Past Times
The Daleks first set out to conquer the universe 60 years ago. MARION MCMULLEN looks at the history of the Timelord’s deadliest enemy
DOCTOR Who and his Tardis were first seen on TV screens 60 years ago, but it was not long before the Daleks turned up to cause him a planet-sized headache.
The metallic mutants scared children across the nation with their strange non-humanoid appearance and their chilling cry of just one menacing word ... exterminate!
They made their TV debut on December 21, 1963 as William Hartnell’s Time Lord came across an empty city on an irradiated planet.
Welsh-born writer Terry Nation took the first Doctor Who to the Dalek homeworld of Skaro in a memorable seven-part story simply called The Daleks.
It saw the Tardis land in a petrified forest on an alien planet with danger awaiting in a metal city.
The Daleks had arrived and soon became one of the Doctor’s most formidable and enduring foes as they attempted to destroy every race and planet they came across.
William Hartnell admitted that Daleks were not always easy to work with. He said: “They were difficult to play to because you’re not looking into human eyes... You’re looking at a metal object moving about, with a voiceover.”
More than 10 million viewers watched the first Dalek sci-fi adventure and the mutants created by the power-crazed Davros have continued to menace Doctor Who and his various companions down the decades.
Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker said: “No matter how many times you think you’ve defeated them, they always come back. It’s that never-ending game of tennis.”
Terry Nation once claimed that he based the Daleks on the Nazis and the SS. The late writer said: “Letters came from the parents saying ‘How dare you put these things on’ but the letters came from the kids saying ‘Please don’t stop.’”
The scary nature of the aliens led to children famously watching Doctor Who hiding behind the sofa.
They were right to be nervous, the Daleks were tough customers. Their outer casing was made of Dalekanium – an alloy developed on Skaro that is 10 times stronger than steel, yet lighter than aluminium. The trademark eye stalk is equipped with night and heat vision.
The terrifying invaders were long thought to have an Achilles’ heel... an inability to tackle stairs. This was disproved in 1988 when Sylvester Mccoy’s Doctor got a nasty shock as a Dalek hovered up a set of steps while pursuing him.
The Daleks have turned up on the streets of London and Cardiff over the years and even went to the Cannes Film Festival in 1965 to promote the film Dr Who and the Daleks. It starred Peter Cushing as everyone’s favourite Time Lord.
The follow-up, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD, in 1966, saw Bernard Cribbins as the Doctor’s companion Tom Campbell. He returned to the Doctor Who universe in 2006 as Wilfred Mott, the grandfather of the Doctor’s companion Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate.
There was talk that he had been overlooked as a possible Doctor in his younger years but he said: “I think I wasn’t tall enough. That was it. I’d have been tripping over that scarf all the time.”
Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies said Bernard loved being in the sci-fi series. He said: “He’d phone up and say ‘I’ve got an idea! What if I attack a Dalek with a paintball gun?!’ OK, Bernard, in it went!”
The Daleks have gone to appear at the Proms and Comic Relief and even invaded Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant. They took part in the Jubilee parade on Horse Guards.
They certainly caught the public’s imagination right from the start. Pop group the Go-gos even brought out a record called I’m Going to Spend My Christmas with a Dalek in 1964. The lyrics included the lines: “I’m gonna spend my Christmas with a Dalek, And hug him under the mistletoe, And if he’s very nice I’ll feed him sugar spice, And hang a Christmas stocking from his big lead toe.”
Their image graced toys and merchandise – former Doctor Who companion Bradley Walsh remembers: “I got a toy Dalek and drove my mum and dad mad. I must have worn it out.”
The Dalek has become such a part of British popular culture that it has even been added to the Oxford English. The definition says “a member of a race of hostile alien machineorganisims which appeared in the BBC television science fiction series Doctor Who from 1963”.
Doctor Who and Torchwood actor John Barrowman’s character Captain Jack Harkness returned from the dead after being “terminated” by the Daleks.
He apparently bore the metal invaders no ill will though, he even had his very own life-size Dalek made. It stood in his home and greeted guests who visited... presumably on the ground floor.