Dr Who Tattoo

My friend is such a Dr Who fanatic, he is getting the Dr Who logo tattooed on his back. He wanted it to tattooed on his heart but for obvious reasons it couldn't happen. :)

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PROFILE: JO GRANT

Three Weeks to Go!

A quick reminder that if you're entering the BBC's Script to Screen competition, you've only got three weeks to go!

You can get full details from the BBC Learning site and the winning script will be shot by the Doctor Who team and shown on the BBC. You must be aged 9-11 years old to enter and don't forget, your script should feature the Doctor but not Amy or Rory. We've also got a great video in which the writer of The Doctor's Wife, Neil Gaiman, gives his tips for how to approach writing for the Doctor. So what are you waiting for?

Good luck to everyone entering the competition!.

A History Of The Dalek Props In Doctor Who From '63 To '88 (Pt 14)

15: ‘Planet of the Daleks’

Events from Dec 72 to May 73

Operators

John Scott Martin
Cy Town
Murphy Grumbar
Tony Starr (Uncredited)

Voices

Michael Wisher
Roy Skelton

Terry Nation

The Return of the Creator

Producer Barry Letts didn't quite fulfil his dream to out-do the longest-ever Doctor Who serial, but what he did engineer for the show's tenth anniversary was a twelve-episode arc. The first half of the arc constituted Frontier in Space, and although the Daleks did not appear until episode six, their presence was felt via their slaves the Ogrons. It was the next six episodes which would feature the Daleks in full force and a different writer was to be employed.
In agreeing to allow his creations to return in Day of the Daleks, Terry Nation had negotiated first refusal on any future stories concerning the monsters. Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks therefore approached Nation with the offer for him to script the second half of the epic story arc, and it which was eventually commissioned on 21st April 1972. Nation worked on the scripts - initially entitled Destination: Daleks - over the summer, with the final drafts being prepared by Dicks himself.
It was Nation's first script for Doctor Who since he penned episode seven of The Daleks Master Plan - ironically an installment featuring no Daleks because it was the series' first and only attempt at Christmas pantomime.
The concept of bridging two stories became diluted by Nation's approach to the writing, and he scripted part one of what became Planet of the Daleks as if it was a stand-alone story, rather than a follow-on toFrontier in Space. Even in the finished version, the Daleks are hidden until the climax of episode one, and the Doctor expresses shock at the reveal - despite the fact that he is supposedly on a mission specifically to track them down. Dicks had to re-draft sections to incorporate the injury that the Doctor suffered at the end of the previous serial.
Having not written for his own creations for seven years, Nation's instinct was to take them back into familiar territory, and ultimately his return to science fiction writing proved extremely derivative. From his own previous tales Nation borrowed broad themes and settings, such as a jungle planet (complete with malevolent plant life) and an underground city, as well as familiar protagonists in the form of the Thals and antagonists such as invisible natives. He also repeated set pieces including an escape using a Dalek casing, immobilising a Dalek visiting its prisoners, infiltrating the Dalek base disguised as their ally, crashing debris down a shaft to fend off a rising Dalek, and of course, the ubiquitous army poised to take over the universe.

Cliff Culley formed Westbury Design and Optical Ltd
in 1970 and was contracted to Doctor Who in 1972

Six new 'Goon' props pose for publicity, whilst
the seventh had been sprayed for an FX sequence

Five new 'Goons' in the Dalek base

Seven Brand New Props

Meanwhile, due to a lack of space at the BBC a company called Westbury Design and Optical Limitedwas contracted by the BBC to store and renovate the TARDIS console as well as deal with Dalek requirements. This company belonged to Clifford Culley who became the man primarily responsible for the visual effects work on Planet of the Daleks.
With scripts prepared, December 1972 saw work begin on readying the Dalek props for production. The story called for 10,000 Daleks to be woken from their hibernation and whilst this could be partly realised by model-work, it was clear that some shots required more than the three available props. The decision was made to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the programme (and indeed the Daleks) by building a set of new props. To this end, the outside visual effects team was tasked with creating seven new casings and construction began in earnest at the end of December.
Having been returned from the Lord Mayor's Show, Dalek Six-7 was available to Cliff Culley and his team for measurement. They would make every effort to faithfully 'clone' the standard Shawcraft appearance, and in doing so the head of Dalek Six-7 was sacrificed for molding purposes.
The new Daleks became the first set of props built without using the original Shawcraft methods developed in the 1960s. Gone were the fibreglass shell and pushed-through hemis, and in came a heavy, wood construction for the skirt with the shoulders being made up of thin metal wrapped around a wooden frame.
The design of the new casings shared much more in common with Dalek Six-7 than its counterparts: The newly-built shoulder sections had normal-width collars beneath the gunboxes (unlike the thin collar ofDalek One), the position of the fixing screws was high, the gunboxes themselves were original 'TV style' (unlike the flat-tops of Dalek Seven), and even the hemisphere alignment of the first 'clone' closely matched the movie-style skirt. Perhaps the most telling sign of the prop which was copied was the eye. At the end of 1972, Dalek Six-7 was left with only four eye-discs, and its pivot was slightly more recessed than the others. Sure enough, the new batch of props have this same same incorrect eye-disc configuration, and they all have very recessed eye-pivots indeed.
The new Westbury Design props were given fully-articulated limbs so that they could all be posed differently, and in most respects they were very accurate replicas. There were small differences however: The eye-pivots were barely visible above the dome, and the new neck rods were made of a single round piece of wood rather than the 'clover-leaf' style.
The three original Shawcraft props would remain the hero props and carry the bulk of the work on the story, whilst the additional casings would act as static scene-fillers. Since they were to be given no dialogue and would often act as impassive guards, the new props were given the affectionate term "goons" by their creators and the production team. This was a joke reference to the 1930s slang for hired thugs, which in turn derived from the slow-witted and muscular comic strip character Alice the Goon.
The first two "goons" were finished by new year 1973, just in time for production to begin. They were painted battleship grey, somewhat lighter than their veteran counterparts.

