, we see Daleks reproducing themselves on a production line. For part of this sequence Dalek toys were used, in the first instance of an occasional practice which continues into the modern series. In the first episode there is a glimpse of a Dalek mutant apparently moving independently outside of its casing. It’s also the first time we see unarmed Daleks. The lightweight Dalek built for The Chase was converted into a full ‘hero’ prop for regular use here. It was the last appearance of Kevin Manser who had been a Dalek operator in all their television appearances, and in the first film.
JANUARY 1967
With the Daleks strip in TV Century 21 now over, the rights to the Daleks in comic strip form were picked up by TV Publications so they could be included in their Doctor Who (now retitled Doctor Who and the Daleks) comic series, which had been running since November 1964. The Daleks would make numerous appearances in the strip but, symbolically, their first adventure has them wiping out the Trodds, the robotic Dalek-like creatures that had been used in their place up to this point.
MARCH 1967
Filmed this month were television and cinema adverts for Walls’ Sky Ray ice lollies, featuring two BBC Daleks. The cinema version of the ad was even made in colour. It was the first use of Daleks in a commercial but not the last. A pink-plungered version of the Supreme Dalek appeared in a 1977 Weetabix commercial while an unsanctioned appearance of two Daleks had the villains declaring “we love you” and demanding cuddles in a KitKat commercial in 2001. Most alarming, in the 1990s an advert was filmed – but mercifully not broadcast – featuring a Dalek promoting Hamlet cigars.
MAY 1967
The Evil of the Daleks begins. The story features the giant, static Emperor Dalek on Skaro and the ‘Dalek factor’, that can be implanted into humans to make them act like Daleks. Conversely, the ‘human factor’ makes Daleks questions their orders. This leads to the first of many Dalek civil wars, although not, as the Doctor suggests, the Daleks’ ‘final end’. Shawcraft provided yet another Dalek prop, this time a simplified version with a narrower than usual skirt section – probably to enable it to pass through a narrow door on location. It was the last appearance of Gerald Taylor as a Dalek operator and of Peter Hawkins as a Dalek voice, both of whom had undertaken these roles in every Dalek story so far. It was the first appearance as a Dalek voice of Roy Skelton, who would contribute in this capacity to a handful of future stories.
APRIL 1969
Get Off My Cloud, an instalment of BBC2’s science fiction anthology Out of the Unknown, features two Daleks in a dream sequence. It was a rare instance of the Daleks’ existence as a fictional phenomenon being reflected in a television drama (a less notable instance is the appearance of toy Daleks in the 1965 episode of The Avengers, Death at Bargain Prices). Most significantly, it was the first time BBC Daleks had been seen in colour on television.
JUNE 1969
A Dalek makes a cameo at the conclusion of The War Games. It was the last appearance of Robert Jewell who had been a Dalek operator in all the Dalek television stories and films to this point.
Next time: From the 1970s to the end of the 20th century…
Main Sources
dalek6388.co.uk (researched and written by Jon Green and Gavin Rymill)
Doctor Who 50 Years: The Daleks (Panini bookazine, 2013)
Doctor Who: Chronicles - 1963-64 (Panini bookazine, 2023)
Doctor Who: The Complete History partwork (various volumes, Panini, 2015-18)
Doctor Who Magazine #406 (Panini, 2009)
John Peel and Terry Nation: The Official Doctor Who and the Daleks Book (St Martin’s Press, 1988)