A History Of The Dalek Props In Doctor Who From '63 To '88 (Pt 11)

11: ‘Evil of the Daleks’

Events from Apr 67 to Jul 67

Operators

Gerald Taylor
Kevin Manser
Robert Jewell
John Scott Martin

Voices

Peter Hawkins

New Companion Victoria at Grim's Dyke Mansion

The Ungainly Macra at Shawcraft Workshops

A Final End for the Daleks ... and Shawcraft

Whilst recording the previous Dalek serial at the start of November 1966, Terry Nation made another move to extricate his Dalek creations from the show that had spawned them. The pilot for his spin-off series was called The Destroyers and centred around the Space Security Service and the characters devised for The Daleks Master Plan.
The BBC wasn't interested in producing this new series, so Nation approached broadcasters in America. The BBC's response was to terminate the Daleks' involvement with Doctor Who, and thus a story was devised to conclude the Doctor's battle with the Daleks for good, and end the show's fourth year.
David Whitaker was given the task of writing an epic, sprawling season-finale. During January 1967 he redrafted the storyline which would carry the Doctor and Jamie to three time periods and two planets, taking the story of the Daleks full circle, back to their home world of Skaro where they would meet their demise.
It wasn't just the Daleks leaving Doctor Who, but Ben and Polly were being written out too. By the beginning of March, the character of Samantha Briggs from The Faceless Ones had been chosen to replace them. When Pauline Collins declined the offer, the character of Victoria from the new Dalek script was upgraded to companion status, and on 11th April the role was awarded to Denise Buckley. But within 48 hours, plans changed again and the part had been re-cast with Deborah Watling.
Meanwhile, more significant production issues were coming to a head which would directly affect the future of the Dalek props forever. During mid-March 1967, a month before Evil of the Daleks was due to go into production, the creators and caretakers of the Dalek props, Shawcraft Models, were finding themselves increasingly out of favour with the Doctor Who production office.
Several of the props that had been so proudly on display at their Uxbridge workshops in the Follow That Dalek footage a month previously, were now at the centre of a bitter dispute. Firstly, the giant crab monsters known as Macra were received very badly in studio, and deemed almost unusable. Then, during the second week of April, the variable-geometry aircraft model and the accompanying satellite created forThe Faceless Ones were struck by technical problems and breakages, resulting in lost studio time. The 11th April required a remount for model work on The Faceless Ones, and the resulting bad feeling meant that Shawcraft's services were not going to be called upon again. All future work on the Dalek props would be carried out internally by the BBC, but the last throw of the dice came with Evil of the Daleks.
One final change worthy of note is that Roy Skelton was drafted in to accompany Peter Hawkins in providing the Dalek voices for this story, after Skelton had demonstrated his vocal skills earlier in the season providing the Cybermen's voices in The Tenth Planet.

Four props at Ealing

The Last Shawcraft Army
For the Daleks' swan song, all the available TV props were assessed at the beginning of April 1967 - only four months after their last television outing. The props that had featured in Power of the Daleks were brought from storage, and the prop kept at the workshops of Shawcraft models was reunited with the others.
This meant a pool of five existing props was available, consisting of: the two surviving first-generation props, Dalek One and Dalek Two, plus the two props built for The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Dalek Fiveand Dalek Six (with their tops now permanently swapped onto the wrong skirts), plus the movie-style prop built for The Chase, Dalek Seven, which had made its full debut in Power of the Daleks. To this collection, a bizarre new prop was added...

The New Dalek has five slats

The New Dalek had one column of rear hemispheres

The Narrow Dalek - Prop Eight
In addition to the batch of five previously-used Shawcraft props, a new creation was unveiled for Evil of the Daleks. A Dalek the like of which has never been seen before or since.
The new prop was generally built using the techniques employed by Shawcraft, but there were a host of differences. The fibreglass was applied very thinly, leading to a virtually transparent skirt through which the operators inside could see daylight.
The most notable difference was that instead of two columns of hemispheres at the rear, Dalek Eight only has a single column. The panel is accordingly much narrower, and as a consequence the rear corner panels are much steeper. The result is that the entire skirt is dramatically narrower.
To fit the skirt, a slimmer set of shoulders had been constructed which meant the sides of the entire prop were altogether more parallel. The material used for the shoulder mesh of these thin shoulders was virtually opaque, having an plastic reflectivity to it. Instead of the usual six half-slats over the gunboxes, there were only five, with one aligned centrally.
The misalignment of the hemispheres on the skirt panels retained all the customary quirks of the movie-style skirts, however the entire geometry of the skirt was changed to accommodate the smaller back panel. The neck and head display the characteristics of all props made after February 1965, as per the movie props and Curse of the Daleks props.
Dalek Eight would ultimately become known as the "Wilkie Dalek" after Bernard Wilkie, the visual effects man at the BBC who took up the reigns on Doctor Who after Shawcraft's involvement ended.

