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Serial 6P: Resurrection Of The Daleks
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| Plot |
| Production |
Finally, however, Nathan-Turner encountered Nation himself at an American Doctor Who convention in July 1982. This was the first fan event Nation had attended, and he was overwhelmed by the reaction his presence solicited from the attendees. Entering into discussions with the producer, Nation agreed to let Saward write a new Dalek story as long as he had script approval on this and any future adventures featuring his creations. Shortly thereafter, Saward hurriedly began work on Warhead, latterly renamed The Return. Amongst the major events of Saward's scripts was the demise of Davros, whom Saward wanted to replace with the gold-domed Emperor Dalek seen in the TV Century 21 Dalek comic strips from the mid-Sixties.
With scant time before The Return was needed for production, Saward's schedule was tight. Consequently, when he received no reply from Nation as to his opinion of the storyline, he was forced to proceed under the assumption that Nation approved of it. Nation finally replied in November, after being contacted directly by Nathan-Turner. It transpired that he did in fact have serious concerns with The Return, particularly its replacement of Davros with the Emperor Dalek, and the ease with which the Daleks could be despatched. Saward amended the climax to leave Davros' fate unclear.
By this time, however, The Return faced a major hurdle from a different source. The BBC's electricians union went on strike for about a month beginning in November, forcing a major realignment of the BBC's recording schedules to permit the completion of Christmas-themed programming. As a result, the fifth story of Season Twenty, Enlightenment, was shifted forward to the shooting days originally allocated for The Return. It became clear that Saward's serial could not be completed in time for its scheduled broadcast in March 1983, and the decision was made to delay production on The Return until the following year.
In the interim, Janet Fielding decided to exit Doctor Who after learning of Peter Davison's desire to leave by the end of Season Twenty-One. Mark Strickson then also informed the production office that he would not be returning, as he feared typecasting and was unhappy with Turlough's recent lack of development. His eighteen-month contract was amended to permit his run to conclude with the fifth serial of the season. Faced with a complete cast changeover, Nathan-Turner and Saward decided to spread out the departures as much as possible. With Strickson leaving in the fifth story, and Davison in the sixth (the season's penultimate serial, giving audiences an early glimpse of Colin Baker's new Doctor in the year's final adventure), this meant that the logical time for Fielding to go was the fourth slot. This was also the new spot on the schedule allocated to The Return, and represented the only major change Saward had to make to his scripts, which he had retitled The Resurrection.
The director assigned to The Return before its postponement had been Peter Grimwade. After learning that the serial would not be made, Grimwade had invited the cast and crew out to lunch, omitting Nathan-Turner from the guest list because he had intended to treat the producer to supper individually. Nathan-Turner took this as a personal snub, however, and relations between the two soured from then on. Saward had already promised Grimwade that he could write a story for Season Twenty-One (this would be Planet Of Fire, the serial immediately following The Resurrection), but the acrimony between the writer and the producer meant that Grimwade would not be invited to direct the rescheduled Dalek story. To replace him, Nathan-Turner hired Matthew Robinson, making his first Doctor Who story. Robinson was a television veteran, having helmed series such as Coronation Street, Angels and Softly, Softly: Task Force.
The Dalek story's delay also meant that original Davros Michael Wisher, who was to appear in The Return, was forced to drop out due to commitments with the theatrical production of The Dame Of Sark (Wisher had been replaced on Destiny Of The Daleks by David Gooderson for similar reasons). Robinson cast Terry Molloy in his place. Regular Dalek voice artiste Roy Skelton was also unavailable for the new recording dates, and so Royce Mills and Brian Miller (the husband of Elisabeth Sladen, who had played former companion Sarah Jane Smith) were brought in to replace him.