Goon i with 'saggy' slats and Goon ii
with seven slats

Goon iii was painted CSO yellow

Goons iv and v

Goon vi and the little used Goon vii

The Goon Show

The lack of standardised molding techniques during the building of the new 'Goons' gave rise to slight variations in the dimensions, and as each new prop was fabricated and time grew shorter, the quirks became more pronounced. Most notably the hemisphere layout strayed further from the norm with each prop turned out.
As a result of both the building methods and the circumstances, each prop had its own unique features - to a far greater extent than the first Shawcraft props ever did. To help future clarification of what type of prop component is being referred to, the "Goons" will be given Roman Numerals.
Goon i was immediately identifiable by its sagging front slats. This quirk was unique and is noticeable throughout the story. The skirt was unusual in that panel R1 was narrow, requiring panel R2 to be wider to compensate. The hemisphere positions were as consistent as any Goon, and the rear corner panel had an arrangement apparently mimicking the movie-style flaw.
Goon ii's hemispheres were distinctive by having the gaps between each row increasing in size from top to bottom. Its shoulders were unusual in having seven small slats above the gun and arm boxes; reminiscent of the movie props - and as a consequence the rearmost small slats were set far back. The transition between the two sizes of slats was notable too, as the top of the small slats at the front was considerably lower than the full slats around the rest of the shoulders.
Goon iii was requested by the production team to be painted yellow, as it was needed in the climax of part one and would be used on the CSO set with yellow as the chromakey colour. This would be its only use in the entire production and the prop is only seen on screen from the shoulders upwards. Slats L1 and L2 were slightly misaligned so that they leant towards each other, and the dome of the head sat low on the neck section.
Goon iv had a host of distinguishing features. Whilst there was not quite such a significant drop in height from the large slats to the small, there was a wide lateral space at the point they changed. The front two slats were positioned extremely close together. The arm and gun-balls were mounted extremely low within their boxes, resulting in a tiny gap between the joint and the bottom of the gunbox. The hemispheres on the front panels R1 and L1 were misaligned too low in relation to panels behind.
Goon v's front panels were very wide and the hemisphere alignment was variable. The line of the rows rises up towards the front with panel R1 being particularly high. On the shoulder section, again the top of the larger slats was considerably above that of the smaller front slats. The slat R1 in due course became detached from the mesh and leant outwards. The gunboxes of Goon v were somewhat more square than various other Goons, however the ball-joints were no higher than on others, resulting in a significant gap between the gunball and the top of the box.
Goon vi had perhaps the most distinctive skirt of all. The hemispheres on the side panels were set extremely high compared to those ahead of them. But more severe issues concerned the front panels, where the four hemispheres were mounted so close together that a gap of nearly ten centimetres was left below them at the bottom above the fender. The most noticeable feature of the shoulders is that its slats leant towards the centre.
Finally, Goon vii was hardly featured at all during recording, appearing once as a guard at the gates of the Dalek base and on the fringes of publicity photos. Like Goon Two the shoulders had seven small slats, with the rearmost small slats mounted far back.

To avoid confusion, particularly in latter years, we will now refer to the Goon props as 'Dalek' and utilise their unique number as in the above diagram, in the same format as the main Dalek props.

Dalek Six-7's goon dome included a hole in the top

Dalek Seven-2's variable paint work

Dalek One-5's missing mesh

Different paintwork on Daleks Seven-2 (left) and Six-7

The Old Guard

The BBC's own visual effects team were given the job of carrying out work on the existing props, although in the event very little needed doing to the trio. Dalek Six-7 was by this stage the same lighter 'battleship grey' of the first two Goons produced by Culley's team. The original prop now sported a new dome like those of the Goons themselves, therefore exhibiting the sunken pivot (although it retained the original eyestalk) and it also sported a hole in the top. The neck had been removed for the repainting and when placed back had been rotated into the wrong position.
Dalek One-5's condition had deteriorated quickly after the production of Day of the Daleks and although it had been patched up for its appearance in Frontier in Space it was again starting to look worse for wear. The shoulders had picked up damage, mesh was missing between the rear slats, and sections of the neck rings were also starting to split.
The gold Dalek Seven-2 now needed to become one of the rank and file Daleks and was therefore painted to match Dalek One-5 in a dark grey finish. The rapid job is evident as the effect is variable across the prop. The underside of the eye pivot remained gold, and patches were left on the gun barrel and under the mesh of the shoulders.
It was a sad irony that the BBC recognised the importance of the Daleks in attracting viewers to the show but unfortunately simply didn't have the time or money to constantly refurbish these props. Some of the components at this stage were a decade old, and that fact was plain for all to see.

Goon i and Goon ii were the first to be
finished and taken on location at Redhill

A hinge on the back of Goon i

The New Daleks begin work

With two new Goon props available, filming began with two days on location at Redhill on January 2nd 1973¹. The VFX team on location consisted of Cliff Culley, Pete Pickering, Arthur Beavis and Martin Gutteridge who together looked after the Daleks and worked to create the ice pools of the planet Spiridon.Dalek Seven-2 plus the Goon i and Goon ii were taken on location - the latter pair always referred to by Culley and his team as "ours", in contrast to those props which survived from the 60s which they referred to as "the BBC's"².
The scenes depicted The Doctor and Taron wrestling Dalek Seven-2 towards the ice pool, eventually winning the battle, with the final shots seeing Goon i as a substitute for the hero prop, sliding into the water. Goon ii soon joins its companion when the Thals and Jo manage to overpower it.
Goon i and Goon ii were fitted with hinges on the rear of the neck to allow the head to pivot open as the story required. Damaged sustained by the props required repairs to be done upon return to Pinewood.
On 4th January Culley was contacted by the BBC over concerns that the two new goon props were not the appropriate shade of grey to match the hero props, and needed to be painted darker. The following day Culley went to Ealing to pick up a section of one of the Shawcraft Daleks to colour-match the two goons.

The Dalek Supreme in 1968

The Supreme Dalek enters the Dalek base.

