 This story was the first to be broadcast in 45-minute episodes and the final regular appearance for Janet Fielding, as companion Tegan Jovanka, who, at the end of this two-part story, leaves the Fifth Doctor for the second time. It also marks the return of Davros and the Daleks since their last appearance in the 1979 Fourth Doctor story "Destiny of the Daleks".
The working title for this story was first "Warhead". It then became "The Return" and then "The Resurrection" before it finally became "Resurrection of the Daleks". This story was also originally scheduled to be the final story of Season Twenty, but when a BBC electrician’s strike hit that year it was postponed until Season Twenty One.
This story originally came about when Producer John Nathan-Turner approached Dalek creator Terry Nation, via his agent at the beginning of 1982, about writing another Dalek story. At first Terry Nation (who was now living and working in Hollywood) had no time to write a Doctor Who story himself, and was unwilling to let another writer use the Daleks, being unhappy with previous such efforts.
Eventually he relented on his demands to write any Dalek stories in the show, when he met John Nathan-Turner at an American Doctor Who convention in July 1982. Entering into discussions, Terry Nation agreed to let Eric Saward write a new Dalek story as long as he had script approval on this and any future adventures featuring his creations.
Shortly thereafter, Eric Saward hurriedly began work on this story. Amongst the major events of Eric Saward’s scripts was the demise of Davros, whom Eric Saward wanted to replace with the gold-domed Emperor Dalek seen in the TV Century 21 Dalek comic strips from the mid-Sixties.
When Terry Nation was asked to give his opinion on the storyline he had serious concerns, in particularly with the replacement of Davros with the Emperor Dalek, and the ease with which the Daleks could be despatched. Eric Saward therefore amended the climax to leave Davros’ fate unclear.
However, during the recording of the second half of Season Twenty a major realignment of the BBC’s recording schedules occurred to permit the completion of Christmas-themed programming after the BBC’s electricians union went on strike for about a month beginning in November 1982. As a result, the fifth story of Season Twenty, "Enlightenment", was shifted forward to the shooting days originally allocated for this story. It soon became clear that this story would not be completed in time for its scheduled broadcast in March 1983 and so the decision was made to delay this story until Season Twenty One.
In the interim, Janet Fielding (who played companion Tegan Jovanka) decided to leave the show after learning of Peter Davison’s desire to leave by the end of Season Twenty One. Mark Strickson (who played Vislor Turlough) also informed the production office that he would not be returning, as he feared typecasting and was unhappy with his character's recent lack of development.
So as to prevent multiple departures in any story during Season Twenty One, Eric Saward had to include the departure of Tegan. The plan was that Turlough would then leave in the next story, and Peter Davison the story thereafter (the season’s penultimate story, giving audiences an early glimpse of Colin Baker’s new Doctor in the season’s final story).
Although this is the last story to feature companion Tegan, Janet Fielding returned a few weeks after working on this story to record a cameo appearance for "The Caves of Androzani". She also took part in a 1985 Doctor Who segment of the children's show Jim'll Fix It called "In A Fix With Sontarans", alongside Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, when Nicola Bryant (who played Peri) proved unavailable. Janet Fielding continued working in television until 1991, when she quit acting to take up a post with the Women in Film and Television advocacy group. Janet Fielding then became an agent, counting amongst her clients Paul McGann, the Eighth Doctor. Janet Fielding has since returned to the world of Doctor Who reprising her role as Tegan, alongside the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Turlough, in a number of Big Finish Productions audio stories. The 2006 audio story "The Gathering" has Tegan and the Fifth Doctor meet many years after they had last parted company.
The director originally assigned to this story, before its postponement, had been Peter Grimwade. However, a misunderstanding between Peter Grimwade and John Nathan-Turner meant that Peter Grimwade was not invited to direct this rescheduled Dalek story. Also Eric Saward had already promised Peter Grimwade that he could provide a script for the season, so Peter Grimwade was commissioned to write the following story, "Planet of Fire".
To replace Peter Grimwade, John Nathan-Turner hired Matthew Robinson. Directing his first Doctor Who story Matthew Robinson was a television veteran, having helmed shows such as Coronation Street, Angels and Softly, Softly: Task Force.
