THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DALEKS

The current hype for the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of Dr Who will, no doubt be putting Whovians into a state of frenzied anticipation. In amongst the official BBC press releases are the rumours and conjecturing from the dozens of self-appointed experts found on the internet. The story, surrounded in more security than an American President coupled with the simultaneous television broadcast of the special episode around the world means that they can only speculate on the Doctor’s anniversary adventure.

Although, from what I’m told some of the modern stories are so convoluted that even when it’s been shown, most people who don’t possess a fanatical encyclopaedic knowledge of the series will still be left in the dark! 

One thing’s for sure the Daleks will, of course be making an appearance. Without them Dr Who would have been cancelled years ago. 

Way back in 1963, I was just a five year old.  Some of my mates from infant school were talking about a new TV series with some scary alien robots! Towards the end of that years Christmas holidays I started watching it at maybe the third or fourth episode of that first Dalek story.  Scary or what! I can still remember the nightmares !

I think I’m safe in saying that during the sixties at least, the Daleks were what sold Dr Who to the public. Without them Dr Who would have been just a forgotten series.

Most spin off merchandise was marketed as ‘Dr Who and The Daleks, with the  word ‘Dalek’ in a much larger typeface.

Although, the BBC and script writers have tried desperately to come up with antagonist’s as popular with the general public as those sons of Skaro , none have come close. The Cybermen gave them a good run, but you mention Dr Who to someone in the pub, nowadays and what they associate with the series and they will almost always say Daleks!

So as a celebration of the upcoming anniversary of the first appearance of the Daleks on the BBC I’m going to do an occasional series looking at their TV and film  encounters with that pesky and annoying Time Lord.

Coming soon: The Dead Planet.