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Peter Capaldi
Into the Dalek
Twelfth Doctor Logo


Synopsis


Inside the Dalek
Inside the Dalek
 A Dalek fleet surrounds a lone rebel ship, and only The Doctor can help it now.

 With The Doctor facing his greatest enemy, he needs Clara by his side. Confronted with a decision that could change the Daleks forever, he is forced to examine his conscience and ask himself whether he is truly a good man.

Source: BBC Website


General Information

Season: Thirty Four (New Series 8)
Production Code: 8-2
Story Number: 243 (New Series: 87)
Episode Number:802 (New Series: 106)
Number of Episodes: 1
Percentage of Episodes Held:100%
Production Dates: January - February 2014
Broadcast Date: 30 August 2014
Colour Status: HD Colour
Studio: BBC Wales (Roath Lock Studios, Cardiff)
Location: Uskmouth Power Station; St Athan; Newport and Holton Primary School, Barry (South Wales)
Writers:Phil Ford and Steven Moffat
Director:Ben Wheatley
Producer:Nikki Wilson
Executive Producers:Brian Minchin and Steven Moffat
Assistant Directors:Chris Thomas and Gareth Jones
Script Supervisor:Steve Walker
Script Editor:Derek Ritchie
Editors:Will Oswald, Carmen Sanchez-Roberts (Assistant) and Katrina Aust (Assistant)
Production Executive:Julie Scott
Production Assistants:Katie Player and Matthew Jones
Post Production Supervisor:Nerys Davies
Production Designer:Michael Pickwoad
Director of Photography:Magni Agustsson
Casting Director:Andy Pryor CDG
Line Producer:Tracie Simpson
Costume Designer:Howard Burden
Make-Up Designer:Claire Pritchard-Jones
Cameramen:Cai Thompson (Assistant), Gethin Williams (Assistant), Katy Kardasz (Assistant) and Martin Stephens (Operator)
Visual Effects:BBC Wales VFX and Milk
Special Effects:Real SFX
Prosthetics:Millennium FX
Stunt Co-ordinators:Crispin Layfield and Dani Biernat
Stunt Performers:Andy Merchant, Gordon Seed and James Pavey
Incidental Music:Murray Gold
Special Sounds (SFX Editor):Harry Barnes
Sound Recordist:Deian Llyr Humphreys
Music Orchestrated By:Ben Foster
Music Conducted By:Ben Foster
Music Performed By:The BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Music Recorded By:Gerry O'Riordan
Music Mixed By:Jake Jackson
Title Sequence:Billy Hanshaw
Title Music:Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Murray Gold
Daleks Originally Created By: Terry Nation
Number of Doctors: 1
The Doctor: Peter Capaldi (The Twelfth Doctor)
Number of Companions: 1The Companion: Jenna-Louise Coleman (Clara Oswald) Number of Acquaintances: 1The Acquaintance: Samuel Anderson (Danny Pink) (Joins) Additional Cast: Zawe Ashton (Journey Blue), Michael Smiley (Colonel Morgan Blue), Laura Dos Santos (Gretchen), Ben Crompton (Ross), Bradley Ford (Fleming), Michelle Morris (School Secretary), Nigel Betts (Mr Armitage), Ellis George (Courtney), Barnaby Edwards (Dalek), Nicholas Briggs (Voice of the Daleks)Setting: Coal Hill School (2014); Command Ship The Aristotle and inside Rusty (the 'Good' Dalek) Villains:Dalek Anti-Bodies and Daleks

The Episodes

No. Episodes Broadcast
(UK)
Duration Viewers
(Millions)
In Archive
802Into the Dalek30 August 201446'57"7.3Yes

Total Duration 47 Minutes


Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions) 7.3
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2015)71.00%  (Position = 8 out of 12)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023) Position = 25 out of 35


Archives


 This story exists and is held in the BBC's Film and Videotape Library.



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Notes


"Into the Dalek" stars Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman and introduces Samuel Anderson as Danny Pink - a recurring character for this season a teacher at Coal Hill School along with Clara Oswald. This story also features the Daleks who are once again voiced by Nicholas Briggs.

Aside from mini-stories this is the first story, since the 2009 Tenth Doctor story "The Waters of Mars", not to feature Matt Smith as The Doctor.

Samuel Anderson is best known for his work in 2006 movie The History Boys, ITV soap opera Emmerdale (where he appeared alongside Jenna Coleman between 2007 and 2009), and BBC One sitcom Gavin & Stacey.