"Daleks are never defeated!"

A New Supreme

In addition to the large number of normal Daleks which were demanded by the script, one more Dalek was called upon. Terry Nation's last three stories had featured a Black Dalek as the supreme leader. However, once the series went into colour, gold had become the preference for the aliens' ruling class. Dalek Seven-2 had most recently fulfilled this role, but with the large number of props required for the Dalek army, it was not a desirable prospect to lose one of the three hero props in order to portray therepresentative of the Dalek Supreme Council required in episode six.
As part of his role as Production Assistant (for which he went uncredited at the time) George Gallacciowas involved in managing the resources on Doctor Who, and as such had one eye on the budget. As a money-saving measure, he explored the fact that Nation himself owned several Dalek props left over after the second Dalek film. Four years earlier in an interview on Whicker's World, Nation's movie Daleks had been featured, and so one of these was put forward as a candidate for a starring role in Planet of the Daleks. A complete explanation and analysis of which movie props appear on Whicker's World, and what happens to them can be found on the Nation's Daleks Page.
On the 10th January 1973 Gallaccio contact Cliff Culley regarding the use of one of Nation's private collection as the Supreme Dalek. The prop chosen was one that had originally been built in 1965 and painted gold and silver for use in the second Dalek movie. After filming was completed, it had been refurbished into a red and black colour scheme, which was how it appeared on Whickers World.
Four years on, the prop had undergone some major changes. The neck had been reconstructed with flat-sided rings and gone were the rods. The lights had been replaced by purple jam jars and the eye was now a torch that was unusually wired to flash along with the speech. Culley's team was tasked with giving the prop a coat of gold paint. Despite the changes, this prop's identity is easy to spot through its lifetime mainly due to the rivets of its slats being so widely spaced. This unique quirk can be seen on the big screen, then again in Whicker's World, and through to its use in Planet of the Daleks. Small details give it away too - prominent rivets under the mesh at the front and rear can be matched up throughout all its guises, and after sustaining damage in 1973, the red paint of its 1968 appearance was revealed beneath the Supreme's Black coat.
On 16th January tensions ran high as bad organisation caused Terry Nation's Dalek to fail to be delivered. Friction continued on 23rd when a row broke out over who was responsible for looking after the props.

Goon ii was painted black

Yellow Goon iii waiting on the CSO set

Goon i is pulled up the shaft via a wire

Studio bound

Studio work at Television Centre began on 22nd and 23rd January 1973 with the taping of episodes one and two. No Daleks were needed on the first day as the session was taken up with most of episode one. The climax of the episode which included the reveal of the invisible villains would be filmed in the second block in February.
The second day would feature the first studio work using the new Goon props. Goon ii was painted black from its shoulder area upwards to feature as the Dalek that the Doctor and Thals had to spray with paint to reveal. The lights and eyestalk were completely covered by this process. This Goon was one of two which were distinguished by having a 'movie style' arrangement of seven small slats above the gun and arm boxes, rather than the usual six.
More of the Goon props were ready for filming of the second block which began on 5th February. The new batch included the one painted CSO yellow to record the effects for the climax of episode one. This wasGoon iii which was videotaped against a yellow background whilst the actors sprayed black paint to reveal it. This was the only screen use of Culley's third prop however its all-black FX double, Goon ii, is seen in several scenes with paint-covered eye and lights. This blacked-out appearance was finally addressed in a refurbishment for episode six when it was fitted with new lights and eyediscs (although the iris remains black). Thereafter the prop is used as an FX prop which gets destroyed - twice.
Although intended predominantly as static scene fillers the Goons did have some moments where they were seen to move, although they were never manned by an operator. Episode Four would see two of these instances. Firstly a scene called for a Dalek to rise on an 'Anti-gravitational disc' and this was achieved by pulling Goon i up on a wire threaded through a hole in the top of the dome. The prop was mostly kept in close up to hide the stage hands steadying it.
The same episode also included a scene which utilised the three Shawcraft hero props together in the laboratory set, but a fourth Dalek was needed to come and give its report. The role of the fourth Dalek was fulfilled by a Goon kept in close shot near the camera whilst being wobbled by a stage-hand out of frame as it delivered its lines.
A more ambitious attempt was made to mobilise a Goon during the recording of episode Five. When the Daleks panic at the premature release of their virus culture, a Goon prop is catapulted from one side of the set to the other. This experiment proved fairly unsuccessful as the resultant acceleration was was unusual.

Dalek One-5's neck damage caused by Jon Pertwee

Dalek One-5's different eye discs.

Dalek Seven-2's broken slat revealing gold paint

Accumulating Damage

The previous years' publicity work, combined with the extensive use of the props in studio meant that damage was repeatedly caused to different areas of the props. Even during recording, the props were prone to rough treatment. For example; Dalek Six-7 collides with the lift door whilst escorting the Doctor in episode two and in episode three and the neck of Dalek One-5 is damaged during the escape scene. But even before Jon Pertwee wrenches one of the neck rings out of position and breaks it, they already show signs of a fracture and some partially delaminated wood. This was straightened up, only to be broken again recording part six.
Culley was tasked with repairing the props as needed and on 2nd February he was provided with a list of defects from the operators themselves.
The process of making running repairs is exemplified by Dalek One-5's eye-discs. In an insert recorded later and edited into episode two, the discs are all the same diameter, and a bolt appears in the pivot. Later, in episode six they have been refurbished and appear in a regular pattern. Dalek Six-7 also receives a new disc for the episode.
Dalek Seven-2 would see one of its slats broken even before filming began, revealing the gold paint underneath. This was painted over for recording, and Culley's team were kept busy throughout making minor repairs and touching up paintwork to all the props, old and new.
The final studio day for Planet of the Daleks was 20th February 1973 which involved the massed ranks of the Dalek army being represented by most of the Shawcraft and Westbury props together.
With work completed, the Supreme prop was returned to Terry Nation, and the ten other Daleks were returned to Pinewood for storage - but this wasn't the end of the drama.