Two days of location filming for Serial 6P took place beginning on September 11th; by this time, Saward had expanded the title to Resurrection Of The Daleks, in the hopes of attracting a bigger audience. The production then moved to the studio for two three-day sessions; the first began on Wednesday the 23rd, and the second exactly two weeks later from October 5th. As had become something of an annual tradition for Nathan-Turner, the producer requested that a special clips segment be included in Resurrection Of The Daleks (something previously employed in Logopolis, Earthshock and Mawdryn Undead). This featured all the Doctor's past incarnations and companions, although Leela was inadvertently omitted, and Kamelion was also excluded. This time around, the images were incorporated directly into the story via the Daleks' brainwave machine. They included Turlough (from Terminus), Tegan (Logopolis), Nyssa (Black Orchid), Adric (Warriors' Gate), the Second Romana (Warriors' Gate), the First Romana (The Ribos Operation), K-9 (Warriors' Gate), Harry (Terror Of The Zygons), the Fourth Doctor (Pyramids Of Mars), Sarah Jane (Pyramids Of Mars), Jo (The Mutants), the Brigadier (The Ambassadors Of Death), Liz (Spearhead From Space), the Third Doctor (The Mutants), Zoe (The War Games), Victoria (The Enemy Of The World), Jamie (The Enemy Of The World), the Second Doctor (The War Games), Ben (The Tenth Planet), Polly (The Tenth Planet), Dodo (The War Machines), Sara (The Daleks' Master Plan), Katarina (a publicity photo taken during the making of The Daleks' Master Plan), Steven (The Time Meddler), Vicki (The Rescue), Barbara (The Daleks), Ian (The Daleks), Susan (The Daleks), and the First Doctor (The Daleks' Master Plan).
October 7th marked Janet Fielding's final official Doctor Who work, although she would return a few weeks afterward to record a cameo appearance for The Caves Of Androzani, and later featured in a 1985 Doctor Who segment of the children's series Jim'll Fix It called In A Fix With Sontarans, alongside Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor. Fielding continued working in television until 1991, when she quit acting to take up a post with the Women in Film and Television advocacy group. Fielding then became an agent, counting amongst her clients Paul McGann, the Eighth Doctor.
Had Resurrection Of The Daleks followed the normal transmission schedule for the season, it would have aired on Thursdays and Fridays between February 9th and 17th, 1984. This directly coincided with the BBC's broadcast of the Winter Olympics, however, and it appeared as though Doctor Who would have to go on hiatus for two weeks as a result. Instead, Nathan-Turner sought agreement from his superiors to broadcast the serial as two fifty-minute episodes on consecutive Wednesdays, beginning February 8th. This marked the first time Doctor Who had deviated from its standard twenty-five minute format in-season, although longer episode lengths had been used on occasion for repeats, as well as for the anniversary telefilm The Five Doctors. Effectively, though, Resurrection Of The Daleks would now serve as a preview of Season Twenty-Two, for which plans were already under way to have the entire year consist of fifty-minute installments.
Resurrection had already been edited into four parts by the time this decision was reached, and this was distributed to certain North American outlets. Some of these copies, however, consisted of "slash prints", and was missing some of the sound effects and incidental music. The second of the four episodes of this version also included some extra material, including a scene in which the Doctor and Stien enter the TARDIS.
| Details |
| Episode | Date | Time | Duration | Viewers | Audience App. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8th February 1984 | 6.50pm | 46'24" | 7.3m (73rd) | 69% |
| 2 | 15th February 1984 | 6.52pm | 46'52" | 8.0m (53rd) | 65% |
| Producer | John Nathan-Turner |
| Script Editor | Eric Saward |
| Writer | Eric Saward |
| Director | Matthew Robinson |
| Designer | John Anderson |
| Costume | Janet Tharby |
| Incidental Music | Malcolm Clarke |
Principal Guest Cast: Chloe Ashcroft (Professor Laird), Rodney Bewes (Stien), Maurice Colbourne (Lytton), Jim Findley (Mercer), Del Henney (Colonel Archer), Rula Lenska (Styles), Philip McGough (Sergeant Calder), Brian Miller (Dalek Voices), Royce Mills (Dalek Voices), Terry Molloy (Davros).
Novelisation: None.
Video Release: Resurrection Of The Daleks, episodic format, November 1993; PAL (BBC Video cat.# 5143) and NTSC (Warners cat.# E1261) formats available; cover by Bruno Elettori. Also available as part of the Davros Box Set, September 2001, packaged with Genesis Of The Daleks, Destiny Of The Daleks, Revelation Of The Daleks and Remembrance Of The Daleks.
DVD Release: Resurrection Of The Daleks, episodic format, November 2002; Region 2/4 (BBCDVD cat.# 1100) and Region 1 (Warners cat.# E1759) formats available; photomontage cover (the Region 2/4 and Region 1 covers differ, however). Extras include commentary by Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Matthew Robinson, a stereo sound mix, interviews with Robinson, Eric Saward and John Nathan-Turner, deleted and extended scenes, two features from the BBC's Breakfast Time programme, BBC1 trailer for the first episode, an isolated soundtrack, TARDIS-Cam footage, a photo gallery, and production information subtitles.
Rankings: 31st (72.62%, Doctor Who Dynamic Rankings website, 22nd June 1999); 48th (73.41%, DWM 1997 Annual Survey).
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