On Location at Grim's Dyke Mansion House

A dome paint painted black during filming

Destruction of the First Emperor Prop

A pupil appears on the eye of Dalek Six-5

On Location and the Finale Battle at Ealing

Production started with location material at Grim's Dyke Mansion House on 20th April 1967. This was used as Maxtible's mansion and numerous scenes were recorded featuring not just rooms, but corridors, stairs and landing of the old house. Two props were taken on location for this work, being the mixed-up Dalek Five-6 and the complete Dalek Seven. Filming continued until the 25th. The following day, filming switched to Ealing Studios for another two days. As had happened with the final battle scene in The Chaseand episode six of Power of the Daleks, the climax of Evil of the Daleks was to be shot on film rather than video to assist with the editing of the complex sequences featured in episode seven.
Following the location shoot at Grim's Dyke, the various prop components had gone back into the pool of casings, but when they re-emerged for the additional work at Ealing, a great deal of mixing had taken place. The four props assembled for the filming of episode seven were as follows (Top half stated first, skirt given a numeral): Dalek Two-1, Dalek Seven-2, Dalek Six-5, Dalek Five-6. This meant that whereDalek Seven had previously been complete, it was now used with the skirt of Dalek Two, whilst the top ofDalek Two was paired with the skirt of Dalek One. Strangely however the top half of Dalek Oneremained unused. This meant that including the new thin Dalek, a total of five-and-a-half props as they were swapped around through the story.
In these scenes a civil war erupts between the original Daleks and a new breed created by the Doctor which contained a "human factor". The Dalek props were initially shot in their all-grey livery, and then a hasty paint job was done to create three Throne Room Daleks which accompanied a gigantic Dalek Emperor Dalek.
The domes of Dalek Two-1, Dalek Seven-2, Dalek Five-6 were painted black to become this new rank. Such was the rush in which the production was made, scenes were shot in which the paint was clearly still wet. Only Dalek Six-5 remains unpainted. At the end of the battle, Dalek Two-1 is left as a dead prop facing the wall with its head missing, and a Dalek mutant was created to writhe and bubble at the neck of the prop. This top half of this prop still has its extruded gun seen in Power of the Daleks. This fliming sequence featured the destruction of the new Emperor prop, with its panels blown and melted away, and the structure collapsing.
After these devastating scenes, the props were cleaned up and refurbished as necessary for their return to studio the following week. One new addition for this story was the first appearance of a black "pupil" within the white of the eye. A large pupil appeared on Dalek Six-5, whilst a smaller one was given toDalek Two-1.

An empty casing on the right
saved money on hiring an operator

Alpha, Beta and Omega

First Emperor (left) at Ealing for Filming
Second Emperor (right) at Lime Grove

The thin Dalek (later known as the Wilkie)
is pushed over a cliff

Into Studio

Video recording began at Lime Grove on 13th May and required only one prop for the climax of the first episode where it appeared in the secret room of the antique shop. For this scene, Dalek Five-6 was used - the prop that had been left out of Power of the Daleks and kept at Shawcraft. Due to being excluded from the refurbishments of the previous year, it remained the only prop with an original tapered eye-stalk and old-style eye-ball. The damaged mesh behind the gunbox seen in the Follow that Dalek footage remained unrepaired.
An additional two days' filming were mounted at Ealing on May 16th and 17th to shoot more footage on film.
The following Saturday, episode two was recorded on 20th May. This saw the first use of the narrow Dalek Eight prop, which acts as prison guard to Victoria. At the end of the episode a further two props were employed, however in a shrewd financial move no additional operator was contracted, leaving just Robert Jewell to operate Dalek Six-5, whilst Dalek Five-6 stayed static on the right of picture. The former still displayed its distinctive armbox patch on the top half, and recent triple-bolt addition on the skirt.
27th May saw the recording of episode three for which less studio work was needed as a lot of action had been captured on location. Dalek operators were still using sparingly, allowing for frugality in contracting the required number for any scene. Episode four was recorded on 3rd June and only used two operators whilst episode five was recorded using three operators on 10th June.