A History Of The Dalek Props In Doctor Who From '63 To '88 (Pt 14)

14: ‘Frontier in Space’

Events from May 72 to Nov 72

Operators

John Scott Martin
Cy Town
Murphy Grumbar

Voices

Michael Wisher

Malcolm Hulke

A new ‘Frontier’

Plans for Doctor Who's tenth anniversary in 1973 were well underway by the spring of 1972, with producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks keen to mark the occasion with a line up of returning foes and the first ever multi-Doctor story. Part of those plans was to create a story to rival the series' previous longest tale, The Daleks' Master Plan.
Douglas Camfield, the director of The Daleks' Master Plan, and Terrance Dicks were both concerned about producing such a long adventure, which would inevitably cause production problems and audience fatigue. This ultimately persuaded Letts to adjust his ambitions and instead create two separate linked tales. Two of the Doctor's most popular enemies were chosen for the two stories - The Master and, of course, the Daleks.
Malcolm Hulke was chosen as the writer of the first story and he was given certain instructions so that his narrative would dovetail into the second story. The Master was to be aided by the Ogrons - a Gorilla-like race that been introduced in Day of the Daleks who would therefore help foreshadow the appearance of their superiors. Only the final episode would feature an appearance by the Daleks themselves. On 14th April Hulke was commissioned to begin the story titled Frontier in Space.

The Daleks on location at Beachfields Quarry

The Daleks take control

Into the Quarry... again

Day of the Daleks' director, Paul Bernard, was assigned to take charge of the initial six episodes of the story arc. As part of pre-production, one of his first jobs in August was to check on the condition of the three props. Dalek Seven-2 and Dalek Six-7 were in relatively good condition and needed little work to get them ready. Dalek One-5 has suffered some damage and needed a new set of eye-discs and several slats replacing on the shoulders. The paint-work was touched up as necessary.
When Dalek operators came to be contracted, the ever-reliable duo of John Scott Martin and Murphy Grumbar were drafted in, however Ricky Newby's services were not called upon again after his work the previous year. Instead, a new actor was brought in, and it would be the start of a long career inside the Daleks for Cy Town.
Another change concerned the Daleks' speech. Actor Michael Wisher would provide the voice for the one speaking prop; Dalek Seven-2. Wisher's first contribution to Doctor Who had been uncredited voice work in The Seeds of Death four years earlier. Thereafter he appeared in several Jon Pertwee stories, including Carnival of Monsters earlier that year.
With props and operators ready, on 11th September the production team made their way to Beachfields Quarry in Redhill, Surrey, where the scenes on the Ogron planet were filmed over two days. Here the three props would make their first appearance for the grand reveal that the Daleks were the unseen allies of the Master. To aid the props' movement, the fenders were all left without the plastic covering that would ordinarily be used to hide the wheels. The brief quarry scene showed the Daleks from low angles and in long-shot, with the camera looking up to the cliff edge where the villains stood.
Six weeks later, 31st October saw the only studio recording take place with the Daleks. This was for episode six, and the three props were unchanged in all respects other than they were now fitted with the fender covering. Continuing their statuesque demeanour seen during their last serial, the Daleks were afforded hardly any motion by their operators.
Finally, one last shot was needed, and Dalek Seven-2 was used briefly when a hallucinating Ogron believed one of his masters was in the prison cell.

'Dialect' Seven-2 appears on the Generation Game

The Lord Mayors Show 11th November 1972
Photo - James Russell

Generation Game

After their five-year hiatus, the Daleks were once again capturing the imagination of children across the country. The frenzy wasn't reaching the heights of their sixties heyday but the popular aliens continued to cameo on other TV shows and make regular public appearances.
During recording of Frontier in Space the gold Dalek Seven-2 popped up on an episode of The Generation Game. The highly-successful programme starred Bruce Forsyth and was into its second season in 1972. The cameo in question features a joke about the misunderstanding of the word 'dialects', prompting the gold prop to be briefly wheeled on. The audience reaction to the appearance gives a measure of their notoriety, provoking as it does a mixture of delight and amusement.
On 11th November 1972, Dalek Seven-Two and Dalek Six-7 appeared at the Lord Mayor's Show in London. This annual procession of businesses and celebrities through the streets had been running since 1535 and saw the newly elected Mayor present himself to the Sovereign and swear loyalty to the Crown.
As 1973 approached, plans for the second half of the linked story were well advanced. Plans that would also include the return of the Daleks creator, Terry Nation...

Doctor Who - The Almost People Preview 2

Doctor Who - The Almost People Preview 1

Doctor Who - The Almost People Trailer

The Secrets Of The Fourth Dimension

"All the secrets you seek can be found here on the Webb"

"We found your message you're alive but what secrets 'D'you mean?"

“I mean I glimpsed him and may the gods help him or perhaps you can”

“To see what I saw click on the spot beyond the doctors home planet”

Message Interrupted

Watch Online–The Rebel Flesh

Fanfics

Ablaze - Eleven, river by honeynoir

Forget_You_The_Silence_Song - Eleven by Alias Bishie Joe Armstrong

Cannibal - Ten, Rose by CowboyHobo

Letter_From_a_Ghost - Eleven and romana by Ace of gallifrey

A History Of The Dalek Props In Doctor Who From '63 To '88 (Pt 13)

13: ‘Day of the Daleks’

Events from Apr 71 to Apr 72

Operators

John Scott Martin
Ricky Newby
Murphy Grumbar

Voices

Oliver Gilbert
Peter Messaline

New Doctor Jon Pertwee

Script editor Terrance Dicks

The Return of the Daleks

Four years had passed since the Daleks had last appeared in Doctor Who and the series had changed dramatically. The series had a new lead actor; Jon Pertwee, along with a new companion and a new family of supporting cast to assist the Doctor during Earth exile - a concept devised as part of a revamped format. The show was now made and broadcast in colour and a new producer was at the helm. Old monsters such as Daleks and Cybermen had been deemed Persona non grata as producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrence Dicks looked to make their own mark on the show.
The exclusion of old enemies would be addressed however when an inquiry in the spring of 1971 by BBC Managing Director Huw Wheldon lead Letts and Dicks to consider the return of the Daleks. Letts had previously been reluctant to include the old foes but was persuaded to meet their creator Terry Nation, and whilst Nation himself was too busy to write the scripts he was willing for another author to write for his creations so long as he had approval, and permission was given on 22nd April .

