Doctor Who: What Would a Fifteenth Doctor Dalek Story Look Like?

Highlights

• The Daleks were rested during Series 14 but it’s only a matter of time before they return to terrorize the Fifteenth Doctor, and actor Ncuti Gatwa is ready.
• With a history almost as long as the Doctor’s, the iconic enemies are likely to return bigger and bolder than ever in the Disney era.
• Doctor Who’s classic and modern eras, as well as a minisode broadcast in 2023, hint at what might happen when the Daleks return.

The Fifteenth Doctor is taking his time to encounter his greatest enemies. A whole season of Doctor Who passed in 2024 without a glimpse of a Dalek, as the Time Lord has been more preoccupied with gods and goblins. But if the show has taught us anything over six decades, the greatest threat in the universe never entirely disappears.

An irony in the events of Series 14’s finale was that he probably saved the Daleks by undoing Sutekh’s gift of death to the universe. Not that they’ll be thanking him. The hate-obsessed armor-plated mutants have been there since the beginning of the Doctor’s story and are guaranteed to turn up again. The question is how the Daleks will threaten the universe when they return to Doctor Who.

Doctor Who And The Daleks

The first time viewers saw the TARDIS leave Earth, it landed on Skaro for the Doctor’s first fateful meeting with the Daleks. Enclosed in their metal city and powered by electric walkways, the Daleks were convinced theirs was a unique life-supporting planet until they met those travelers. After that, they didn’t take long to cross the universe in a crusade against any life different from theirs. The Daleks were so successful the Time Lords foresaw a time when they would become the dominant life form in the universe.

The events of “Genesis of the Daleks,” when the Time Lords dispatched the Doctor to Skaro to avert that future, were the first acts of the Great Time War. That gigantic conflict between the Time Lords and Daleks almost ended with the destruction of both species. For a while, it seemed that only the Doctor had walked away from it. No wonder the Time Lord earned several nicknames from the pepperpots, including “Oncoming Storm” and the “Predator of the Daleks.” Every incarnation has encountered the Daleks except the latest.

The last time viewers saw the Daleks was a dive into their distant past. “Destination Skaro” was a minisode broadcast as part of the BBC’s Children in Need charity event shortly before the three 60th anniversary specials. It was an amusing sketch that threw the freshly regenerated Fourteenth Doctor back to the Dalek’s creation, giving him an unfortunate hand in his foes’ distinctive look.

Before that, the feature-length “Power of the Doctor,” which ended the tenure of the Thirteenth Doctor, saw a rare team-up between the Daleks, the Cybermen, and the Master as they attempted to destroy the Earth using volcanos. By this point, the Daleks had reverted to their popular bronze models after previously straitened times troubling the Thirteenth Doctor during several New Year specials.

The Thirteenth Doctor’s first meeting with them in “Resolution” saw an ancient reconnaissance drone rebuild itself from scrap metal. In “Revolution of the Daleks,” that design was streamlined into glowing, deadly Defense Drones that strangely didn’t obey human orders.

The past half-decade has been a far cry from the epics seen during showrunner Russell T. Davies’ first era in charge between 2005 and 2010. At the end of Series 1, a vast Dalek epic ended in the Ninth Doctor’s regeneration. At the end of Series 4, the Daleks attempted their greatest plot yet — relocating Earth to assemble a solar-system-sized reality bomb. But Davies didn’t pick up that baton. Series 14 was an enforced break from the metal tyrants, with the returning showrunner explaining during a press screening for the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary specials that he thought they needed a pause:

There are no Daleks, there are no Cybermen, I didn’t want to look back too much. I do think we’ve had a lot of Daleks lately. Because, actually, lovely Chris Chibnall’s Christmas specials have all been Daleks. So I think they’ve been done a lot, so people are expecting them every year now. So I think they need a good pause.

Fortunately, the Doctor is as irrepressible as the Daleks. In spring 2024, Ncuti Gatwa told Entertainment Weekly he’d heard the rumors about Daleks and wasn’t happy:

I’ve heard chats about me not ever facing a Dalek. I’d be so angry if that’s the case! By the time that I’m done with Doctor Who, I better have faced a Dalek. What on earth would be the point of me being Doctor Who without facing a Dalek!

Crucial Components Of A Fifteenth Doctor And Dalek Clash

Gatwa shouldn’t worry. History tells us that a conflict between the Fifteenth Doctor and the Daleks has to happen. So what could it look like in this bigger, brasher, and bolder era of Doctor Who?