Episode six was the first occasion on which four Daleks were needed for one scene, and Robert Jewell, Gerald Taylor, John Scott Martin and Murphy Grumbar were all employed. This episode included a scene in which the thin Dalek Eight masqueraded as an ally of the Doctor, only to be dispatched over the edge of a cliff.
This episode culminated in the reveal of the Emperor Dalek and although the walls of the set had been salvaged from the film shoot at Ealing, the gigantic cone-shaped leader himself had to be rebuilt. The second Emperor was superficially identical, but with broader front panels, which made the gaps between the edges of its hemispheres and the fret-work seem larger. The pipes on the Ealing Emperor had been symmetrically arranged whereas in the video studio they crossed over more. The lights around the perimeter of the head were also different. For this momentous encounter the script suggested that this Emperor and the Doctor know each other as old enemies, although they have never met.
Via the studio work on 24th June and the pre-recorded battle filmed at Ealing, episode seven used a total of five props and also five operators, with Ken Tyllsen being the addition. Four normal Daleks plus the thinDalek Eight were used, with the Dalek One-7 being left out of recording, being the original top, plus the movie-style skirt.
The Evil of the Daleks saw the Doctor conclude that the Daleks had met their final end and many years would pass before the decision to remove the Daleks from Doctor Who was reversed. In the meantime, their adventures would continue off-screen...

A History Of The Dalek Props In Doctor Who From '63 To '88 (Pt 10)

10: ‘The Power of the Daleks’

Events from Aug 66 to Mar 67

Operators

Gerald Taylor
Kevin Manser
Robert Jewell
John Scott Martin

Voices

Peter Hawkins

The New Doctor

The "Stunt Prop" Dalek Seven with two of its unique
identifiers marked, in The Chase (left) and Power (right)

The Dalek Six shoulder section retained its rectangular
patch on the arm-box, paired with the skirt of Dalek Five

Dalek Two's distinctive paint run pictured as
The Black Dalek in Dalek Invasion of Earth (left)
and in Power of the Daleks (right)

The Destiny Of Dr Who

During the summer of 1966 the Doctor Who production team were replacing their lead actor. Anxious that the public would not take to William Hartnell's replacement, it was felt that some continuity would be maintained by having the new Doctor confront his old enemy - The Daleks. Despite over-exposure to the creatures during the interminable The Daleks Master Plan, the recent motion picture had rekindled a little interest. Terry Nation was busy on other projects and so David Whitaker was contracted in July to write a Dalek story entitled The Destiny of Dr Who.
Production was due to start at the end of September and, as usual, investigations were made as to how many Dalek props were available and in what condition.
One myth which Dalek history has never managed to shake off is the mistaken idea that movie props were used as TV hero props. Confusion caused by Power of the Daleks fuels this myth because this serial marks the first time that a hero prop appears on TV with all the movie-Dalek characteristics (i.e. flat-top gunboxes, misaligned hemis, etc). The prop in question is erroneously referred to by some prop historians as a "converted move Dalek" however there never was a "movie-conversion". The prop in Power of the Daleks which has movie-characteristics is simply the "stunt Dalek" seen in The Chase. And, as proven proven beyond doubt in analysis of The Chase's props, this "stunt Dalek" was built brand new for television in April 1965, albeit using moulds created for the first movie. It can therefore be stated with certainty that despite the two movie productions adding many props to the Dalek family, none of them were adopted by the TV show at this stage or any other.
The five casings in circulation at the time of Patrick Troughton's debut were: the original Dalek One andDalek Two built for The Dead Planet, Dalek Five and Dalek Six built for The Dalek Invasion of Earth, plus the the "stunt prop" Dalek Seven mentioned above.
By this stage, the top halves of Dalek Five and Dalek Six had been swapped over and it was therefore a composite which appeared on screen. The prop which was ultimately taken to the studio was made up of the top half of Dalek Six (with its distinctive gun-ball patch) and the skirt of Dalek Five (with its large lower hemisphere gap. The two halves would never again be united correctly, so to acknowledge this permanent change, whilst taking into consideration the upper section is always the most distinctive half of a prop the designation for this prop hereafter will be Dalek Six-5.
The Dalek made from the opposing two halves, being the top of Dalek Five and the skirt of Dalek Sixremained unused, and stayed at the workshop of Shawcraft. To give the production four props, in its placeDalek Seven was brought in to act as a hero prop for the first time. For this purpose it was fully repaired after the damage sustained in The Chase, and was provided with the internal paraphernalia required for normal operation.