Letts and Dicks first approached Robert Sloman to devise the proposed Dalek story as a climax to the upcoming Season Nine, and a storyline entitled The Daleks in London was produced. However Letts and Dicks became worried that the opening of the season needed something bigger to hook viewers, and so the Daleks were brought forward to be included in a Louis Marks' story about time-traveling guerrillas which was already well in advance having been commissioned in January of 1971. This story eventually became Day of the Daleks.

Daleks about to be sprayed for Day of the Daleks
Photo - James Russell

Daleks about to be sprayed for Day of the Daleks
Photo - James Russell

Daleks in Colour. On the Small Screen!

The director appointed to the serial was Paul Bernard, and the scripts required him to depict a Dalek army for the story’s big climax.

Around the time that contracts were issued to the human actors in mid-August and early September 1971, the availability of the show's real stars was being investigated - the Daleks.
After a clear out of BBC storage some time earlier, the thin Dalek Eight had been junked along with the top of Dalek Two - however this top was rescued from destruction by Bernard Wilkie, along with the thin skirt. The thin shoulders of Dalek Eight only fitted the thin skirt, and so would have been of no future use.
The remaining props which were therefore brought from storage were: The original Dalek One, the stunt-prop built for The Chase with its movie-type characteristics which was Dalek Seven (now fitted with a TV neck), a composite made up of one skirts and the alternate top half built for The Dalek Invasion of Earthtermed Dalek Six-5, and lastly the lone skirt of Dalek Two - left orphaned without a matching top half.
The props at this time were still in their silver and blue livery as seen in Evil of the Daleks. In early September of 1971 the props were given some heavy refurbishment for the forthcoming TV appearance. All three necks were given new mesh of a coarser style and the cages were replaced. These retained the Shawcraft style of 'clover' rods but these were of a smaller diameter, therefore overall the rods appeared thinner. The eye mechanisms were adjusted, including new eyestalks and eyeballs (that now had a pupil as standard), which had the unfortunate effect of leaving visible screws around the pivot hole. The lights were changed again, this time to car side-lights very often seen on the "Mini" car of the time and the shoulders of all three Daleks were tidied with new mesh which was also of a coarser type than previously used. Dalek One also had some internal work carried out on its shoulders highlighted by two extra bolts which appeared either side of the oval between the boxes, which itself was new addition to all three props.
All four skirts surviving skirts had had their fenders enlarged, and metal plates were added around the edges to protect the easily damages wood. Bigger castors were also added, meaning the props stood slightly taller than previously. For their studio work, the excessive ground clearance would be hidden by thin black plastic film akin to the rubber movie style fenders.
During the refurbishment work, the halves became mixed, with Dalek One's shoulders paired with Dalek Five's skirt (becoming Dalek One-5 from here on). Dalek Seven's shoulders were paired with Dalek Two's skirt (becoming Dalek Seven-2) and Dalek Six's shoulders were paired with Dalek Seven's skirt (becoming Dalek Six-7). The skirt of Dalek One now became orphaned.
Dalek Seven-2 was given a new gold and black livery and acted as the lead Dalek, whilst the other two Daleks were painted in a dark metallic grey and black.

Daleks on location at Bull's Bridge

Dalek One's skirt's last appearance

On location and a Sad Demise

Location filming began on 14th September 1971 at Dropmore Park in Burnham which was acting as Auderly House. The climatic battle scenes were filmed here supposedly featuring an army of Daleks attacking the peace conference taking place in the House. However as only three props were assembled the army looked a little thin on the ground, which was not helped by the director repeatedly using shots of all three Daleks, giving the impression that there were many gold leaders flanked by just two subordinates.

When shooting moved to Bull's Bridge two days later, the props had to run on boards placed over the uneven surface, and the lack of the black plastic on the fender would have aided ground clearance. The filmed shots mainly show them from the lower skirt upwards, but there is at least one instance of a full shot showing the uncovered fender.

Filming moved to Harvey House, Green Dragon Lane in Brentford where the attack on the Daleks’ headquarters took place. These scenes firstly utilised Dalek Six-7 attacking the guerrillas and then a shot was required featuring a destroyed Dalek.
Rather than create an FX prop from scratch, it was deemed easier to use the surplus fourth skirt, and thus the TV career of Dalek One's orphaned skirt was brought to an undignified end for the sake of a one-second shot. Large sections of the fibreglass were broken open, such as on the panel at the front, and at the rear left corner the top section was fractured and the loose section was then hinged over to dangle down. Various hemispheres were removed, and some of the holes in the sides were widened so that smoke could blow through them.
It was a sad fate for one of the original four Dalek components, which had survived a decade's use, appeared in approximately 40 television episodes, and made numerous publicity appearances in support of the programme.

The three Daleks in studio

Dalek Seven-2 invades the Blue Peter Studio

Daleks at Ealing Studios

Pertwee and Letts at the London Planetarium

Dalek Seven-2 and Dalek One-5 looking battered

In Studio and a Sneak Peek
In studio work, beginning on 4th October, the Daleks were used sparingly and even when on screen were very static. Two new voice artistes were employed and gave the Daleks a very dull and monotone speech pattern. Bernard had disliked the voices from the 1960’s and so voice modulation was done in studio rather than using the Radiophonic Workshop. Overall the whole impression the Daleks gave was very different to the agitated and angry Daleks of the sixties tales.

