The Return of Davros and The Daleks

Season four of the new series of Doctor Who 2008 brings the Daleks back with a bang during the season finale which will be aired on the 28th of June and the 5th July 2008. Their return will be part of a massive extravaganza which includes a myriad of returning companions such as Rose, Martha, Sarah Jane, and Captain Jack with his Torchwood team, as well as the Judoon, and lots of fan-pleasing moments.

The tabloids started the spoiler-fest and the pace really started to gather by February 2008. The Mirror was amongst the red-tops whose frenzy couldn't be contained when they reported in stories like this that Davros and the Daleks would be returning. The real spoilers were out of the bag when the Sun printed pictures of Davros and a mysterious "red Dalek" in June 2008. As a response to this, a selection of offical photos of the Red Dalek were hastily thrown out into the public domain and a shot of Davros was included in Doctor Who Confidential following the highly acclaimed Turn Left, which lead into the start of the finale and The Stolen Earth.

The appearance of a Red Dalek has always been something of an enigma in the long history of Doctor Who. There was one leading the Daleks in the comic strips of the 1960s and there was a red second in command when Peter Cushing took his turn as the Doctor in the AARU films.



However in the TV show itself a Red Dalek has never made an appearance. The Supreme Dalek in the TV series was normally black (and please can we not start down the farcical route of suggesting the saucer commander was in any way red in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. He was not, and if you'd rather believe some random assertion in an ancient and highly discredited document which has subsequently been lazily repeated in print then please go here to learn about how the saucer commander was not red.) During Planet of the Daleks we got to see "one of the supreme council" who was Gold and Black. But in a modern era where all the drone Daleks are gold (or bronze if you like) then you have to make the leader more interesting. We've already had the odd leader of the Cult of Skaro being black, so here we have another leader class and only the third Dalek in the history of the show to a have a fundamental reworking of his appearance. The previous Daleks being a Special Weapons Dalek and the Emperor (later revealed as Davros again) in Remembrance of the Daleks.

The Stolen Earth and Journey's End episodes have been massively anticipated by fans, promising a hugely spectacular season finale and one which as Russell T Davies himself explains has a pay-off for an element of almost every episode of the season so far.



 


 

Julian Bleach as Davros

Fans aware of the leaked casting of Davros were able to enjoy the Torchwood episode Out of the Rain in a whole different light, as Julian Bleach delivered a fabulous and chilling performance as the Night Traveller. He even sounded like Michael Wisher and provided a spellbinding hope that could mean we see Davros in his finest performance since his debut.