Michelle Gomez makes a brief uncredited cameo as Missy, a mysterious woman described by Steven Moffat as ‘The Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere’.

Written by Phil Ford and Steven Moffat, this is the first story since the 2009 Tenth Doctor story "The Waters of Mars" to have two credited writers.

Previously Phil Ford also wrote "The Waters of Mars" with Russell T Davies. He also wrote the animated adventure, "Dreamland", again featuring the Tenth Doctor.

Phil Ford was also the lead writer for the Doctor Who: The Adventure Games, that was launched in 2010, writing; "City of the Daleks", "Blood of the Cybermen", "Shadows of the Vashta Nerada" and the epic "The Gunpowder Plot".

Phil Ford has also written many stories for The Sarah Jane Adventures, including "The Curse of Clyde Langer" which scooped the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain’s ‘Best Children’s TV Script Award’ in 2012. More recently he co-created and has written many episodes of the CBBC hit, Wizards Vs Aliens. His other writing credits include Coronation Street, Torchwood and Captain Scarlet.

Ben Wheatley, who directed the first story of this season, "Deep Breath", also directed this story. His previous credits include movies such as Down Terrace, Sightseers and A Field in England.

The read through for this story began shortly after the read through for "Deep Breath" finished on the afternoon of Tuesday 17th December 2013.

The main recording commenced on the 25th January 2014 and finished on the 18th February. Gretchen’s final scene, however, was recorded on the 23rd May, the same date that the Half-Face Man’s moments with Missy, in "Deep Breath", was shot.

Several scenes involving the interior of the Dalek were filmed at Uskmouth Power Station in South Wales. This location was previously used in a number of stories including "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe". Location filming also included scenes at St Athan and in Newport. The scenes for Coal Hill School were filmed at Holton Primary School, Barry in Wales.

The miniaturisation technique used to enter Rusty through via the eyestalk is not unlike that of the Teselecta. The Dalek also uses defensive antibodies just as the Teselecta did (see the 2011 Eleventh Doctor story "Let's Kill Hitler").

The Doctor is heard calling the idea of shrinking people and injecting them into a patient a ‘fantastic idea for a movie", a reference to the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage.

This is not the first time The Doctor has encountered shrinking for the use of medical purposes. In the 1977 Fourth Doctor story "The Invisible Enemy" The Doctor was cloned and his duplicate shrunk and placed inside his own body in order to fight a virus. The Doctor and his companions were also miniaturised in the 1964 First Doctor story "Planet of the Giants" but on that occasion the shrinkage was caused by the TARDIS malfunctioning.

The Doctor again expresses a dislike for soldiers which is very similar to the way the Third Doctor disliked them in the 1970 story "Doctor Who and the Silurians" and the Tenth Doctor in the 2008 story "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky".

The Doctor is heard to state that morgues are easy to break out of. The Eighth Doctor previously broke out of a morgue shortly after his regeneration in the 1996 film "Doctor Who: The Movie".

Colonel Blue suspects The Doctor of being a Dalek duplicate (see the 1984 Fifth Doctor story "Resurrection of the Daleks").

Rusty tells The Doctor that he is a ‘good Dalek’. The Dalek, the Ninth Doctor encountered in the 2005 story "Dalek", told him that he ‘would make a good Dalek’. The Eleventh Doctor also once stated that there was no such thing as a ‘good Dalek’ in the comic story "The Only Good Dalek".

In the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Evil of the Daleks" The Doctor made ‘good Daleks’ by converting them with the Human Factor. He actually gave them names. Due to the introduction of human thought processes, they questioned the other Daleks, leading to a riot that resulted in the destruction of the Daleks and the Dalek Emperor.

The Doctor is seen greeting Clara with the coffee he got in Glasgow albeit three weeks later in "Deep Breath".

In this story Clara is asked to wrestle with the apparently simple question: is The Doctor a good man? This is similar to the first line of dialogue in "The Day of The Doctor" where Clara’ quoting Marcus Aurelius’ words’ is heard to say: ‘Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one’. She also alluded to the Emperor in "Deep Breath" when talking with Madame Vastra about the change The Doctor had undergone.

Clara is again seen working at Coal Hill School. This school featured in the very first story, the 1963 First Doctor story "An Unearthly Child". This is not the first return visit to this school: The Seventh Doctor, with his travelling companion Ace, went there in the 1988 story "Remembrance of the Daleks" where they discovered the Daleks had created a secret transmat station in the school’s cellar. Clara is also seen teaching at Coal Hill School in "The Day of The Doctor" and "Deep Breath".