Just six days after filming was completed in October 1971, viewers were treated to a surprise appearance of the new look props prior to transmission of the serial the following January. On October 25th Blue Peterincluded a brief promotion for Doctor Who and the three props appeared in studio. Viewers were encouraged to write in to increase the chance of the Daleks appearing in the upcoming season.
Dalek Six-7 was already sporting a damaged gun and missing eye disc which can be seen half broken in the location footage and Dalek Seven-2 already had two different styles lights indicating one had been damaged since filming finished.

While filming The Curse of Peladon at Ealing in December, Jon Pertwee took time out for a photo call featuring two Ogrons and two Daleks. These pictures featured Dalek Seven-2 and Dalek One-5 and would be used for publicity.
A few days later, on 21st December, Dalek Seven-2 appeared at a photo call at the London Planetarium. Former companion Peter Purves interviewed Pertwee and Letts as part of the Planetarium’s ‘Young Observers’ lectures.
In the days since the Ealing photo call the plastic film, running round the fender of the prop, had in the main been ripped away leaving some small areas with torn plastic hanging limply from it. Several hemispheres were also chipped revealing the original blue colour.

On 31st December, Jon Pertwee again took part in a publicity photo call with Dalek Seven-2 and Dalek One-5 outside BBC Television Centre. The gold Dalek Seven-2 was in its same ‘Planetarium’ condition but Dalek One-5 was heavily damaged with nearly all its eye discs either broken or missing, slats were missing from the shoulders and the whole casing was generally chipped and scratched.

In the space of just ten days the condition of the props had seriously deteriorated, more than likely due to mishandling on their trips around the country. It was a continual problem for them but their own popularity meant that people all over the country wished to see them, meaning damage would happen on a regular basis.

Dalek Seven-2 on display at the Ceylon Tea Centre
Photo - James Russell

Tea Time

The Radio Times promoted the return of the monsters with a "Win a Dalek" competition during the transmission of the serial (beginning on 1st January, 1972) with the winners receiving a “Mark 7” remote controlled Dalek.
There was also an exhibition of the winning entries at the Ceylon Tea Centre in Regents Street, London in the last week of March and first week of April. The gold Dalek Seven-2 was placed in the window of the centre for the duration of the display and was sporting some new castor covering tidying up its appearance somewhat.

1973 would see the tenth anniversary of Doctor Who and what better way to celebrate than to bring back the Daleks, and written for by their original creator, Terry Nation.

A Good Man Goes To War synopsis

Amy Pond has been kidnapped and the Doctor is raising an army to rescue her as the drama continues. But as he and Rory race across galaxies, calling in long-held debts and solemnly given promises, his enemies are laying a carefully concealed trap.

In her cell in Stormcage, River Song sadly acknowledges that the time has come at last – today will mark the Battle of Demons Run and the Doctor's darkest hour. Both sides will make their sacrifices and River Song must finally reveal her most closely guarded secret to the Doctor.

Source - Blogtorwho

A History Of The Dalek Props In Doctor Who From '63 To '88 (Pt 12)

12: Five Years in the Cold

Events from Aug 67 to Mar 71

Three Daleks with black domes for Evil of the Daleks

The Final End

When Terry Nation's Dalek spin-off The Destroyers wasn't taken up by the BBC, he took the concept to America, prompting the BBC to write the Daleks out of Doctor Who for good. The supposed "final end" of the Daleks had been recorded for The Evil of the Daleks in June 1967 when the story had already begun broadcast. Transmission concluded on 1st July and the props were placed into storage.

Two Daleks visit BBC Cardiff in October 1967

Cardiff Visit - October 1967
Three months after recording had taken place, two Daleks paid a visit to the offices of BBC Cardiff in October 1967.
The first prop which came to terrorise the staff was made up of the shoulders of Dalek Two, with the distinctive collar lift still present, fitted with the neck of Dalek Seven (as it had been for a year since recording of Power of the Daleks) and a dome still painted black from its recent appearance in Evil of the Daleks. The skirt for this prop was the original skirt from Dalek One.
The second prop had the shoulders of Dalek Seven (with its flat-top movie-mould gunboxes) with the neck ofDalek Two, still sporting the distinctive neck repair (also as it had been in Power). It had the skirt of Dalek Two.

The Daleks in a Blue Peter photo-call in November 1967

Blue Peter Photoshoot - November 1967
The following month, on November 13th 1967, three props were in attendance at the Blue Peter Studios at Lime Grove. Contrary to appearances, this did not form part of an episode but was merely a photo-call for the forthcoming Design-a-Monster competition.
The two props which had visited Wales had had their tops swapped over which meant that Dalek Two was now reunited into a complete prop once more, whereas the other halves formed Dalek Seven-1. The third prop was Dalek Six-5, the prop normally retained by Shawcraft at their workshops.

A fourth Dalek on Downing Street

Downing Street - November 1967
A couple of days later, a Dalek made up of two further halves could be found trundling along Downing Street. This prop featured the inverse components of one of the Blue Peter props,
The publicity stunt took place on November 17th as part of a students' fund-raising mission for Cancer Relief, and the Dalek was given a collection tin to carry. The prop featured the shoulders of the original Dalek Onewhich paired with the movie-style skirt of Dalek Seven.
The shoulders were in a state of some disrepair, with join at the rear of the lower collar having come loose, leaving the ends trailing, and several slats were broken or lost. The availability of props for use in non-BBC work would become increasingly frequent, and the fact that the props weren't being scheduled for further use on Doctor Who meant that any damage sustained was not repaired.

Dalek & John Noakes - Design a Monster Competition

Design a Monster - December 1967
On the 8th December one of the Daleks made a return to the Blue Peter studios where it had had a photo-call a month earlier.
Once again, this was for the Design-a-Monster competition, and Patrick Troughton was in attendance alongside the programme's presenters in order to chose a winning entry for this competition. The prop was very dusty from its spell in storage, but it was otherwise in fine condition. This top half of Dalek Two was still sporting its small iris and lower collar lift.