A Dalek Onslaught

Generally, there are two types of Dalek stories, both equally deadly: big and small. Daleks have frequently proved how cunning and dangerous they are individually or in a small group. 2005’s “Dalek” was a perfect reintroduction and upgrade for the terrifying creatures, showing off their range of dangerous skills and how much of a threat a single drone can be. “Resolution” was another reintroduction that showed how dangerous one Dalek can be in extreme circumstances.

On the other side, there are the vast Dalek armies of “The Parting of the Ways,” “Journey’s End,” and “Day of the Doctor.” Doctor Who has never had a bigger scale thanks to the exclusive deal between Disney and the BBC, so the chances are that we could see a Dalek army like never before. Whether they’re eased back or not, Disney Daleks will be plotting bigger than ever before.

A Different Davros

Davros, the creator of the Daleks, is one of the most distinctive villains in Doctor Who, but according to the showrunner, that’s changed for good. The creator of the Daleks underwent a radical change in the minisode Destination Skaro, and Davies made it clear at the time that the disfigured villain in a wheelchair trope is over, explaining that “​​time and society and culture and taste has moved on:”

I say, this is how we see Davros now, this is what he looks like. This is 2023. This is our lens. This is our eye. Things used to be black and white, they’re not in black and white anymore, and Davros used to look like that and he looks like this now, and that we are absolutely standing by.

Davros isn’t obligatory: more Dalek stories haven’t featured him than have. But after his introduction in 1975, the creator dominated serials featuring his creations for the rest of the classic era. He has made two major appearances in the modern era, both times played by Julian Bleach, who also plays the pre-accident Davros.

Davies’s comments are emphatic but ambiguous. Future appearances could be limited to a pre-”Genesis” Davros, or the accident that injured him could be wiped from the timeline. Either of these suggests as many limits as possibilities if he does appear opposite the Fifteenth Doctor. Perhaps “Destination Skaro” indicates that the immediate future of the Daleks is a step back to their beginnings.

The Tried And Tested Bronze Armor

Dalek designs have shifted and evolved over 60 years, but one of the popular new looks was the bronze models that debuted in 2005. Referred to in the broader universe as the Type VIII Dalek, this is the default design modern Daleks return to.

Before the makeshift scrap Dalek the Thirteenth Doctor faced in “Resolution,” the most infamous change remained the New Paradigm, which debuted in Series 5’s “Victory of the Daleks.” Those colorful but bulky drones were quickly reduced to cameo appearances as the bronze archetype returned. Given Davies introduced this enduring design, it’s likely to be the look that will be back to terrorize the Fifteenth Doctor.

A New Type Of Dalek

Moving on from their armor design, the history of Daleks is littered with strange deviations and distorted hybrids. It sounds strange for an alien species obsessed with their genetic purity, but as much as it’s proved to be a great weakness for the tyrants, it’s also given the show a wealth of plot points.

Davies has contributed to the legacy of twisted new Daleks. He brought back a new race derived from humans and another that drew directly from Davros’ genetics. He saved them from the Void, introduced a human-Dalek hybrid in “Daleks in Manhattan,” and drove Dalek Caan mad. When Davies brings the Daleks back, expect unexpected twists that take the pepperpots into new territory.

UNIT Versus The Daleks

It’s been a while since UNIT confronted the Daleks, which is a shame considering the promise of their classic battles, like “Day of the Daleks.” Things didn’t go well for them during “The Stolen Planet,” the Daleks’ last full invasion force assault on Earth.

The Doctor is closer to UNIT and its head, Kate Stewart, than he has been for years, so it makes sense that it would be involved in any new Dalek incursion. The new UNIT tower, which debuted in “The Giggle,” has already been attacked by two gods, but it would be great to see it repel an all-out Dalek assault unit.

An Emotional Fight

The Fifteenth Doctor is the most emotional incarnation fans have seen. Despite his urge to overcome loss and tragedy by continually moving, he wears his empathy on his sleeve. When the Daleks return, they’re likely to come back in a big way, but fans should be ready for high stakes that push the Time Lord’s emotional buttons.

In so many ways, the Doctor and the Daleks are the flipside of the same coin, sometimes to the point of being indistinguishable. In 2005’s “Dalek,” the Ninth Doctor was floored by the lone Dalek telling him, ‘You would make a good Dalek.’ As Fifteen has raised the emotional game, expect the Daleks to go full speed in the opposite direction and be more dangerous than ever.

Doctor Who has a lively and popular expanded universe of books, audio adventures, comics, and more. In 2005, Davies chaperoned the return of the Daleks by hiring Robert Shearman to adapt “Dalek” from an earlier audio play he’d written for Big Finish productions.

With a wealth of Dalek stories exploring the Doctor’s conflict against the Daleks across multiple incarnations, including the heat of the Time War, it could be that the seeds of their comeback in this new era have already been written.