A Matter of Time: Dalek

ORIGINAL BROADCAST: 30/04/2005

Five years ago today, the ninth Doctor and his companion Rose landed in an underground museum in the year 2012, where they found a huge collection of alien artefacts. The owner of the vault, Henry van Statten, invites the Doctor to see his living ‘Metaltron’, but the Doctor recognises it as the greatest evil in the galaxy. This story starred Christopher Eccleston as the ninth Doctor, and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler.

This episode is often thought of as the first time that a Dalek has flown, despite it happening numerous times in the classic series. The Dalek ability to hover was first implied in ‘The Chase’, where a Dalek moves between the decks of the Marie Celeste. A Dalek also hovers to exterminate two victims in ‘Revelation of the Daleks’, as well as a Dalek clearly flying up a flight of stairs in ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’.

The script went through several changes in writing, due to several disputes about the use of the Daleks. The Nation estate decided to block the show from including the Daleks, as they felt that the BBC were licensing them out too much. The changed story then included an alien child who killed for pleasure, which eventually evolved into the Toclafane for Series 3. Finally, the BBC were able to secure the rights from the Nation estate, and the original story went ahead.

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