Doctor Who - The Television Stories

Doctor Who - The Stories

QuickNav to a Season:

QuickNav to a Story:

Day of the Daleks

The Previous Story
(The Dæmons)

The Next Story
(The Curse of Peladon)

Season
Details

Synopsis

General
Information

The
Episodes

Audience
Appreciation

Archives

Notes

First and Last

Story Images

Quote of
the Story

Release
Information

In Print

Photo
Gallery

Synopsis

The Daleks

World peace hangs in the balance. Sir Reginald Styles, a high-ranking diplomat is the only person that stands between mankind and a third and final World War. But a mysterious and savage guerrilla force from the 22nd Century believe Styles is the agent that shaped their terrifying future and therefore must die...

The Doctor and Jo find themselves flung into the guerrillas' world; a brutal dictatorship policed by the merciless and ape-like Ogrons. The Daleks have invaded Earth, enslaved the population and face certain triumph unless The Doctor betrays all he believes in and condones the cold-blooded murder of Styles in an attempt to change the course of history... irrevocably.

Source: BBC VHS Video

General Information

Season:

Nine

Production Code:

KKK

Story Number:

Episode Numbers:

304 - 307

Number of Episodes:

Percentage of Episodes Held:

100%

Alternative Titles:

"The Day of the Daleks"

Working Titles:

"The Ghost Hunters", "Years of Doom", "The Time Warriors" and "Ghosts"

Production Dates:

September - October 1971

Broadcast Started:

01 January 1972

Broadcast Finished:

22 January 1972

Colour Status:

Colour and B&W

Studio:

BBC Television Centre (TC4 and TC8)

Location:

Dropmore Park (Burnham, Buckinghamshire), Harvey House (Brentford, Middlesex) and Bull's Bridge (Hayes, Middlesex).

Writer:

Louis Marks

Director:

Paul Bernard

Producer:

Barry Letts

Script Editor:

Terrance Dicks

Editor:

Dan Rae

Production Assistant:

Norman Stewart

Assistant Floor Manager:

Sue Hedden

Designer:

David Myerscough-Jones

Costume Designer:

Mary Husband

Make-Up Designer:

Heather Stewart

Cameraman:

Fred Hamilton

Lighting:

Alan Horne

Visual Effects:

Jim Ward

Fights Arranged By:

Rick Lester

Incidental Music:

Dudley Simpson

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Brian Hodgson

Studio Sounds:

Tony Millier

Title Sequence:

Bernard Lodge and Ben Palmer

Title Music:

Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire

Daleks Originally Created By:

Terry Nation

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

Jon Pertwee (The Third Doctor)

Number of Companions:

The Companions:

Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Katy Manning (Jo Grant) and Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates)

Additional Cast:

Wilfrid Carter (Sir Reginald Syles), Jimmy Winston (Shura), Anna Barry (Anat), Scott Fredericks (Boaz), Aubrey Woods (Controller), JeanMcFarlane (Miss Paget), Deborah Brayshaw (Girl Technician), Gypsie Kemp (U.N.I.T. Radio Operator), Tim Condren (Guerilla), Valentine Palmer (Monia), Peter Hill (Manager), Andrew Carr (Senior Guard), George Raistrick (Guard at Work Centre), Rick Lester (Ogron), Maurice Bush (Ogron), David Joyce (Ogron), Frank Menzies (Ogron), Bruce Wells (Ogron), Geoffrey Todd (Ogron), John Scott Martin (Dalek), Ricky Newby (Dalek), Murphy Grumbar (Dalek), Oliver Gilbert (Dalek Voice), Peter Messaline (Dalek Voice), Alex Macintosh (Television Reporter)

Setting:

Auderly House (1970s) and an alternative England (22nd century)

Villains:

Daleks and Ogrons

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
304	Episode 1	01 January 1972	23'36"	9.8	PAL 2" colour videotape
305	Episode 2	08 January 1972	23'52"	10.4	PAL 2" colour videotape
306	Episode 3	15 January 1972	24'18"	9.1	PAL 2" colour videotape
307	Episode 4	22 January 1972	24'17"	9.1	PAL 2" colour videotape

Total Duration

1 Hour 36 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

9.6

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)	67.77% (Position = 82 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2003)	358 Points (Position = 45 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	73.41% (Position = 71 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	77.20% (Position = 65 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 11 out of 24

Archives

All four episodes exist in colour as PAL 2" colour videotapes.

Notes

"Day of the Daleks" is the first Dalek story since the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Evil of the Daleks" that ended the Season Four – so making it the first Dalek story, made for television, that depicts the Daleks in colour.

Despite the on-screen title being "Day of the Daleks" this story has been incorrectly referred to as "The Day of the Daleks". This error has occurred in many places including the Radio Times listings and on the BBC video releases.

