The simple, straightforward title of Dalek belies so much: This story doesn’t just re-introduce the Daleks for a new generation of Doctor Who viewers — it makes them interesting, upgraded, and scary in ways they always deserved to be but never quite achieved in the classic series. Stellar performances from the cast — including an arguably best-of-his-run showstopper from Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor overcome by his hatred for these machine-creatures — certainly hep to make Dalek both an unexpected epic as well as the beginning of an incredible run in the back half of Series 1 of NuWho. I think maybe we liked it? Here’s what it feels like to experience Dalek, almost two decades after it fell through time…

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Story Essentials

  • Series 1, Episode 6
  • Story number: 164, per the The Pull To Open Codex
  • Production Code: 1.6
  • Writer: Robert Shearman
  • Showrunner: Russell T Davies
  • Aired 30 April 2005

Pull To Open: Dalek

  • Season 3
  • Episode 34

Hosts: Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor

Feedback loop and interlude music: Martin West/Thinking Fish

Outro music: Chronos by Alexander Nakarada