While this is the Twelfth Doctor's first proper encounter with the Daleks, he had previously appeared briefly in both the "The Day of The Doctor" and "The Time of The Doctor", which also featured the Daleks.

The Doctor recalls his first encounter with the Daleks on the planet Skaro (see the 1963 First Doctor story "The Daleks"), and comments on how that experience shaped his identity.

At one point Rusty is heard chanting, ‘Death to the Daleks!’. This is the title of a 1974 Third Doctor story .

We hear the distinctive Dalek heartbeat sound several times in this story. It was originally used in the very first Dalek story, "The Daleks", and has featured in many subsequent stories including "Destiny of the Daleks" and "Victory of the Daleks". In fact we heard the Dalek heartbeat before we heard their iconic battle cry of ‘Exterminate!’.

In the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio story, "Jubilee", the Sixth Doctor also met a Dalek that notices an error in the Dalek race, with his then companion Evelyn Smythe helping the Dalek to find this.

Rusty's epiphany concerning his people and that the Daleks must be destroyed mirrors Dalek Caan after he lost his mind following his breaking of the time-lock in "The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End".

Rusty is heard referring to the persistence of life using the phrase ‘Resistance is futile’, a phrase used in various science fiction works throughout the years, including by the Vogons in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the antagonistic Borg race of the Star Trek franchise.

Rusty somewhat mingles the ideas of beauty and hatred, a similar comment having been made by the Prime Minister of the Daleks in the 2012 Eleventh Doctor story "Asylum of the Daleks".

When The Doctor is accessing Rusty's memories we see some memorable moments from previous Dalek stories including: the extermination of security guard Bywater in "Dalek" and the Daleks attack on the Valiant and their subsequent destruction in "The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End".

The girl who jokes ‘She wishes!’, when the School Secretary is trying to flirt with Danny Pink, is called Courtney. Played by Ellis George, this is the same character who had a very brief cameo in "Deep Breath" during the scene where Clara recalls becoming flustered whilst teaching an unruly class.

Journey Blue is heard to state, on leaving the TARDIS, that: ‘It’s smaller on the outside!’, unwittingly quoting Clara who said these exact words in the 2012 Eleventh Doctor story "The Snowmen" when she realised the TARDIS is dimensionally transcendental. On that occasion The Doctor called the statement ‘a first’ as the standard response is usually, ‘It’s bigger on the inside!’. In this story The Doctor tells Journey it's much more exciting when experienced the other way around (see for example "An Unearthly Child" and "The Three Doctors"). Donna Noble, in the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "The Runaway Bride", also first encountered the TARDIS from within, and then marvelled at its external dimensions.

After Gretchen is apparently killed by the Dalek antibodies, she encounters Missy, who welcomes her to ‘Heaven’, like she did to the Half-Face Man in "Deep Breath".

It seems that soldiers called ‘Ross’ tend to be unlucky in Doctor Who. The last person called Ross encountered by The Doctor, a UNIT soldier from the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky", was killed by the Sontarans and the first solider to perish inside the Dalek in this story is called Ross. Unlike Gretchen, we never see Ross reach what Missy calls ‘Heaven’.

The ‘Vent’ joke exchanged between The Doctor and Clara is a reference to the vent scenes from the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "The Ark in Space" between The Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith. It also reflects a similar exchange between Rose Tyler and Toby Zed in the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit".

It is discovered that a Trionic Radiation leak is the cause of the malfunctioning Dalek.

The conclusion of this story is similar to the conclusion of the Big Finish Productions’ Doctor Who audio story "Jubilee", where a lone Dalek notices the error of its comrades and stops an invasion.

Like the previous story, "Deep Breath", during the title sequence this story's name is not in capitals, as has been the norm for previous stories in the show.

Two clips from this story were featured alongside an interview with Peter Capaldi on BBC News on the 7th August 2014. On the 25th August, a ten-second clip was released showing The Doctor's reunion with a lone Dalek. The same clips were then re-released on the 27th August in slightly extended form.

As part of the Season Thirty Four (New Series 8) leaks, both the script and a rough cut of this story were leaked online from a server in Miami. Despite the fact that the initial online copy of this story contained a glitch, that prevented people from downloading it, a workable version found its way online by the second week of August 2014.



First and Last

The Firsts:

 Samuel Anderson's first appearance as Danny Pink.

 The first story since the 2009 Tenth Doctor story "The Waters of Mars" to have two credited writers.

 The first story, since the 2009 Tenth Doctor story "The Waters of Mars", not to feature Matt Smith as The Doctor.