The original storyline was written by Louis Marks and was not intended at first to be a Dalek story. It was decided to incorporate the Daleks very late in its planning stage and then as a more of a sequel to the 1964 First Doctor story "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", though in the event reference is made only to the Daleks having ‘invaded Earth again’ and it is merely implied that they have altered their own past to do so.

As production loomed it was discovered that only three complete Daleks were still retained by the BBC this meant that Director Paul Bernard was faced with considerable limitations in planning the shots of the Dalek attack on Auderly House.

All three Daleks used in this story were refurbished. Two were given a grey-and-black livery while the third was painted in gold and black. This made a change from the show's monochrome years when the superior Daleks had borne a predominantly black colour scheme while the regular Daleks were grey and blue. Hence the reason why only three Daleks appear on screen at any one time. Film editing was used to in an attempt to give the illusion that there were more than three Daleks.

To explain the return of the Daleks after their "final end" (as stated by the Second Doctor in "The Evil of the Daleks"), lines were scripted to reveal that the humanised Daleks had lost the civil war seen in "The Evil of the Daleks", placing this story after "The Evil of the Daleks" in the Daleks' own chronology. However, this scene was ultimately not filmed.

The Daleks' lackeys (referred to for much of the story's gestation as simply “Monsters”). They were neither named nor described in Louis Marks's scripts but were initially envisaged as dog-like humanoids who spoke fluent English. Director Paul Bernard however, suggested that they should be slow-speaking monstrous apes, and the race's name became ‘Ogorons’ and then ‘Ogrons’.

Nicholas Courtney (playing the part of The Brigadier) appeared, uncredited, in the reprise from the end of episode two that was shown at the beginning of in episode three.

While Nicholas Courtney, John Levene (who plays Sergeant Benton) and Richard Franklin (who plays Captain Mike Yates) had all been contracted for the entirety of Season Eight, it was decided to hire them only on a story-by-story basis during Season Nine. This approach was the same with Roger Delgado, who had also been a regular during Season Eight but would now only be contracted to play The Master for specific stories.

BBC television news reporter Alex Macintosh appears as himself in episode four.

Dalekanium is presented in this story as an unstable explosive in the alternate future. In "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", Dortmun also calls the material that the Dalek casings are made of as dalekanium. This is continued in "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks".

Watch out for the scene, early in the first episode, where The Doctor and Jo Grant, while working on the TARDIS console, see themselves briefly appear at the entrance to The Doctor’s lab. Originally this story was to end with a scene where The Doctor and Jo went back to the lab, and saw their earlier selves working at the TARDIS console – so maintaining continuity. However, in editing, episode four was found to be overrunning and so this last scene was cut from the finished story. Terrance Dicks would later restore the scene in his Target novelisation of this story.

One notable aspect of episode four (used in a mindprobe of The Doctor) was the inclusion of photocaptions of the First and Second Doctors. This was the first visual reference to the First Doctor since "The Power of the Daleks" and The Second Doctor since his final story, "The War Games". To represent the First Doctor, two images from "An Unearthly Child" and one from "The Daleks" were selected, while pictures from "The Faceless Ones" and "The Invasion" were used to depict the Second Doctor.

Strangely this story features the TARDIS console once more outside of the TARDIS itself, as in "The Ambassadors of Death" and "Inferno" – despite it being back inside the TARDIS during the previous season.

A section of the closing title sequence appears in the background on the screen of the Daleks' mind analysis machine at the end of episode three. The first of the episode's closing credits is superimposed over this scene just before the foreground images are removed, leaving just the title sequence. The rest of the credits then follow.

This was the first of a number of stories in which the key colour used for the CSO effects was yellow rather than blue.

Episode two of this story gained an audience of 10.3 million - the first time an individual episode had exceeded ten million viewers since part three of 1965/66 First Doctor story "The Daleks' Master Plan" more than six years earlier.

This story was repeated on BBC One as a 60-minute omnibus in September 1973.

The novelisation of this story, by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in April 1974. It renames the manor from ‘Auderley House’ to ‘Austerly House’. There have been Dutch, Turkish, Japanese, Polish and Portuguese language editions. A Brazilian edition, was also published with the title "Doutor Who e a Mudança da História" ("Doctor Who and the Change in History").

This story was released on VHS and Betamax in July 1986. This was, in fact, the final Doctor Who release in the Betamax format.

First and Last

The Firsts:

The first story of Season Nine.

The first appearance of the Daleks in the show since 1967 (and the first time in colour on TV).

The first time that Jo Grant encounters the Daleks.

The first appearance of the Ogrons.

The first visual reference to the Second Doctor since "The War Games".

