The Daleks

Lore & Background

The Daleks are cyborg aliens from the irradiated planet Skaro, lacking emotion other than hate and demanding total conformity. Their casing is virtually indestructible, featuring a plunger-like manipulator arm and a gunstick weapon. Subsequent serials showed civil wars between Dalek factions loyal to Davros and self-ruled Renegades, culminating in the destruction of Skaro in 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks.

Reader's Guide

The Daleks are the most popular and famous villains of Doctor Who, regarded as an icon of British popular culture. Their returns to television over decades have often gained media attention, and their phrase 'Exterminate' is well-known even to those unfamiliar with the series. Drawing on the cultural memory of the Nazi Party in Britain, Terry Nation based the Daleks on them, and their Nazi allegories have been subject to critical analysis. The Daleks' relationship and dynamic with the Doctor have also been analyzed. Initially created for a serial that ran only because the show lacked other options, the Daleks were a massive success, greatly boosting viewership and sparking Dalekmania. They became major recurring antagonists across the show's more than 60-year history, appearing in various forms and often serving as the Doctor's greatest foes.

Did You Know?

• The Daleks were created by Terry Nation, who based them on the Nazi Party.
• The Dalek casing was designed by Raymond Cusick.
• The Daleks' first appearance sparked a period called Dalekmania.
• The Daleks are cyborgs; the creature inside resembles a one-eyed, gelatinous squid-like creature.

Birth from Necessity

The Daleks entered Doctor Who under somewhat accidental circumstances. The series had been conceived as an educational programme, with the Doctor travelling back in time to witness important historical events. To fit the programme's educational mandate, the alien invasion narrative was framed as a lesson for children about nuclear war and its devastating consequences. Notably, Sydney Newman, the BBC's Head of Drama, was initially opposed to the concept, believing the series should contain no aliens or monsters whatsoever. Despite this institutional resistance, the Daleks proved enormously popular with viewers, and their success secured their return in later stories while fundamentally altering the show's direction from a historical educational format into something far more expansive.

Reshaping a Series

The Daleks' arrival triggered a ratings spike that permanently altered Doctor Who's identity. Originally planned as a vehicle for historical education, the show's format shifted dramatically after the second story's success. The purely historical narratives were gradually phased out, replaced by a new structure in which the Doctor visited alien worlds and encountered extraterrestrial species. The Daleks' popularity also sparked a wave of imitators; creatures like the Mechonoids and Voord were introduced in attempts to replicate the same audience draw, though these efforts were largely unsuccessful. The Daleks thus became the benchmark against which all subsequent antagonists were measured.

The Troughton Era and a Forced Absence

During Patrick Troughton's tenure as the Second Doctor, the Daleks underwent a significant expansion as antagonists, becoming more central to the series' conflict. The reason was commercial rather than narrative: Terry Nation, the Daleks' creator, was attempting to pitch them as the basis for a separate American television series. To avoid conflict with that venture, the Daleks were written out of Doctor Who entirely. Troughton's second season saw these new creatures established as major forces, effectively diversifying the show's roster of threats and reducing its reliance on any single iconic enemy.

Critical Legacy and Cultural Weight

Critics have long noted that the Daleks and their contemporaries in the show's early years were often portrayed as one-dimensional, pure-evil 'Others' that sought to represent British cultural anxieties. This lack of nuance was a common criticism of the original run's monster writing. However, as the series progressed, commentators observed that alien antagonists gained considerably more character depth, allowing them to be depicted with greater sympathy and complexity. The Daleks themselves have been adapted across numerous spin-off media including books, audio dramas, and comics, where their backstories and abilities are expanded upon—though these narratives sometimes conflict with television canon.