New broad-rimmed lights

The new-style TV gun - here Dalek Two has an
extended section between the ball and rails

Earlier eye with metallic tube encasing shaft (top)
New eye with flush perspex tube (bottom)

New Fixtures, Fittings and Appendages
The four props destined for the studio were refurbished and fitted with a variety of replacement appendages.
TV guns originally had a set of three perspex octagons upon which were painted four faux spokes. The film Daleks had been given simpler weapons with an unsupported set of rails. The new guns for Power were the simpler design akin to the film props, with no octagonal sections along the length, and these were fitted toDalek One, Dalek Two and Dalek Six-5. The prop which required no change in this department was Dalek Seven, which had sported the simpler gun since recording the latter stages of The Chase.
Dalek Two's new gun had an unusual quirk whereby the shaft was extruded from the ball-joint, producing a gap before the rails. As with the others, the refurbishment of this prop included a new coat of paint, but it wasn't enough to disguise the thick paint run which had been present on this prop since it had been repainted for The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Another helpful identifier.
The four props also had their eyes rebuilt using a variety of existing and new components. The shaft of the original eye-stalks tapered to a narrow end, with a tube slid over the top of the narrow end, on which the discs were mounted. The new eyes were constructed in the manner as the movie Daleks, whereby the tube holding the discs was made of perspex and flush with the rest of the stalk. The eye-balls used were a variety of old and new and the working lens aperture was fitted to Dalek One.
Internal refurbishments had also taken place. Handles were fitted inside the skirts prior to recording, resulting in visible bolts appearing on the outside of the skirts. Dalek Six-5 had three bolts clearly visible, whereas Dalek One only had two bolts apparent.
Dalek Seven already had handles affixed to the inside of the skirt (which would have been necessary when 'walking' the prop across Camber Sands when filming for The Chase) but these can be seen lower than on the other props.

Dalek Seven (left) and Dalek Two (right) with their
necks swapped over

Dalek One's gunbox damage

Dalek One on the assembly line

An FX prop for episode six

In Studio

Production was delayed by a week so that Dennis Spooner could shorten David Whitaker's over-long scripts and also re-write the Doctor's character which had not been deemed satisfactory after the initial drafts. The cast, crew and the four Daleks converged on Riverside Studio 1 for episode one on Friday Oct 22nd.

By the time the Daleks reached the studio, their components were now jumbled around quite considerably. For example, the very first scenes in the Dalek capsule show that the neck section of Dalek Two with its distinctive block-repair has been placed on the shoulders and skirt of Dalek Seven. And conversely,Dalek Two's shoulders and skirt were paired up with Dalek Seven's movie-style neck and dome.
Episode Two recorded on 29th October required only a one de-activated Dalek which was then charged with power, before it exterminated Resno and had its weapon confiscated. Dalek One was used for this, and the removal of the gun took its toll on the front of the gunboxes where the fixing had to be dismantled.
Episode Three recorded on Nov 5th 1966 again used a disarmed Dalek One, and then in the final scenes of the episode it was joined by other props.
The climax of episode four, recorded on 12th November, featured the legendary production-line sequence. For this set-up, Dalek One had its arms removed in addition to the guns, and the head drilled with holes that allowed clamps to hold the entire upper half of the prop in the air, to then be lowered onto the skirt in the assembly process. The inside of the skirt was lined with silver foil to conceal the nature of its construction. The large, circular marks left by the clamps are visible throughout the rest of the episode. The prop used in rehearsals for delivering the Dalek mutant into the skirt section was Dalek Two, however for recording it was Dalek Seven that was fitted with the net containing the blob. The four props gathered in the capsule for the cliff-hanger, in front of an army of photographic blow-ups.
Part five on 19th November saw the army biding its time, and the final installment recorded on 26th November was unusually shot on 35mm film rather than videotape to ease the complex process of editing the final battle. A number of FX dummies were constructed that comprised collapsible sections and hero components.
Model work was also employed to show the Dalek production line and in the final scenes of destruction.

