Since the first glimpse of a menacing plunger at the end of Doctor Who’s fifth episode on 21 December 1963, Skaro’s hate-filled mutants have been a permanent fixture in the show’s 51-year history.
To celebrate, CultBox decided to count down every Dalek story on screen (cameo appearances notwithstanding) and reveal our all-time favourite…
15. ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’ (1964)
Freed from Skaro, the Daleks invade Earth seeking to drill out the core of the planet. The First Doctor and his companions team up with a human resistance force to repel the invaders from the planet. Remade as a big screen movie, the original is well worth investigating too.
14. ‘The Daleks’ aka ‘The Mutants’ (1963-1964)
The first encounter with the Daleks finds them resident in their city and reliant of static electricity to move around. It doesn’t stop them being ruthless in their dealings with the Thals, who share their planet.
13. ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ (1984)
With an incredibly high death count, the Daleks take a back seat to their human troopers as the Fifth Doctor finds himself involved in a tale of duplicates and a scheme to assassinate the High Council of Gallifrey.
12. ‘Planet of the Daleks’ (1973)
Spinning out of their devious attempts to provoke interstellar war between Earth and Draconia, as revealed in ‘Frontier in Space’, the Daleks are searching for the secret of invisibility on the planet of Spiridon. A small unit of Thals team with the Third Doctor and Jo to put a stop to their plans.
11. ‘Evil of the Daleks’ (1967)
Planned to be the final end for the Daleks, the Doctor becomes involved in a Dalek plot which takes him from the 1960s to the 19th Century. The Daleks seek to overcome their Achilles Heel by having him implant them with the human factor.
Sadly only a single episode of the story remains in the BBC archives.
10-6 on Page 4…