Dalek Seven-1 at the Boys and Girls Exhibition

Boys and Girls - New Year 1968
A couple of weeks later, and tying into the Blue Peter competition, the Daleks made another appearance at the Daily Mail's "Boys and Girls Exhibition".
In their last appearance in Olympia during the height of Dalekmania, Doctor Who was represented by just two Dalek props in their Dalek Invasion of Earth guise. This time around the Daleks were joined by original Cybermen costumes, as well as Yeti and other monsters, plus three winning monsters of the Design-a-Monster Competition, built by BBC Visual Effects.
The exhibition ran into January 1968 and featured one of the Daleks just as it had appeared in the Blue Peter studios a month-and-a-half previously. A distinctive scratch on the front panel of the skirt helps identify the lower half, and the shoulders are the movie-mould set first used in The Chase, which demonstrates the prop is still a pairing of of Dalek Seven and the skirt of Dalek One. Interestingly however, unlike the Blue Peter appearance, the eye-ball has no iris.

Alan Whicker interviews Terry Nation with
his four Daleks in attendance

Whicker's World - January 1968
Having run for nine years, the highly-successful BBC documentary Whicker's World was famed for reporting stories of social interest from around the globe. Its presenter was journalist Alan Whicker who chose a diverse range of topics and interviewees, so it was perhaps not surprising that he should speak to the man who had created a fictional icon - Terry Nation.
In the programme of 27th January 1968, Nation was shown in his home which revealed that he lived with four Daleks from the second feature film released eighteen months previously. One of the props was red and black - but the colour is misleading and its its identifying features revealed its true origin. A prominent bolt between the slats over the gunbox and another at the rear, one slat missing and one bent but, most notably, it had uniquely wide-spaced rivets affixing all the slats - which reveals this to be the Gold Dalek from Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD.
The Sky at Night - April 1968
A television programme which had already notched up eleven years by this point was the monthly astronomy programme, The Sky at Night. For the programme broadcast on 28th April 1968 two Dalek props made an appearance along side the show's presenter, Patrick Moore.

The Doctor shows a lucky Zoe a repeat of
Evil of the Daleks on the TARDIS TV

Destruction of the Emperor Dalek

‘Have You Ever Heard of the Daleks?’
And so on the 1st June 1968 the final episode of Patrick Troughton's second season was broadcast. It was the fifth year that Doctor Who had been on air, but it was the first time there had been a year of production without the use of Terry Nation's creations.
Series four had in fact been the first time that two Dalek stories were present in one season, with Patrick Troughton's early tenure bookended by his battles with them. But in Troughton's second year it was the Cybermen who were promoted to lead villain, and season five had opened with Tomb of the Cybermen and closed with The Wheel in Space.
But then a strange thing happened. In the closing moments of this summer Cybermen adventure, potential new companion Zoe had stowed away in the TARDIS and, in an attempt to alert her to the dangers of their travels, the Doctor asks her if she's heard of the Daleks. She says that she hasn't and so the Doctor uses a head-set to weave his recollections into a complete story for her. What then appears on the screen is a clip from the last few moments of episode one of Evil of the Daleks.
The following week, a repeat then began of the previous year's ultimate Dalek serial, and a specially-recorded voice over then brought the action back to the start, with Zoe asking, "What about those Daleks you showed me?" and the Doctor sensibly replied, "Just let me show you the story from the beginning." Not only was this the first time ever that a Doctor Who story had been repeated, but this diegesis meant that in a very strict sense a Dalek story does become part of the show's fifth year after all.
The country was treated once again to the apocalyptic "final end" of the Daleks on Skaro on 3rd August 1968 but in a painfully ironic twist, this epic adventure was then immediately selected for deletion. Since the BBC had no videotape library at the time, the tapes themselves remained property of the BBC Engineering Department for which there was no mandate, and if the production team gave any indication that a particular recording was surplus to requirements then the tapes could be wiped and recycled. Film tele-recordings had been made with a view to selling Doctor Who overseas, and these survived for some time after, but August 1968 saw the annihilation of episodes one to six in their original form. Episode seven would be retained for 13 more months before that too was expunged. 

