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Above: Our Hero! Raymond P Cusick with his design icon. Pic copyright Chris Balcombe 2009. All rights reserved.
A man by the name of Terry Nation was born in Cardiff in August, 1930. He would grow up to become one of the most significant and successful contributors to British television writing, but will always be best remembered for writing a script for a newly-launched BBC series called Doctor Who
Nation only agreed to write it after a falling out with comedian Tony Hancock, for whom he'd been writing comedy scripts in 1963. Left with unexpected free time, Nation agreed to write 'The Mutants', a story set on a far-off planet called Skaro, where a devastating war had left a group of small, horribly-mutated creatures having to live in individual, armoured, mobile casings.
When Nation had finished his script for 'The Mutants', the episode that first introduced the Daleks, BBC staff designer Raymond P Cusick was given the task of giving the daleks their appearance. The script was little help on describing what a dalek should look like, with Nation only saying they were "Hideous machine like creatures. They are legless, moving on a round base. They have no human features. A lens on a flexible shaft that acts as an eye. Arms with mechanical grips for hands. The creatures hold strange weapons in their hands." Not wishing to have a man in a monster suit, Ray telephoned Terry for advice. Terry spoke of his recent visit to a performance by the Georgian State Ballet, where dancers in long skirts had appeared to glide across the stage, their feet completely hidden. Armed with the extra information, Cusick set about sketching various designs, ending up with the now familiar 'pepperpot' look we know so well
Above, how many remember the typical BBC dalek. Black and grey, and as it appeared in several dalek series facing Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Colin Baker. This exact replica matches a dalek used in 'Genesis of the Daleks' in the 1970's. Pic copyright Chris Balcombe. All rights reserved
Above, when the series returned to BBC1 in 2005, produced by BBC Wales, with Christopher Eccleston playing the Doctor, it wasn't long before the Daleks returned. In fact, just one dalek. Pic: copyright Chris Balcombe. All rights reserved
Original BBC dalek now living in a front room
A look at a complete and all-original renegade dalek from Remembrance of the Daleks
This grey and black 'renegade' dalek starred with Sylvester McCoy in the 1988 series 'Remembrance Of The Daleks', what many thought would be the last outing for the daleks, and one that proved very popular with viewers. Of course, Chris Eccleston would battle a new breed of daleks when Dr Who hit the small screen again in 2005!
This glass-fibre survivor was bought at the famous Dr Who auction at London's Bonham's showrooms in 1991. It was in remarkably good condition, with every internal mechanism complete and nothing smashed. Since then, it's suffered from paint peel but little else. All the missing hemispheres are carefully stored away, ready for some light repainting of the skirt, once the correct colour grey has been matched. I can confirm that this dalek is very heavy. The base alone takes two to lift it - the castors are off to prevent it wandering!
It has the traditional hole in the dome allowing a thick screw bolt to protrude through and assist with the revolving of the dome on it's three castors, set into the top of the wooden neck bin. The original, and somewhat complicated, eye mover levers are still in place, wired up with the dome lights flasher switch. The original dome light batteries were still in place, but are now safely removed after leakage of acid was noticed. A set of new batteries and, almost certainly, the lights would spring into life once again.
If you own an ORIGINAL dalek prop, one that was seen in a BBC Doctor Who series, in either of the two cinema films starring Peter Cushing or was used in the London stage productions, I will buy it from you for cash, so please send me an
All images on this page are copyright Chris Balcombe 2009, all rights reserved, and cannot be used on any other website or in any publication. The Daleks are copyright BBC Worldwide and Terry Nation's estate.
Here are links to a variety of Dr Who/Daleks sites on the web. There are loads more besides. Simply click on the wording
If you own an ORIGINAL dalek prop, one that was seen in a BBC Doctor Who series, in either of the two cinema films starring Peter Cushing or was used in the London stage productions, I would love to hear from you. I won't pressure you to sell it....I'd just like to see it. But of course.....if you ARE interested in selling, you've found the right person with instant cash and no auction hassles! So please send me an email to chris@chrisbalcombe.f2s.com
All images on this page are copyright Chris Balcombe 2009, and cannot be reproduced elsewhere. Stealing pictures to use on other web sites is a breach of copyright and all cases will be pursued, as they successfully have been already, in the courts. The Daleks are copyright BBC and Terry Nation's Estate. This is a web site celebrating Doctor Who and all who worked on the original and new series