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The Plot

WARNING: May Contain SpoilersHide Text
Journey Blue and Colonel Morgan Blue
Journey Blue and Colonel Morgan Blue

A rebel fighter called Journey Blue is in a space shuttle that is being shot at by a Dalek spaceship. She is unable to save her brother as the rebel space shuttle explodes and she appears in the TARDIS console room and is met by The Doctor.

She points her gun at The Doctor, demanding that he take her back to her command ship. When she finally asks nicely, he complies and the TARDIS materialises aboard the rebel’s command ship, the Aristotle, a base for the Combined Galactic Resistance, the Galaxy's united front against the Daleks. There he is greeted by Journey Blue's uncle, Colonel Morgan Blue, who thanks The Doctor for saving his niece, but declares that he must be killed in fear he is a Dalek spy. However, The Doctor is saved when Journey Blue declares that, as he is a doctor and that so could help their patient. This is revealed to be a war-torn Dalek that was found floating through space who has appeared to have turned good. The Doctor at first is uninterested in helping the creature, grimly declaring that Daleks cannot be good, until that is until the Dalek voices its desire to slaughter the rest of its kind.

Meanwhile at Coal Hill School, on Earth, new Maths teacher Danny Pink, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan with emotional scars from his past, is introduced to Clara Oswald, who invites him to a leaving party for one of their colleagues. Feeling awkward due to an obvious connection between them, Danny Pink declines, but when Clara finds him in his classroom despairing over his actions, she invites him out for a simple drink instead. Given another chance he agrees. Clara returns to her office, where she discovers The Doctor, standing there with the coffee she sent him for three weeks ago when they were in Glasgow (see "Deep Breath"). The Doctor tells Clara that he needs her help urgently. He also takes the liberty of asking her if she thinks he is a good man but Clara replies that she does not know.

The Doctor
The Doctor

The TARDIS materialises back on the rebels' command ship, where The Doctor explains that a malfunction in the Dalek, as well as giving it a conscience, is also killing it. Fascinated by the idea of a Dalek with a conscience he agrees to help it. Colonel Blue details a plan to miniaturise The Doctor, Clara, Journey and two rebel soldiers, Ross and Gretchen, so they can enter the broken Dalek, which The Doctor has nicknamed 'Rusty', to see if they can determine what is making it good.

Entering through the eyepiece, they begin exploring the upper part of the Dalek. As they explore The Doctor shows the group Rusty's artificial memory drive which filters out good memories and reinforces bad ones. The Doctor takes the liberty of asking Rusty what made it turn on its own kind, to which it says he had witnessed beauty in the galaxy, including the creation of a star, and that the Daleks must be destroyed for wanting to destroy that beauty.

A Good Dalek?
A Good Dalek?

Realising that they have to descend to the lower parts of the Dalek, Ross shoots a griphook into the floor so as to set up a zip line. This though damages Rusty's body and so triggers the release of antibodies. Realising that he cannot save Ross from the attacking antibodies, The Doctor gets to him swallow a pill that will allow him to locate where the antibodies store his obliterated remains - this is a waste centre, in the lower regions, and where The Doctor correctly guesses that nothing will be guarded there.

Having escaped from the antibodies The Doctor, Clara, Journey and Gretchen head to the Dalek's power centre and an area of high radiation. There The Doctor discovers a large crack in one of the batteries that is leaking the deadly radiation which he deduces is causing the malfunction within the Dalek, as well as both killing Rusty and now them. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to seal the crack, fixing Rusty in the process. However, this causes the Dalek to immediately return to its original programming so losing all the good within it.

Now that Rusty is fixed the Dalek breaks from its chains. Colonel Blue and his men are helpless as the Dalek begins exterminating the rebels. Determined to aid the Dalek cause it contacts the Dalek spaceship so revealing where the rebel’s command ship is hidden. This releases more Daleks with the aim of destroying the rebels. Inside Rusty, The Doctor though is ecstatic as his belief that there is no such thing as a good Dalek is restored. Clara, enraged by The Doctor's apathy, slaps him on the face before pointing out to him that what they have learned is not that there is no such thing as a good Dalek but that it is indeed possible.

Clara at Coal Hill School
Clara at Coal Hill School

Inspired by Clara's words The Doctor realises that the good parts of Rusty can be restored. They split up, with Clara and Journey heading to the artificial memory drive to reawaken memories of the Dalek's past that are now being suppressed, and The Doctor heading to the Dalek itself to try and reason with the Dalek. The other remaining soldier, Gretchen, sacrifices herself to set up the griphook to get Clara and Journey to the mind of Rusty. In doing so she is destroyed by the antibodies. But instead of dying Gretchen awakens in 'heaven', with the mysterious woman named Missy, the same woman who greeted the Half-Face Man in "Deep Breath".

