The Evil of the Daleks is the mostly missing ninth and final serial of the fourth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in seven weekly parts from 20 May to 1 July 1967.

In this serial, the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his travelling companion Jamie (Frazer Hines), shortly after losing the TARDIS, are transported to 1866, where the Daleks force the Doctor to help them in their latest plot to implement the human factor into Dalek brains in order to 'humanise' themselves into even deadlier living weapons. This serial marked the debut of Deborah Watling as the Doctor's new companion, Victoria Waterfield. It is also notable for introducing the Dalek Emperor. Only episode two, the episode in which Victoria first appears, is held in the BBC archives; the other six remain missing.

This story was initially intended to be the last Dalek story on Doctor Who. Writer Terry Nation, the creator of the Daleks, was trying to sell the Daleks to American television at the time and it was intended to give them a big send-off from the series. Aside from a few cameos, the Daleks did not properly return to the series until Day of the Daleks in 1972. In 1993, readers of DreamWatch Bulletin voted The Evil of the Daleks as the best ever Doctor Who story in a special poll for the series' thirtieth anniversary.

The story was released on DVD and Blu-ray in animated form on 27 September 2021, with the surviving episode two included.

Plot

<!-- Do not expand, MOS:PLOTLENGTH allows for a maximum of 400 words for an episode summary -->

In 1966, the Second Doctor and Jamie watch the TARDIS being driven away on a lorry from Gatwick Airport. The trail leads them to a shop run by Edward Waterfield, who sells seemingly new Victorian-style antiques. While investigating, the Doctor and Jamie are gassed by a trap, and dragged into a time machine by Edward. They wake up in the house of Theodore Maxtible in Kent, 1866. Maxtible and Edward tried to invent a time machine, when the Daleks emerged from their time cabinet. The Daleks then took Edward's daughter, Victoria, hostage and forced Edward to lure in the Doctor.

The Daleks threaten to destroy the TARDIS unless the Doctor isolates the "Human Factor", the qualities that allow humans to consistently defeat the Daleks, and implant it into three Daleks, strengthening them. Once the Doctor complies, the three Daleks become human in personality, before they return through the time cabinet to Skaro, their home planet.

Maxtible betrays the humans for the alchemical secret of transmuting base metals into gold. He travels to Skaro through the time cabinet, but is tortured for not bringing the Doctor. Jamie, Edward and the Doctor also reach Skaro before the Daleks explode Maxtible's house. The trio meet the Dalek Emperor in the Dalek city, who reveals their true plan: by isolating the Human Factor, the Doctor also isolated the "Dalek Factor". The Dalek Factor— qualities of relentless killing machines—will reconvert the "human" Daleks and be spread the throughout human history by the Doctor with the TARDIS, turning humanity into Daleks.

Maxtible is tricked into walking through an archway that infuses him with the Dalek Factor. He hypnotises the Doctor and lures him through the arch as well. The Doctor, unaffected as an alien, feigns conversion and suggests that all Daleks be put through the conversion arch, while the Daleks hunt for the three "human" Daleks. Daleks start going through the arch, but the Doctor substituted the factors, so the Daleks that go through will rebel against the Emperor. The Emperor calls out his guards as the rebellion spreads and destroys the city. Edward is fatally wounded and the Doctor promises to protect Victoria. While the Doctor and his companions escape, Maxtible returns to the exploding city. Jamie and the Doctor take Victoria along on their travels. The Doctor pronounces the end of the Daleks, as a light appears from a damaged Dalek.

Production

Cast notes

Patrick Troughton only appears in pre-filmed insert scenes for the fourth episode, as he was on holiday. Likewise Deborah Watling only appears in a pre-filmed scene in episode four. John Bailey, who played Edward Waterfield, had previously appeared in The Sensorites, and would later appear in The Horns of Nimon.

According to the short BBC Video documentary The Dalek Factor about the making of the story, released in September 2021 as part of the animated restoration of the serial, Denise Buckley was cast in the role of Victoria Waterfield by director Derek Martinus. The production team had been hoping that Pauline Collins would continue in the role of Samantha Briggs, that she had played in the previous story The Faceless Ones, but had created Victoria as a back-up should Collins decline. When Collins confirmed she did not want to join the regular cast, it was decided to introduce Victoria as the new companion and Denise Buckley was released, but paid in full, with Deborah Watling replacing her as a more suitable actress for the ongoing role.

Missing episodes

This story was wiped from the BBC's archives by the mid-1970s. Only episode 2 remains, in a telerecording found at a car boot sale then returned to the archive in mid-1987, alongside Episode 3 of The Faceless Ones.

In 2004, analysis of the repeated clip used in The Wheel in Space episode six revealed it to be from episode one rather than episode two, as had been long believed. This, however, only constitutes a few frames of recovered footage, as the rest of the footage is nearly identical to episode 2. The discovery of a behind-the-scenes film, The Last Dalek, made by the special effects team as they worked on the story's conclusion, facilitated a recreation of the climactic battle scenes. This recreation, along with the entire film, have been made available in different forms on various Troughton releases, and has often been used to fill in for the missing climax of Episode 7 in fan-made reconstructions, to give fans an idea of what it looked like when it first aired. In addition, tele-snaps and off-air audio recordings made by fans upon the original broadcasts exist for the entire story.

Broadcast and reception

Bibliography

  • Photonovel of The Evil of the Daleks on the BBC website
  • Doctor Who Locations – The Evil of the Daleks
  • The Evil of the Daleks on YouTube

Target novelisation