60 Years of the Daleks
Part 3: The 2000s to date
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).
In the final part of this chronology, we come to the 21st century and a thorough rebirth for the Daleks…
APRIL 2000
Big Finish releases The Genocide Machine, the first of a vast number of original Dalek adventures in audio only. Nick Briggs provides the Dalek voices, having done so previously for the amateur Audio Visuals series. This leads to Briggs being employed to voice the Daleks in the new television series from 2005, a role he continues to this day.
APRIL 2005
In Dalek we see that a near-fatally damaged Dalek can regenerate itself through DNA extrapolation from a human’s touch. Here we learn that the Daleks were – seemingly – destroyed in a cataclysmic Time War with the Time Lords. We finally see the offensive capabilities of the ‘sink plunger’ when it attaches to a human’s face and kills him. For the first time we see the middle section of a Dalek rotate so that it can shoot backwards. The Dalek generates a forcefield that melts bullets and the hemispheres on the skirt are revealed to be part of a self-destruct mechanism.
A new warship-inspired design of Dalek debuts here. It was designed by Edward Thomas and built in-house by Mike Tucker, with the skirt section adapted from a fan-made prop. A distressed version was also built plus an upper half which was opened to reveal an animatronic Dalek mutant. The Dalek was operated by Barnaby Edwards, who has done the same in all full Dalek stories to date, bar Resolution. However, the Dalek dome was radio controlled in a first for the series.
JUNE 2005
In The Parting of the Ways, we meet a new, vast Dalek Emperor and learn that it survived the Time War and, over centuries, used human tissue to rebuild the Dalek race. Consequently, it has developed a god complex. For the first time we see Daleks flying through space unaided and there’s the reappearance of a Dalek with a cutting arm for the first time since 1973’s Planet of the Daleks. Two Daleks props were made by contractor Specialist Models, based on the Dalek prop. The Emperor was realised with a model built by Mike Tucker’s effects team. Nick Pegg made his debut here as a Dalek operator, a role he has reprised in nearly all subsequent Dalek stories. Another new operator was David Hankinson, who also worked in this capacity on the next three Dalek stories.
JULY 2006
Army of Ghosts/Doomsday introduces the Cult of Skaro, an elite quartet of Daleks endowed with imaginations to make them strategists. They had been hiding (presumably from destruction in the Time War) in the void outside time and space. Their leader, Dalek Sec (a new black Dalek), even has a strong line in sass, referring to war with the Cybermen as mere “pest-control”. We see the Daleks attach their suckers to a human’s head to extract his brainwaves, leaving the human desiccated – and dead. These Daleks have emergency temporal shift ability (i.e. teleport in time). The Doctor explains that during the Time War the daleks adapted to power themselves from the background radiation encountered in time travel. Specialist Models provided a new prop so that four fully practical Daleks could be used at once as the Cult of Skaro.
APRIL 2007
In Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks, the Cult of Skaro are stranded in New York in 1930. They tempt Mr Diagoras to work for them by transmitting thoughts into his mind and create a new race of humanoid slaves by combining the genes of pigs with dispossessed humans. We see a Dalek sucker used to scan the intelligence of a human.
Dalek efforts to grow embryo Dalek mutants fails. As only four Daleks survive, Dalek Sec recognises a need to create a new race of Daleks, which it hopes will be ambulatory and live outside of a shell. Consequently, it combines itself with Mr Diagoras to create the first ‘human Dalek’. The Daleks also create an army of Dalek-human hybrids by splicing their DNA with that of mind-wiped humans but the experiment fails when the Doctor’s DNA is introduced also.
The Daleks have resorted to cannibalising themselves to create a Dalekenium lightning conductor, so one Dalek prop was modified to have missing skirt pates. A new contractor, Real SFX, built one and half special effects Dalek props. We also see a new syringe attachment for a Dalek’s arm.
JUNE 2008
In The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End, Davros returns with a plot to cause the “destruction of reality itself.” Dalek Caan, damaged and driven insane by an emergency temporal shift into the Time War, from which he rescued Davros, appears as a cackling prophet of doom. Davros reveals that after their destruction in the war, he rebuilt the Dalek race from cells of his own body, meaning his genetic code runs through every Dalek. With Davros relegated to a ‘vault’, the Daleks are commanded by a Supreme Dalek. The new red-and-gold Supreme, based on a standard Dalek but with an enhanced top half, was designed by Peter McKinstry and built in-house at the BBC. They also built a new version of Davros’ ‘chariot’, a Dalek Caan with the mutant exposed and a new standard Dalek prop. A new and mysterious arm attachment also debuted here. Hero Props supplied several special effects Dalek props designed for repeated destruction.
NOVEMBER 2009
A novel approach is used for a Dalek cameo in The Waters of Mars. A prop dome was the only physical Dalek component used, filmed in close-up, with CGI used for the Dalek when seen whole in long-shot.
