The Doctor’s oldest enemies have celebrated a milestone!
While Doctor Who celebrated its 60th anniversary in November this year, we couldn’t forget to get the streamers back out for the Doctor’s oldest and most iconic enemy, the Daleks!
The Daleks made their very first appearance on 21st December 1963 in The Dead Planet, the first episode of a seven-part William Hartnell story written by Terry Nation.
Over the past 60 years, the Daleks have been through various iterations and were brought back for the modern series in the 2005 episode Dalek.
Nicholas Briggs, who started voicing the Daleks when Doctor Who returned in 2005, has celebrated the momentous occasion, exclusively telling RadioTimes.com: “60 years since they first appeared on television!
“They’re iconic because they’re just so incredibly evil and despicable and dastardly and sneaky and murderous and that makes them the perfect foil for the Doctor, a Time Lord who’s good through and through, and I think that the Daleks being so evil makes the Doctor even more heroic and brilliant.
“Also, they’ve got a fantastic design, a brilliant voice that you can imitate quite easily and a key thing for any villain is that they have to be in some small way or another slightly ludicrous. Even though the Daleks are incredible and look great and sound great, they also are a tiny bit silly and, viewed from a distance, you can laugh at them – until, of course, they say, ‘Exterminate!’
“Yeah, I reckon that’s the reason why the Daleks are iconic!”
As part of Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary celebrations, The Daleks was revamped. The serial was re-edited, with its seven 25-minute episodes recut as a 75-minute feature-length outing.
Phil Collinson, Executive Producer on Doctor Who, said: “It’s been my absolute pleasure to spend these past 12 months working with such a talented team to breathe new life into this classic adventure – a story that is literally the foundation stone of all that Doctor Who has become.
“The original is a masterpiece of 1960s television drama, and this new version stands on the shoulders of the pioneering spirit of 1960s Doctor Who.”