The Dalek at Shawcraft

The prop wasn't in Power of the Daleks

Follow That Dalek

At the beginning of February 1967 an amateur film-maker called G. Irwin was given access to the workshop at Shawcraft and allowed to shoot footage of the props that were both in storage and under construction. The creations filmed included the giant crab monsters that were under construction for The Macra Terror which was due to begin on 15th February.
The star of the film is the Dalek prop which was kept at the Shawcraft workshop and remained unused inPower of the Daleks. It was the same prop with which Bill Roberts had been photographed in front of the company signage in 1965 after the prop was used in Dalek Invasion of Earth. It consists of the top ofDalek Five and the skirt of Dalek Six.
The film reveals that this Dalek has some of the changes performed on the props since The Daleks Master Plan, but not all of them. It has been fitted with a new, simpler gun, and is has broad-rimmed lights as per all the other props used in Power of the Daleks. It retained its original eye-stalk from Dalek Invasion of Earth, with its discs looking considerably worse for wear. If the other props' eyes were in the same state, then it would clearly explain the need to replace them all in the recent TV serial.

Dalek One in the Wall's Sky Ray Advert

Walls New Sky Ray Advert

The Daleks next appearance came in an advert made by Walls Ice Cream to promote their new-shaped Sky Ray ice lolly. Despite lasting only five seconds, this footage joins the Follow That Dalek material in being the only known colour film of the Daleks in this guise.
In a short sequence set inside a charmingly-cheap TARDIS, a faux-Troughton Doctor (conveniently hiding his face in fear) was menaced by two Daleks which burst through the doors of the time machine.
The props used for this advert were Dalek One, and Dalek Six-5 and it reveals that the entire body of the shoulders of Dalek One had been sprayed silver, instead of the usual darker grey, giving the whole prop an unusual mono-tone look. The prop also had two slats snapped in half on the shoulders.
It would not be long before the Daleks were called into action once again, but this time there was a motive behind it. Their own creator was plotting for them a "final end"...

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6.5: The Rebel Flesh

 

Doctor Who Online have seen 6.5: The Rebel Flesh and have put our spoiler-free preview together:

If you thought following Episode Two was difficult, put yourself in Matthew Graham's shoes as The Rebel Flesh has to carry the baton that the unbelievably popular The Doctor's Wife left behind.

Fortunately, you have no time to reminisce and compare, as you are immediately drawn into the adventure, which pulls you in from the opening shot. In fact, so different is this story in contrast to its precursor, that it's literally impossible to compare.

It's no secret that the story is centred around clones - a subject matter that Doctor Who history knows only too well, but this time around there is so much more to the concept that plunders emotional and moral depths in such a way that will have you questioning who you feel for most.

Perhaps most of all, this is a story about consequences and trust - something that not only echoes the plot, but the entire Steven Moffat era of Doctor Who to date.

Matthew Graham has carved his name into addictive and gripping drama; two elements that sum up this adventure perfectly. Those of you who have seen Life on Mars or Ashes to Ashes, will also know just how much life he can breathe into characters in just a few lines of dialogue. And its no different here.

Rory has so much more to do in this adventure, and it's rewarding to see so many more facets of his character that enable Arthur Darvill to really sink his teeth into the role. In fact, in this first portion of the two-part adventure, Amy very much seems to take a bit of a backseat, which leads to a refreshing change of dynamic.

As with all the episode previews for Series 6 thus far, don't expect us to cater you with plot details, as even the tiniest morsel might give away too much. What we can tell you is that there are lots of corridors, a little bit of running and several cases of mistaken identity, that will leave you wondering who's who. There's also a cliffhanger that will have you on the edge of your seat, and devoid of fingernails.

Graham's rather understated previous Doctor Who outing, Fear Her, may not have hit the right notes with certain circles of Doctor Who Fandom, but The Rebel Flesh, is set to secure his place in Doctor Who lore as a master storyteller who bridges the classic series with the new, seamlessly.

Something is building here, you really feel it, and as we make our way to the centre point of the series, you cant help feeling if we are halfway out of the dark, or halfway out of the light.

5 things to look out for…

-  The unforgettable sound of Dusty Springfield.

-  "Behold! A Cockerill! I love a Cockerill!"

-  The TARDIS gets that sinking feeling.

-  A lot can go wrong in an hour.

-  We find out The Doctor's shoe size!

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Only 4 Weeks to Go!

If you want to write a Doctor Who adventure that will be seen on the BBC, you've only got 4 weeks left to submit your entry!

Script to Screen is a competition for people aged 9-11 years old that could see your story brought to life by Matt Smith (the Doctor) and the rest of the Doctor Who team. The closing date for entries is Monday, 13 June. But don't worry if you've not started writing your script yet - we've got loads of videos offering you practical advice and the BBC Learning site is bursting with ideas and inspirational items.

To discover more about Script to Screen visit the BBC Learning site where you'll find stacks of help and hints. 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.

We'll be bringing you another video soon, but in the meantime, get writing and good luck!

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