Out of the Unknown

A machine allows two men to enter a land of fiction

The fantasy world of Marsham Craswell

Robots from a 1966 Out of the Unknown episode

Daleks in Full TV Production Again - Out of the Unknown - August 1968
The BBC had developed an anthology show called Out of the Unknown for broadcast on BBC2. It had begun in 1965 and, just like Doctor Who, it had been created by a woman under the supervision of Sydney Newman. Irene Shubik had approached Newman with the desire to create a science-fiction version of Armchair Theatreand television writers were drafted in to adapt works by known science fiction authors and newcomers alike. One such writer was Terry Nation, who adapted Ray Bradbury's The Fox and the Forest for season one of the show.
It was during season three in 1968 however that an adaptation of Peter Phillips' Get Off My Cloud required the cooperation of Nation once again - but this time, it was over a plan to feature his Daleks in the episode. Keen to somehow include an element of successful BBC1 show Doctor Who, the BBC had a back-up plan if Nation refused to agree - they would use the Cybermen instead.
The back-up plan was not needed however, as Nation consented to their use, and so plans were made for the Daleks to be brought in for their first proper TV work for over a year. On 8th August 1968 three of the six available Dalek props arrived at Ealing studios. Three experienced Dalek operators were drafted in: Kevin Manser, Robert Jewell and Murphy Grumbar.
The first sequence for which the Daleks were needed was set in a remote farmhouse. This opening scene concerned one of the protagonists - a sports journalist called Pete Parnell - having flashbacks to his youth. As a young boy, he had nightmares about certain monsters from the television show Doctor Who. The first Dalek scene required them to burst into his bedroom and menace him.
In the script, Pete then tells his father of his terrors, and his father has the idea of trying to implant the image of a Colt .45 revolver into his dreams so that he can defend himself. The father shows Pete a picture of the weapon. When Pete next falls asleep, another nightmare ensues and one-by-one the three Daleks enter his room again. But just as his father hoped, the picture of the gun appears within the dream and the boy is able to lift it from its frame and he fires five times at the alien intruders, who beat a hasty retreat. All the action was captured on 35mm film.
This flashback was something of a red-herring at the start of the episode, which opened with the grown-up Parnell relating that boyhood experience to a psychiatrist. The concept of the episode was that Parnell could provide an average mind which is linked via a piece of technology to a mentally-ill science fiction writer called Marsham Craswell. The hope being that Parnell's lack of imagination will balance the bizarre fantasies troubling Craswell.
The Dalek props were used again as the characters confront each other in a dream-world, but this time it is the supposedly boring Parnell who conjures up the weird imagery, recalling his childhood nightmares about these fictional monsters. Craswell refuses to acknowledge the Daleks as real. This sequence also featured the appearance of the TARDIS Police Box prop which Parnell uses to telephone for help in their battle of wills.¹
Exactly two weeks later on 22nd August, Peter Hawkins was employed to add the grating voices, making this is a very typical outing for the Daleks in all respects except it wasn't Doctor Who. Hawkins recorded the lines of "exterminate, annihilate, destroy" for when the Daleks burst into the bedroom, harking back to the chanting from Power of the Daleks, and he provided appropriate Dalek screams when the boy shoots at them.
By coincidence, the month after this episode of Out of the Unknown was recorded, the Doctor Who story entitled The Mind Robber began broadcast. The two stories were littered with similarities. The Mind Robber's first episode also featured a young man terrorised by a nightmare, and again the nightmare later became a reality (in this case Jamie and a unicorn). The story as a whole dealt with the same theme of a world of fiction which could be altered by those inside it and perhaps most significantly, it also included a scene in which two men were linked via a machine which allowed them to exert their willpower in a creative battle.
As if the similarities in plot weren't enough to raise an eyebrow, when the production team needed several robot props to appear in the hastily-written first episode of The Mind Robber, it was decided that they would recycle a set of costumes created for a 1966 episode of Out of the Unknown called The Prophet.
It is a strange twist indeed that the Daleks should appear in one fictional tale from Out of the Unknown which depicted the nightmares caused by Doctor Who, whilst Doctor Who itself no longer featured the Daleks, but instead created the new threat of a Land of Fiction populated by robots borrowed from Out of the Unknown.
The episode Get Off My Cloud was broadcast the following year, on 1st April 1969.

Mismatched Dalek Seven-8 in The War Games

Nation's Daleks in Honey Magazine - April 1969

Fourteen months after appearing on Whicker's World, Terry Nation's Daleks were in use for a photo-shoot for the magazine Honey in which the props were used to accompany two fashion models wearing what were supposedly future-inspired styles of clothing. "Out-a-space white is out-a-sight" it proclaims, as the women pose with the props.
The casings themselves appear almost exactly as they had done the previous year when Alan Whicker came to visit the writer. One prop was painted red with black hemispheres (having been gold in the film) and the other was silver with blue hemispheres. They are both in extremely good condition, even four years since their big screen work. For a detailed explanation of the four Daleks which lived with their creator, you can visit the Terry Nation Props page.

Mismatched Dalek Seven-8 in The War Games

The War Games - June 1969

In June 1969 Patrick Troughton's final story was being recorded. At the climax of this story, the Doctor was put on trial and as part of his defence he listed all the evils in the universe he had fought. Not surprisingly, one of the foes he wished to depict was a Dalek.
Episode ten featuring the trial was recorded on June 12th and a Dalek prop was duly assembled. It had been ten months since the Daleks had last been needed in a television studio for Out of the Unknown(broadcast two months earlier) and despite five other normal Dalek skirts being available, the skirt which was chosen for use was the thin skirt from Dalek Eight.
To make matters worse, rather than its original matching thin shoulder section, the top which was used was that of Dalek Seven (originally the "stunt Dalek" built for The Chase from movie moulds). These shoulders were paired with neck of Dalek Two, with its notorious neck repair. Overall, the prop was in poor condition, with a missing light, broken eye-discs and plenty of wear-and-tear in evidence.
The end result was a disheveled, mismatched prop whose shoulders over-hung its skirt. It was not an impressive showing for the now rarely-seen Daleks, but it remained a thankfully low-key appearance on a screen projected behind the Doctor. This was the last-ever appearance of a Dalek on Doctor Who in both the 1960s and in black and white.

1970 - What's The Sense

A year after the Dalek cameo in The War Games, May 1970 saw a Dalek pop up in a BBC Pilot entitled "What's the sense". By this stage the Daleks' appearances were becoming few and far between.

The Purge and Storage

The Daleks' last full story on the programme was becoming a fading memory and the new production team lead by Barry Letts wanted to exclude old foes in favour of newly-devised creations. As the television industry was expanding, the storage of unnecessary props and scenery became an increasing luxury.
It was perhaps inevitable that if the BBC had a purge of old, damaged or unwanted items to make more storage space² then the issue of the Daleks' retirement would come up. Having not been afforded their own television adventure for years, the dilapidated old props must have seemed increasingly irrelevant.
As part of this rationalisation the skirt of the thin Dalek Eight, along with the shoulders of the originalDalek Two ended up in a skip. However, these two halves were rescued by BBC Visual Effects Designer Bernard Wilkie who recognised the components for what they were and put them to good use as a play thing for his children.
Only one Dalek section was never seen again after the 60s, being the shin shoulders of Dalek Eight. The skirt of Dalek Six and the shoulders of Dalek Five remained paired up at Shawcraft, whilst the remaining components went into storage.
Surviving into the 70s therefore were: the inverse halves of the Shawcraft-kept prop i.e. Dalek Six-5, the complete Dalek One, the complete Dalek Seven and the skirt of Dalek Two, all remaining in their silver/blue livery.
It had been an active retirement after their supposed "final end". The latter years of the 60s had had no official Dalek stories, and yet they still appeared in Doctor Who twice, had numerous cameos in other programme's, and even guest-starred in Out of the Unknown. Despite the current production team's desire to keep them out of their parent show, it was clear that the public had an appetite for the metal monsters, and they would be brought in from the cold soon enough....