 "Revelation of the Daleks" was the sixth and final story of Season Twenty Two and is the Sixth Doctor’s first and only encounter with the Daleks. It also features, once again, the return of Davros.
Season Twenty Two had begun with a Cyberman story ("Attack of the Cybermen") that - for all intents and purposes - had been written by Script Editor Eric Saward. It was decided to end the season with another Eric Saward-scripted story, this time featuring the only monsters more popular than the Cybermen - the Daleks. For "Attack of the Cybermen" Eric Saward had managed to circumvent BBC rules, that stated that script editors were not allowed to commission themselves, by having his ex-girlfriend, Paula Wolsey, pose as that story’s writer. In the case of "Revelation of the Daleks" Eric Saward was able to receive a full credit by writing the scripts during a six-week gap before the renewal of his contract.
Eric Saward’s major source of inspiration for this story was Evelyn Waugh’s play "The Loved Ones", a black comedy whose characters included a piteous mortician named Joyboy and a woman who was secretly enamoured of him.
Several characters in Tranquil Repose were based directly upon names from Evelyn Waugh’s play. Joyboy gave rise to the similarly pathetic Jobel and his admirer became Tasambeker, named after a Greek saint to whom barren women prayed in the hope of conceiving a child.
The information text on the DVD release of this story states that "Soylent Green" was also an influence to this story and the synthesis of food protein from those Tranquil Repose clients, that Davros considers unworthy of becoming Daleks, is highly reminiscent of "Soylent Green". However, Eric Saward has said in the DVD commentary that he had not seen "Soylent Green" when he wrote this story.
Eric Saward was on holiday on Rhodes, when writing this story, and many of the names (such as Lilt and Orcini) come from places, products and people he encountered there.
The director assigned to this story was Graeme Harper, who had last worked on the 1984 Fifth Doctor story "The Caves of Androzani". This story though would be his last for the show. He had been scheduled to direct the aborted Thirtieth Anniversary story "The Dark Dimension" in 1993.
Portions of the story were filmed in the snow in locations near Portsmouth and Petersfield, in Hampshire. The main location used was the IBM UK headquarters in Cosham, Portsmouth. The company waived their usual fees in favour of the BBC making a donation to a local school.
This was the last Doctor Who story to be produced using a mixture of video (for interior studio scenes) and film (for exterior locations) - a practice that had been in place since the 1964 First Doctor story "The Reign of Terror" and in many other British television productions. Although it had been falling out of favour, since the start of the 1980s, it had continued to be used in Doctor Who up until this story. Discounting the 1996 film "Doctor Who: The Movie", it was not until the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Rose" that a film-like look was once again applied to Doctor Who, although in fact when the show was revived in 2005 the show was recorded on standard-definition video and then film. Therefore "Revelation of the Daleks" remains the last Doctor Who story to use true film.
Unusually Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant appear entirely on film in the first episode and have no interaction with the other actors portrayed in the video segments.
The part of Davros was played by Terry Molloy. This was the first time that the actor to play this part was somebody who had previously appeared in the role. Terry Molloy had previously played the part in the 1984 Fifth Doctor story "Resurrection of the Daleks".
Actress Eleanor Bron, who played the part of Kara, was last seen in the show with John Cleese in their brief appearance as art enthusiasts in the 1979 Fourth Doctor story "City of Death".
Comedian Alexei Sayle (of The Young Ones) is seen playing the part of the semi-serious role of the DJ who broadcasts to the dead on Necros.
William Gaunt, who played the part of the mercenary Orcini, is better known for playing the part of Richard Barrett in the ITC series The Champions amongst many other notable roles.
Clive Swift, who played the part of Jobel, later returned to the show, as Mr. Copper, in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Voyage of the Damned".
This story contains clips from some classic rock tunes as part of the DJ’s programme. These include: "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys sound-alike The Surfers, "Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procul Harum, covers of Elvis Presley’s "Hound Dog" and "Blue Suede Shoes", "In The Mood" by the Ted Heath Orchestra, and "Fire" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Also heard, during the DJ’s broadcast, is "Moonlight Serenade" by Glenn Miller. The same song was also heard in the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances".