The first visual reference to the First Doctor since "The Power of the Daleks".

The first of a number of stories in which the key colour used for the CSO effects was yellow rather than blue.

Episode Two was the first time an individual episode had exceeded ten million viewers since part three of 1965/66 First Doctor story "The Daleks' Master Plan".

The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Paul Bernard

The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):

The last Doctor Who story to be released in the Betamax format.

Story Images

Show Text

The Brigadier, Jo and The Doctor

Shura, Anat and Boaz

The Brigadier Instructs Captain Yates

Sergeant Benton

The Brigadier

The Gold Dalek

The Daleks

The Daleks and Ogrons Arrive

Exiting the Tunnel

Daleks and Ogrons

Dalek Attack

The Doctor Surrenders

Quote of the Story

'Look, try and use your intelligence, man, even if you are a politician.'

The Doctor

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
VHS	The Day of the Daleks	July 1986	BBCV 2036	Sid Sutton	Omnibus format Released on VHS and Betamax
VHS	The Day of the Daleks	March 1988	BBCV 4109	Sid Sutton	Omnibus format Re-released budget-priced
VHS	The Day of the Daleks	February 1994	BBCV 5219	Sid Sutton	Episodic format
Laser Disc	Day of the Daleks	December 1996	EE1202	Pete Wallbank	Episodic format
DVD	Day of the Daleks	September 2011	BBCDVD 3043	Photo-montage	Special Edition Includes new visual and audio FX and new Dalek voices
Blu-Ray	Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 9 (Limited Edition)	March 2023	BBCBD 0566	Lee Binding	Blu-Ray Limited Edition boxed set containing 5 specially restored stories
Blu-Ray	Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 9 (Standard Edition)	February 2025	BBCBD 0621	Lee Binding	Blu-Ray Standard Edition boxed set containing 5 specially restored stories

In Print

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Publisher	Author	Cover Art	Remarks
Novel	Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks	April 1974	Target No. 18	Terrance Dicks	Chris Achilleos	ISBN: 0-426-10380-7 (1st Edition Target Cover)
Novel	Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks	1976	Target No. 18	Terrance Dicks	Chris Achilleos	ISBN: 0-426-10380-7 (2nd Edition Target Cover)
Novel	Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks	1982	Target No. 18	Terrance Dicks	Andrew Skilleter	New cover reprint. ISBN: 0-426-10380-7
Novel	Dalek Omnibus	1983	WH Allen	Terrance Dicks	Andrew Skilleter	Hardback. ISBN: 0-491-03420-3
Novel	The Day of the Daleks	April 1991	Target No. 18	Terrance Dicks	Alister Pearson	Virgin new cover reprint. ISBN: 0-426-10380-7
Novel	Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks	May 2012	Target No. 18	Terrance Dicks	Chris Achilleos	BBC reprint with introduction by Gary Russell. ISBN: 978-1-849-90473-5
CD	Day of the Daleks	November 2016	Target No. 18	Terrance Dicks	Chris Achilleos	Audio version of the Target Novel read by Nicholas Briggs and Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates).
Novel	The Essential Terrance Dicks Volume 1	August 2021	BBC Books	Terrance Dicks		Hardback with a forward by Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time)	Issue 60
Doctor Who Weekly	Issue 1 (Released: October 1979)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 111 (Released: April 1986)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 301 (Released: March 2001)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 329 (Released: April 2003)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 430 (Released: February 2011)
Doctor Who DVD Files	Volume 92 (Released: July 2012)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companions

The Third Doctor

The Brigadier

Sergeant Benton

Jo Grant

Captain Mike Yates

On Release

Original VHS and Betamax Video Cover

VIDEO

Re-released VHS Video Cover

VIDEO

Episodic Release VHS Video Cover

VIDEO

Laser Disc Cover

VIDEO

DVD Cover

VIDEO

The Collection Season 9 Limited Edition Blu-Ray Cover

VIDEO

The Collection Season 9 Standard Edition Blu-Ray Cover

VIDEO

In Print

Original Target Book Cover

NOVEL

Original Target Book Cover (1976 Edition)

NOVEL

Reprinted Target Book Cover

NOVEL

Dalek Omnibus Cover

NOVEL

Reprinted Virgin Book Cover

NOVEL

Reprinted BBC Book Cover

NOVEL

Target Audio CD Cover

The Essential Terrance Dicks Volume 1 Book Cover

NOVEL

Magazines

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Issue 60

Doctor Who Weekly: Issue 1

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 111

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 301

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 329

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 430

Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 92

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
Third Doctor

Season 9

References

Doctor Who is the copyright of the British Broadcasting Corporation. No infringements intended. This site is not endorsed by the BBC or any representatives thereof.