APRIL 2010
Victory of the Daleks introduces a new form of Dalek. In a nod to The Power of the Daleks, two Daleks pretend to be subservient to (British) humans during World War Two. These props were repainted khaki and given Union Jack emblems and webbing pouches, to complete the 1940s military look. They use a progenitor device to give life to a new Dalek paradigm. The New Paradigm Daleks regard the original Daleks as ‘inferior’ and ‘unclean’ and destroy them.
Inspired by the Cushing film props, showrunner Steven Moffat and episode writer Mark Gatiss wanted the new Daleks to be taller, more imposing and colourful. Moffat’s keynote to the design team (production designer Ed Thomas and concept artists Peter McKinstry) was for a “more frightening Dalek.” McKinstry did away with contemporary design elements such as rivets to make them more alien, and designed a rear hatch that could house substitute arms and weapons, although this was never seen in use on screen. Five new Daleks were constructed in-house by Penny Howarth’s props team, each in a different bold colour. The script labelled each one with a different role or title: Scientist, Strategist, Drone, Eternal, and Supreme. In the redesign, the New Paradigm Daleks lost the distinctive and elegant silhouette of the traditional Dalek and proved unpopular with fans.
This episode saw the first appearances as Dalek operators of Jon Davey, who has performed this role in most of the following Dalek stories, and Jeremy Harvey, who also operated Daleks in several subsequent stories.
JUNE 2010
Three New paradigm Daleks have small roles in season finale The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang. Notably, two are turned to stone – which necessitated irreparable modifications to the props, taking them out of use for future stories – and we see one of them uncharacteristically beg for mercy at the point of River Song’s gun.
OCTOBER 2010
Doctor Who Live theatrical experience features a number of monsters from the TV series. In the second half, the Daleks battle against the Cybermen. For the show, Millennium FX were commissioned to build five New Paradigm Dalek props. These were made more lightweight than the television versions to aid manoeuvrability on stage. Additionally, a sixth was built by stage special effects provider TwinsFX that was specially equipped to ‘fly’ above the audience.
FEBRUARY 2012
The Symphonic Spectacular concert of Doctor Who music is held in Melbourne. Amongst other monsters, the New Paradigm Dalek props from Doctor Who Live appeared. Towards the end of the year the show was staged again a number of times in Sydney, with further shows in Australia in 2014. In 2015 it was revived for a UK tour with a new batch of four Daleks. These were 2005-style bronze Daleks built by replica prop-makers This Planet Earth. They became screen-used props when they were drafted in for the filming for Revolution of the Daleks several years later.
SEPTEMBER 2012
Asylum of the Daleks reveals that the Daleks have a Parliament with a Prime Minister (a Dalek mutant in a static tank). They also have an asylum to house their battle-scarred comrades. They can also reanimate corpses, giving them Dalek characteristics to make Dalek Zombies. This was the first time old-style Dalek designs were seen in the modern series, thanks to borrowed fan-made props in many cases. A large exercise in Dalek duplication was undertaken by Penny Howarth’s props team at the BBC, who bult at least eight 2005-pattern Daleks (including distressed models), plus five New Paradigm Daleks of a slightly tweaked design. This enabled a total of 17 Dalek props to be featured in the Dalek Parliament set. Despite the significant boost to their numbers, this was the last appearance in Doctor Who of the New Paradigm design. The Special Weapons Dalek from Remembrance of the Daleks makes a brief return appearance with a restored version of the original prop.
NOVEMBER 2013
The Day of the Doctor is the only instance we see of the Daleks fighting in the Time War, here on its last day as they are about to defeat Gallifrey. The are no Dalek innovations here aside from their use of small fighter aircraft for low level aerial attack. Character Options toy Daleks are used in special effects sequences of Dalek destruction.
Also this month, the docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time was broadcast, for which prop-maker Paul McNamara was commissioned to build four 1960s-style Dalek props which could appear as both the very first and the modified Dalek Invasion of Earth variants. Sequences involving these props included them crossing Westminster Bridge, in imitation of the famous 1964 photocall. In a rather ‘meta’ bit of casting, in the film itself Nick Briggs played Peter Hawkins providing the original Dalek voices.
MAY 2014
In The Time of the Doctor the Daleks attempt to stop the Doctor returning Gallifey to the correct universe and consequently reigning the Time War. Briefly we see a Dalek canon. We learn that the Daleks can harvest memories from the dead as well as turning them into zombies. To bolster Dalek numbers, one prop was borrowed from Mike Tucker, who had made it from the same moulds used for the very first new series Dalek in 2005.
AUGUST 2014
Into the Dalek features the Doctor joining a party who are miniaturised and injected into a damaged Dalek, nicknamed ‘Rusty’. An internal trionic radiation leak caused the Dalek to turn ‘good’ when it saw beauty. We learn that Daleks need protein, sometimes feeding on people. They have robotic internal antibodies that can kill any organism that penetrates the Dalek.
