The Curse of the Daleks

The Curse of the Daleks
A programe for The Curse of the Daleks
Written by	David Whitaker Terry Nation
Date premiered	December 21, 1965 (1965-12-21)
Place premiered	Wyndham's Theatre London
Original language	English
Genre	Science Fiction

The Curse Of The Daleks is a Dalek stage play, written by David Whitaker and Terry Nation, which appeared for one month at the Wyndham's Theatre in London, beginning on December 21, 1965. It is notable for being Terry Nation's first live-action attempt to exercise his ownership of the Dalek concept independently of the BBC. As such, it does not include the Doctor, the TARDIS or any other elements from Doctor Who.

It was performed mostly as a matinée, indicating its marketing towards children.

It was produced by John Gale and Ernest Hecht, and directed by Gillian Howell. It starred Nicholas Hawtrey (Captain Redway), Edward Gardener (Rocket Smith), David Ashford (Bob Slater), John Moore (Professor Vanderlyn), Hilary Tindall (Marion Clements), John Line (Jonathon Ladiver), Colin Miller (Harry Sline), Nicholas Bennet (Dexion), and Suzanne Mockler (Ijayna).

Synopsis

Following the crash landing of an Earth spacecraft on Skaro, one of the astronauts believes he can turn the Daleks into his servants. As ever, the Daleks have other plans.

Background

Freelance writers for the BBC were allowed to retain intellectual property rights over concepts and characters they introduced into individual serials. As a result, Terry Nation found himself co-owning the Dalek phenomenon of the mid-1960s. Nation was eager to find some way of divorcing them from the Doctor Who universe so that he could build a franchise which would not require BBC cooperation, and two such attempts were made in 1965.

One was the Doctor- and companion-less episode Mission to the Unknown. Though commonly known as an introduction to the Doctor Who serial, The Daleks' Master Plan, it was also preparatory to a proposed Dalek-only pilot called, The Destroyers.^[1] Had it made it been completed, The Destroyers would have been centred around the same "Space Security Service" seen in Mission to the Unknown and Master Plan.

The second was through this play, which introduced the idea of accidental human discovery of the planet Skaro (similar to what happened to the TARDIS crew in The Daleks), and the humans' subsequent reaction against the Daleks.

While this was the only of the two approaches that actually got produced on the strength of Terry Nation's ownership alone, it received no further independent development. Elements from this play were later reworked by David Whitaker for the Second Doctor television story The Power of the Daleks.

In 2008, Big Finish Productions reproduced the play in an audio format starring Nicholas Briggs as the voice of the Daleks, along with The Ultimate Adventure and The Seven Keys to Doomsday.

Reception

The Times newspaper's anonymous critic gave The Curse of the Daleks a mixed but generally positive assessment in a review published on December 22, 1965. "No less compelling on the stage than the television screen, the Daleks are the undoubted stars of this futuristic adventure story," opened the piece. The reviewer concluded that: "After their false start, depending too much on weak jokes and technical jargon, a feeling of genuine crisis is generated. And the patience of the youthful matinée audience is rewarded as the Dalek menace increases. Despite the rather stilted dialogue, the actors play with all possible conviction, and Gillian Howell's direction has the necessary pace."^[2]

An animated CGI version of 'Curse Of The Daleks' has been made by Dr Who enthusiast, Stuart Palmer, but was taken down so as not to compete with the Big Finish audio adaptation. It was available at www.alteredvistas.co.uk, which still shows CGI stills from the production.

Audio adaptation

Big Finish Productions audio play
The Curse of the Daleks
Series	Doctor Who: The Stageplays
Release number	3
Featuring	The Daleks
Writer	David Whitaker Terry Nation
Director	Nicholas Briggs
Executive producer(s)	Nicholas Briggs Jason Haigh-Ellery
Release date	November 2008

The Curse of the Daleks is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.

Plot

Cast

• Ladiver — Michael Praed
• Captain Redway — Patric Kearns
• Marion Clements — Beth Chalmers
• Rocket Smith — Nick Wilton
• Bob Slater — James George
• Professor Vanderlyn — John Line
• Harry Sline — Derek Carlyle
• Dexion — Glynn Sweet
• Ijayna — Denise Hoey
• The Daleks/Narrator — Nicholas Briggs

External links

• Big Finish Productions - "Curse of the Daleks"

References

1. ^ Mission to the Unknown at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
2. ^ "The Daleks Come to Life". The Times. 1965-12-22. pp. 11.