The delay in this story’s recording meant that original Davros, Michael Wisher, was forced to drop out due to theatrical work (Michael Wisher had been replaced on "Destiny of the Daleks" by David Gooderson for similar reasons). He was therefore replaced by actor Terry Molloy. Regular Dalek voice artiste Roy Skelton was also unavailable for the new recording dates, and so Royce Mills and Brian Miller (the husband of Elisabeth Sladen, who had played former companion Sarah Jane Smith) were brought in to replace him.
Rodney Bewes (who played the part of Stein) is better known as being one of ‘The Likely Lads’ in the BBC sitcom, and its sequel, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?.
Rula Lenska (who played the part of Styles) is better known for being in Thames TV’s Rock Follies. The character of Styles is a rare example of a relatively major character in a story who never gets to meet The Doctor.
Chloe Ashcroft (who played Professor Laird) is better known as a presenter of the BBC’s pre-school children’s programme Play School.
Les Grantham (who played Kiston, an engineer taken over by Davros) is better known for the roles he has played under his full name Leslie Grantham. It is often wrongly stated that this story is Leslie Grantham’s television debut but he had appeared in 1983 for one episode "Little Green Eyed Monster" in the series Goodnight and God Bless. It has been revealed that he was offered the roles of either Galloway or Kiston, and chose the latter because it would afford him more screen time. He went on to play the notorious ‘Dirty’ Den Watts in the long-running BBC soap opera EastEnders, again being cast by Matthew Robinson. Following his return to the soap opera in 2004, his character addressed another character, a wheelchair-bound Ian Beale, as ‘Davros’, and encountered a police officer named ‘Kiston’.
Mel Smith and Polly Adams were original choices for the Rodney Bewes and Rula Lenska roles.
Despite being introduced in "The King's Demons", as a new companion, Kamelion again is not referenced or seen in this story.
As had become something of an annual tradition during John Nathan-Turner rein as Producer, this story included a special clips segment (this had previously been employed in the 1981 Fourth Doctor story "Logopolis", the 1982 story "Earthshock" and the 1983 story "Mawdryn Undead"). For this story all The Doctor’s past incarnations and companions were featured, although Leela was inadvertently omitted, and Kamelion was also excluded. This time around, the images were incorporated directly into the story via the Daleks’ brainwave machine when The Doctor was interrogated in the second episode. They included Turlough (from "Terminus"), Tegan ("Logopolis"), Nyssa ("Black Orchid"), Adric ("Warriors' Gate"), the second incarnation of Romana ("Warriors' Gate"), the first incarnation of Romana ("The Ribos Operation"), K9 ("Warriors' Gate"), Harry Sullivan ("Terror of the Zygons"), the Fourth Doctor ("Pyramids of Mars"), Sarah Jane Smith ("Pyramids of Mars"), Jo ("The Mutants"), The Brigadier ("The Ambassadors of Death"), Liz Shaw ("Spearhead From Space"), the Third Doctor ("The Mutants"), Zoe Heriot ("The War Games"), Victoria Waterfield ("The Enemy of the World"), Jamie McCrimmon ("The Enemy of the World"), the Second Doctor ("The War Games"), Ben Jackson ("The Tenth Planet"), Polly Wright ("The Tenth Planet"), Dodo ("The War Machines"), Sara Kingdom ("The Daleks' Master Plan"), Katarina (a publicity photo taken during the making of "The Daleks' Master Plan"), Steven Taylor ("The Time Meddler"), Vicki ("The Rescue"), Barbara Wright ("The Daleks"), Ian Chesterton ("The Daleks"), Susan ("The Daleks"), and the First Doctor ("The Daleks' Master Plan").
This story had an impressive opening sequence where two ‘fake’ policemen wipe out a group of escaping slaves.
In the previous Dalek story, "Destiny of the Daleks", set during the war with the Movellans, it was implied that the Daleks had lost their organic component and become entirely robotic. However, in this story the Daleks are clearly living creatures again.
It is revealed that the Supreme (black) Dalek is in charge of one Dalek faction. Also having tried Davros humans now know that Daleks can time travel. The Daleks can also duplicate people with the duplicates being conditioned to obey them.
The Dalek’s ability to time travel was referenced in earlier stories: the 1965 First Doctor story "The Chase", the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Evil of the Daleks" and the 1972 Third Doctor story "Day of the Daleks". It was also referred to in later stories: the 1988 Seventh Doctor story "Remembrance of the Daleks", the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday", the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks" and the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "Victory of the Daleks". Their time technology though is described as crude compared with that of the Time Lords.