During the studio recording of this story extra material was also recorded for the under-running second episode of the preceding story, "Timelash".
While climbing the wall with Peri, in the first episode, The Doctor is heard to state that he is a ‘900-year old Time Lord’. This is the first firm indication of The Doctor’s age since the Fourth Doctor’s era, suggesting that approximately 150 years has passed for The Doctor since that time. In the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Aliens of London/World War Three" The Doctor would also claim to be 900 years old, despite the claiming an age of 953, in the 1987 Seventh Doctor story "Time and The Rani", which was then followed by the entire lifetime of both the Seventh Doctor and the Eighth Doctor.
After stating in "The Two Doctors" that he would become a vegetarian it seems that The Doctor is honouring this resolution as in this story he makes nut rolls for Peri.
In the first episode, when Peri exits the TARDIS, she makes a remark about her outfit being too tight, The Doctor then makes the untactful remark that she eats too much. If this was ever intended to be an ongoing issue with Peri, it was not mentioned again after this story.
This story contains one of the rare instances of The Doctor actually using a firearm. This is when he is seen to disable a Dalek by shooting it with a machine pistol.
The Doctor explains to Peri that if he took her to Earth after she had died, it would be possible for her to see her own gravestone. In the 1988 Seventh Doctor story "Silver Nemesis", Lady Peinforte shows her servant, Richard, his grave.
It is revealed that The Grand Order of Oberon is a group of religious knights which The Doctor can recognise a member of at a glance - perhaps because he has met them before in an untelevised story. The origins of The Grand Order of Oberon are explored further in Virgin Books’ The New Adventures novel "Lucifer Rising".
A transparent Dalek (frequently known as a Glass Dalek) appears for the first time. The use of a glass Dalek was something which had been devised for the first televised Dalek adventure - the 1963 First Doctor story "The Daleks" - but which had been omitted due to the prohibitive costs of such a prop.
In this story bastic bullets are used against the Daleks. In the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways" bastic bullets are also used to repel the Daleks. But in this later story they are less effective then seen in this story.
Davros’ Daleks (which are white and gold) recognise The Doctor and it seems that Davros has been tracking him for some time. The Imperial Daleks (coloured grey) however, do not recognise The Doctor.
It is implied that the Imperial Daleks are still rebuilding after some military defeat, and, while known and still feared, they are not being actively aggressive towards humanity. Natasha recognises the Daleks on sight, and the President knows what they are.
Humans are aware of Davros and know what he (mostly) looks like. This enables Davros to construct a robotic head that the humans think is him.
Davros knows about regeneration having spent his time researching The Doctor, and already has ambitions to be Emperor. He came straight to Necros from his escape pod after the events of "Resurrection of the Daleks".
It is never explained how Davros survived the Movellan virus which he contracted at the end of "Resurrection of the Daleks". Although Davros says that he managed to escape the space station via an escape pod, no mention is made of his condition.
The Big Finish Productions audio story "Davros" also portrays another encounter between the Sixth Doctor and Davros, set between "Resurrection of the Daleks" and "Revelation of the Daleks", which goes some way to explain the inconsistencies between the two stories. In particular, The Doctor insists in "Revelation of the Daleks" that this is their first meeting since "Resurrection of the Daleks".
For the first time, Davros and the Daleks are seen to be able to hover some distance above the ground. In the transmitted version, the camera angles chosen didn't make it entirely clear that the Dalek was flying (some fans commenting that it looked more like the Dalek was giant-sized), so the sequence was remade for the DVD release of the story. All subsequent Dalek stories also feature levitation. The 1988 Seventh Doctor story "Remembrance of the Daleks" being the first to show a Dalek hovering up a flight of stairs.
It is revealed that Davros can now fire electric bolts from his hand, and has the ability to make a convincing robotic or cloned head of himself. His blood is green and at the end of this story his hand is shot off by Bostok. In the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End" this has been replaced with a robotic hand.
The idea of Davros creating a new race of Daleks using human tissue is similar to the Dalek Emperor creation of a new race of Daleks, from human contestants killed on the Game Station in "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways".