SEPTEMBER 2015
In The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar, Davros lures the Doctor to Skaro, where we see numerous different Dalek designs, again thanks to bought-in and borrowed fan-made and exhibition props. Toys by Character Options and Product Enterprises are also used in model sequences. Davros reveals he is connected to the lifeforce of every Dalek on Skaro. We learn that Dalek mutants are technically immortal, but still age and rot, eventually being deposited into a ‘sewer’ beneath the Dalek city on Skaro. Daleks channel emotion through their guns, which are reloaded by shouting “Exterminate”. This is the last appearance to date of the Special Weapons Dalek (this time a replica prop) and of all other pre-new series Dalek designs, and of the red Supreme Dalek.
DECEMBER 2017
‘Rusty’ reappears in Twice Upon a Time and we learn that the Daleks have a hive mind which constitutes the “biggest database in the galaxy” according to the Doctor. Rusty can eject its gun from its casing. Dalek mutants are seen to be able to survive outside their casings and mobilise independently.
JANUARY 2019
Resolution is the first time we meet a reconnaissance scout Dalek. The Doctor explains that these have “capabilities beyond the normal Dalek soldier, specially advanced from the basic Dalek” and that they were the first Daleks to leave Skaro. These extra abilities appear to apply to the mutant itself, which has been able to survive being cut into thirds, teleports (‘spatial shift’) itself back together after being awoken by ultraviolet light and is able to control the mind of a human it comes into contact with. It can survive without difficulty without a casing. It uses a foldback blast to blow some of the TARDIS’s systems.
The mutant uses a foundry to build its own bespoke casing, which includes integral rocket launchers. Unusually, the ‘recon’ Dalek prop seen here, designed by Darren Fereday, was fully remote controlled, so for the first time in Doctor Who there was no operator within the Dalek itself. The recon Dalek had a claw rather than the traditional sucker attachment.
JANUARY 2021
Revolution of the Daleks features another new variation on the Daleks with the ‘security drones’, which pose as simple human-made robots. Their functionality includes water cannon, gas and sonic weapons. Dalek mutants to inhabit these new shells have been cloned from the remnants of the recon Dalek. However, the Doctor explains that “Dalek consciousness can live within the tiniest fragment of their DNA.” The cloned Dalek mutants feed on liquidised humans.
The security drone design was intended to be a “more muscular” and regular version of the “found shape” of the recon Dalek, according to Executive Producer Matt Stevens. Lights were incorporated into the skirt section which could change colour depending on the situation – somewhat akin to an idea Ray Cusick had considered to put lights in the hemispheres of the original model in 1963. Two fully remote-controlled props were built by Lee Rashford’s team at the BBC with numbers multiplied on screen with CGI.
Regular Daleks also appeared. These were “Death squad Daleks… the enforcers of the Dalek race,” according to the Doctor. They destroy the security drone Daleks for their impurity, their DNA having human traces. Three existing BBC bronze Dalek props were joined by the four props made by This Planet Earth for 2015’s Symphonic Spectacular. These seven props and the security drones were given similar claw attachments to the recon Dalek.
NOVEMBER 2021
In the Once, Upon Time episode of Doctor Who: Flux, a cameo by a squad of Daleks was achieved with CGI only, although unusually the neck sections of these daleks rotated along with their domes. The following month the Daleks cameoed again, in the concluding episode of Flux, The Vanquishers. There was no new filming with physical props here either but unused footage of the props from Revolution of the Daleks was used.
JANUARY 2022
In Eve of the Daleks a squad of ‘Executioner Daleks’ are sent to hunt down and kill the Doctor and her friends by ‘Dalek Command’. These Daleks have built in teleport capabilities and can rapidly adapt their weapons systems to overcome the Doctor’s jamming. They also have new, rapid-fire multi-barrelled guns, designed by Dafydd Shurmer.
OCTOBER 2022
In The Power of the Doctor, the Daleks finally form an alliance with both the Master and the Cybermen. A Dalek is seen to have developed independent thought and turned traitor to its species, having decided they have lost the right to survive after letting their Kaled identity be eroded. Daleks are seen to be able to use their guns to force the opening of another Dalek’s casing. With the mutant removed, a Dalek casing can be used as a prison and a transmat capsule for a humanoid. As well as two props appearing fresh from recording Eve of the Daleks, four new Daleks were constructed at the BBC just for this story.
THE FUTURE
And that brings us up to date. How long until the fifteenth Doctor encounters the Daleks and Russell T Davies gives us some clever new embellishment of their lore? According to RTD, not soon as he plans to rest them, but I’m not so sure…
Sources
dalek6388.co.uk (researched and written by Jon Green and Gavin Rymill)
Doctor Who 50 Years: The Daleks (Panini bookazine, 2013)