With the exception of the brief cameo in "The Five Doctors", this was the only story to feature the Daleks during the Fifth Doctor’s era. It has been revealed that Peter Davison has stated that he would have been upset if he had left the show without having faced The Doctor’s iconic foes.
In the second episode we hear Davros calling The Doctor ‘a meddling Time Lord’, despite never having been told The Doctor’s race on screen. Similarly, it is never explained how Davros or the Daleks know of Gallifrey, its High Council or the concept of regeneration.
The sequence where The Doctor handles a gun and shoots a Dalek mutant is a rare instance of The Doctor using a gun to kill.
In this story The Doctor also decides that Davros should be killed and accepts the role of executioner with great reluctance. He does however, vow to change his ways after the massive death toll and Tegan’s stinging criticism of his lifestyle.
In this story it is explicitly shown that Daleks can electronically communicate with each other without the use of words.
The Daleks are seen to use time corridor technology to travel between their space craft, the space station and Earth.
The Daleks equip their android duplicates with time period specific weapons (such as sub-machine guns for Lytton’s faux-Policemen). This caused some consternation for Lytton, who abhorred the waste of useful slaves/subjects for experimentation after the prisoners escape.
Dalek Troopers are armed with laser weapons that have no visible beam but are lethal to humans in a single shot, and can damage a Dalek with enough shots.
It seems that the Movellans secreted a number of anti-Dalek virus containers on Earth, possible knowing that Earth would become a prime candidate for future Dalek anti-Movellan operations.
The use of contagion by the Daleks as a weapon is a recurring element of the early Dalek stories. In the 1964 First Doctor story "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" they infect Earth with a plague. In the 1973 Third Doctor story "Planet of the Daleks" they conquer Spiridon with a disease. In the 1974 Third Doctor story "Death to the Daleks" they threaten to launch plague missiles. In the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "Genesis of the Daleks" Davros contemplates a disease that would wipe out all life. He later creates it in the Big Finish Productions’ Eighth Doctor audio story "Terror Firma". And in this story the Daleks use a disease to capture the prison ship.
An article by Russell T Davies in The Doctor Who Annual 2006 suggested that the Dalek Supreme’s attempt to assassinate the High Council was one of the initial clashes in the Time War mentioned in Season Twenty Seven (New Series 1).
When revived, Lytton is heard telling Davros that the Daleks and Movellans were locked in military stalemate. He already knew of the Movellan War and the reason the Daleks sought him in "Destiny of the Daleks", yet Davros seems surprised and fascinated by Lytton’s statement. Although this may be the result of cryostasis - shown to cause memory loss in the 1987 Seventh Doctor story "Dragonfire".
The Cloister Bell can be heard ringing when The Doctor is trying to free the TARDIS from the Daleks’ time corridor.
This story contains a number of errors. Namely: Colonel Archer’s OTT death is one of several over-acted moments; Davros is surprised at the impasse of the Dalek/Movellan war, although he saw it at first hand in "Destiny of the Daleks"; Despite having spent his time in suspended animation Davros has been able to make his mind control device and has learnt enough about Time Lords to deduce that they're ‘all soft’; Since ‘mining the corridor’ involves only one mine, the gas attack is hardly necessary; The studio technician operating Davros’ lab’s sliding door can be seen silhouetted behind the semi-transparent wall. When the door shuts, he straightens up and goes; The Dalek that is pushed out of an upstairs window, at the beginning of the second episode, bears little resemblance to the Dalek in the combat scene just before. It's a different colour, and its eye stalk is short. Also why does the wreckage turn up again upstairs?; When The Doctor shoots the Dalek mutant, no bullet holes can be seen in the sheet; Who are the prisoners who escape at the start?; If Stien is a Dalek agent, conditioned to trap The Doctor, why does he flee from those sent after him, express such shock at Galloway’s death, and fret so when alone?; Why are the cylinders of Movellan virus left on 1984 Earth, a planet that the Daleks want to invade?; Near the end of the story three Daleks go into the time corridor - but four come out.
The biggest error is that the Daleks seem to want to do everything at once, rescuing their creator, preparing to invade Earth, capturing The Doctor, curing the virus and assassinating the High Council. As Stien yells: ‘I can’t stand the confusion in my mind!’.