Davros next appears (within his own continuity) in the Big Finish Productions audio story "The Juggernauts", however he next appears on screen in "Remembrance of the Daleks".
Eric Saward thought up the idea of blue ‘mourning’ suits for Necros in order to cover up the Sixth Doctor’s costume, which he considered inappropriate for the show.
The flowers of Necros are known as Herbabaculum vitae or weed plant.
This story contains a number of errors. Namely: Davros’ dialogue is often inaudible; when hovering a bit of the base of Davros’ chair is missing, leading to Orcini passing his leg through it; It is never explained why Davros lures The Doctor across the galaxy to drop a polystyrene statue full of fake blood onto him; Davros mentions turning The Doctor into a Dalek, but why not just capture him the instant he arrives?; When captured, how does The Doctor know that Davros is still alive? (Natasha and Grigory can’t possibly have told him, because they don't know either); Davros’ microphone is on his right-hand side in this story, the opposite compared to "Resurrection of the Daleks"; At the end of this story after The Doctor uses a gun, to destroy a Dalek, he checks for any more. However, even though one is clearly seen down the tunnel, The Doctor continues as if it wasn’t there. The grey Dalek that is destroyed in Davros’ laboratory clearly switches props from fully-functional Dalek to ‘stunt’ Dalek as it is exploded - the prop that is blown up has a lighter coloured mesh around its midsection than the fully functional Dalek.
This was the last Doctor Who story that Eric Saward was credited with writing.
This was the final story to use Peter Howell’s arrangement of the "Doctor Who Theme" that had been introduced in 1980.
This was the final story, of the original run of the show, to be broadcast in 45-minute episodes. This format would return 20 years later in the Ninth Doctor story "Rose", when the show was revived in 2005.
This story was first broadcast in the United States, Australia and New Zealand in four 25-minute episodes. The first cliffhanger sees Natasha and Grigory hiding in the catacombs as Takis and Lilt are wheeling a body through the tunnels, while the cliffhanger at the end of the third episode features either The Doctor telling Peri that she's' in great danger, or, in some edits of the story, Davros ordering his Daleks to kill the DJ. All VHS and DVD releases of the story have been in its original two-part form.
Following the broadcast of this story, the BBC decided to postpone the broadcast of the next season of Doctor Who. Although frequently called an ‘18-month hiatus’, the broadcast of the next story was only delayed by about nine months with the next new story airing in September 1986.
This story was originally to end with The Doctor saying to Peri the word ‘Blackpool as part of the line, ‘I know, I'll take you to...’. However, this was cut prior to transmission due to the cancellation of the original Twenty Third Season.
The following planned story, "The Nightmare Fair" that had been written by former producer Graham Williams, would have been set in Blackpool and feature the return of Michael Gough, as the Celestial Toymaker, who had last been seen in the 1966 First Doctor story "The Celestial Toymaker". In the wake of the cancellation of "The Nightmare Fair", and the whole of the planned Season Twenty Three, "Revelation of the Daleks" instead ended with The Doctor saying the letter ‘B’ and then a freeze frame.
The story was repeated on BBC 2 in March/April 1993 in its 4-part version to represent the Colin Baker years in a series of repeats featuring the original seven Doctors.
This is one of four of the televised Doctor Who stories that have never been novelised by Target Books. This is because they were unable to come to an agreement with Eric Saward and Daleks creator Terry Nation that would have allowed Eric Saward or another writer to adapt the script. Virgin Books (the successor to Target) did announce plans to publish a novelisation by Eric Saward in the early 1990s, but this ultimately did not occur. A fan group in New Zealand published an unofficial novelisation of this story that had been written by Jon Preddle. It was first released in 1992 with cover art by Warwick Gray and was then re-issued in 2000 with cover art by Alistair Hughes. It was later republished as an online eBook.
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The Firsts:
The first, and only, story where the Sixth Doctor encounters the Daleks.
The first time that Davros and the Daleks are seen to be able to hover some distance above the ground.
The first time that the same actor played the part of Davros.
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(Position = 34 out of 159)
(Position = 46 out of 200)
(Position = 70 out of 241)