Meanwhile still inside the Dalek, Clara manages to deduce how Rusty's memory core works and reactivates all of his suppressed memories. With this The Doctor is able to form a psychic link with Rusty and transfer all of his memories. However instead of reawakening its good side Rusty is inspired with The Doctor's own deeply-rooted hatred towards the Dalek race, and starts exterminates his fellow Daleks as they attempt to destroy the rebel command ship. As Rusty slaughters the rest of the Daleks on the command ship, everyone is returned to their proper size. On leaving the inside of the Dalek, Rusty tells the Time Lord that The Doctor himself is a good Dalek. The Doctor though is upset that the Dalek saw only darkness within him and that he was not able to recreate the good Dalek. With all the Daleks destroyed Rusty departs the command ship sending a signal to the Dalek spaceship, causing it to believe the rebel's command ship has been set to self-destruct, causing the to the Daleks spaceship to retreat. Rusty rejoins its kind vowing to continue with his mission to destroy the Daleks.

As The Doctor and Clara prepare to leave in the TARDIS, Journey asks to join them as a companion, but The Doctor turns her down. He recognises the good in her, under the battle-hardened exterior, but the fact she is a soldier troubles him. She accepts The Doctor’s decision, knowing that he is only doing what he feels is best.

The Doctor returns Clara to Coal Hill School, moments after she left, and she tells him that, although she is still unsure of whether he is a good man, she knows his intentions are well meant - which is the important thing. After changing into new clothes for her evening with Danny, Clara is met by Danny in a school corridor. He tells her he is glad that the fact he is an ex-soldier hasn't put her off. Remembering The Doctor's treatment of Journey, she is determined not to adopt The Doctor's feelings about soldiers.

 
Inside the Dalek
Inside the Dalek
Dalek Anti-Bodies Attack
Dalek Anti-Bodies Attack
Birth of a Star
Birth of a Star
Destruction
Destruction
 
Dalek Attack
Dalek Attack
Exterminate the Daleks
Exterminate the Daleks
Death to the Daleks
Death to the Daleks
Clara and Danny Pink
Clara and Danny Pink




Quote of the Story


 'You asked me if you were a good man. And the answer is, I don't know. But I think you try to be. And I think that's probably the point.'

Clara



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Release Information

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)Code NumberCover ArtRemarks
Video
DVD
The Complete Eighth Series Box SetNovember 2014BBCDVD 3935Photo-montageDVD boxed set containing 11 stories
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Eighth Series Box SetNovember 2014BBCBD 0272Photo-montageBlu-Ray boxed set containing 11 stories
Video
DVD
The Complete Eighth Series Box Set (BBC Shop Exclusive)November 2014BBCDVD 4003Photo-montageDVD boxed set containing 11 stories
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Eighth Series Box Set (BBC Shop Exclusive)November 2014BBCBD 0289Photo-montageBlu-Ray boxed set containing 11 stories
Audio
CD
Original Television Soundtrack - Series 8May 2015Photo-montageMusic by Murray Gold
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Eighth Series Box Set (Limited Edition Steelbook)April 2021BBCBD 0525Photo-montageLimited Edition Blu-Ray Steelbook boxed set containing 11 stories


In Print

No Book Release
Doctor Who Magazine - PreviewIssue 477 (Released: October 2014)
Doctor Who Magazine - ReviewIssue 478 (Released: November 2014)

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Photo Gallery


The Doctor and Companion/Acquaintance

 
Peter Capaldi
The Twelfth Doctor

   

Jenna-Louise Coleman
Clara Oswald
 
Samuel Anderson
Danny Pink
   




On Release

Complete Series DVD Box Set
Complete Series DVD Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set
Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series DVD Box Set (BBC Shop Exclusive)
Complete Series DVD Box Set (BBC Shop Exclusive)

BBC
VIDEO
   
Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set (BBC Shop Exclusive)
Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set (BBC Shop Exclusive)

BBC
VIDEO
Original Television Soundtrack Cover
Original Television Soundtrack Cover

BBC
AUDIO
Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set
Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
   


Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 477
Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 477

Marvel Comics
 
Doctor Who Magazine - Review: Issue 478
Doctor Who Magazine - Review: Issue 478

Marvel Comics
   

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