It has since been revealed that Eric Saward was unsatisfied with the story, saying in a DVD commentary that it was too frantic, with too many ideas. The main plot was the Daleks releasing Davros in order that he might find a cure for the Movellan virus. There were several other sub-plots: the creation of duplicates to invade the Earth; the capture of The Doctor in order to create a clone that would assassinate the Time Lords’ High Council; Davros's scheme to create a new race of Daleks. None of these are dealt with at any length, and they distract from the central plot.
It has also been reported that John Nathan-Turner hated the Dalek-like helmets of Lytton’s troops, but did not have the time to change them.
This story is noted for its unusually high body count, even for Doctor Who. Much of the violence appears gratuitous, such as the murder of Laird, the killing of a crew member infected by a disease, and the shooting of a man with a metal detector.
This story is sometimes mistaken for being a story where everybody dies. This though is not the case as (besides The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough) both Lytton and the Dalek Supreme survive. The other ‘everybody dies’ stories include the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "Pyramids of Mars" and the 1977 Fourth Doctor story "Horror of Fang Rock".
Director Matthew Robinson has stated on the DVD commentary that, much to his surprise, the aspect of the story that the BBC received the most complaints about was not the graphic violence of the story, but rather that one of the prison crew is seen to be smoking a cigarette early in the first episode.
The character of Lytton (played by Maurice Colbourne) returns the following season (redeemed, as it were) in "Attack of the Cybermen"; the character of Davros, last seen in "Destiny of the Daleks" five years before, would later return in the next two Dalek stories, "Revelation of the Daleks" and "Remembrance of the Daleks".
Although written and recorded as four standard length episodes, this story was re-edited before transmission into two double-length episodes in order to free up two of the transmission slots originally allocated to Doctor Who so that they could be used for additional coverage of the winter Olympics. Had "Resurrection of the Daleks" followed the normal transmission schedule for the season, it would have aired on Thursdays and Fridays between the 9th and 17th February 1984. As it appeared as though Doctor Who would have to go on hiatus for two weeks John Nathan-Turner sought agreement to broadcast the story as two forty-five minute episodes on consecutive Wednesdays, beginning on the 8th February.
This marked the first time Doctor Who had deviated from its standard twenty-five minute formats, although longer episode lengths had been used on occasion for repeats, as well as for the Twentieth Anniversary special "The Five Doctors".
This story though had already been edited into four parts by the time this decision was reached, and the four-episode version had already been distributed to certain North American outlets. Some of these copies, however, consisted of ‘slash prints’, that were missing some of the sound effects and incidental music. The second of the four episodes of this version also included some extra material, including an un-transmitted scene in which The Doctor and Stien enter the TARDIS and a different cliffhanger ending.
Effectively, though, "Resurrection of the Daleks" served as a preview of Season Twenty Two, for which plans were already under way to have an entire season consisting of fifty-minute episodes. There was a myth that it was due to the success of the double-length episode format in this story that the BBC decided to adopt the same format for the whole of the following season. This though is not the case as it had already been decided before this that Season Twenty Two would consist of thirteen episodes of approximately forty-five minutes each.
Both the VHS and original DVD releases of this story were released in the four-episode format. The previously unused episode breaks are when the first Dalek comes through the time corridor in the warehouse, and in the second half of the story, when Davros begins preparing the Movellan virus, promising to exact vengeance on The Doctor and set himself up as the leader of a new Dalek race.
This story was also released on DVD in November 2002. Included in the special features is the final on-screen interview conducted with John Nathan-Turner before his death in May of that year.
A clip of the battling Daleks was used in the first episode of the television series James May’s 20th Century. This clip was used to illustrate an item about lasers.
This story was released as the accompanying DVD with Issue 34 of the Doctor Who DVD Files in April 2010.
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. In the early 1990’s Virgin Books (the successor to Target) did announce plans to publish a novelisation by Eric Saward. This though ultimately did not occur. A fan group in New Zealand did publish an unofficial novelisation of this story in 2000. It was written by Paul Scoones with cover art by Alistair Hughes. It was later republished as an online eBook.
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The Firsts:
The first Doctor Who story with 45-minute episodes.
The first, and only, story where the Fifth Doctor encounters the Daleks.
The first appearance in the show of Lytton played by Maurice Colbourne.
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Matthew Robinson.
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(Position = 48 out of 159)
(Position = 93 out of 200)
(Position = 99 out of 241)
