Day of the Daleks Episode Three

The one where the Doctor is roughed up by Ogrons...

That railway tunnel is a strange thing, isn't it? On the inside it's like a maze of tunnels going this way and that, with off-shoot tunnels and archways all over the place. It's more like a sewer system than a railway tunnel, plus it has the smoothest tiled floor ever constructed (so that the Daleks can glide effortlessly along!). It's designed in such a way as to resemble the old Dalek city sets from the 1960s, even down to the curved archways.

The Doctor's arrival on 22nd century Earth should allow us to see what the Daleks have done to the future, what the year c.2172 actually looks like, but the most we really get to see is a rather clean and pleasant looking white tower block. It looks more utopian than dystopian, although director Paul Bernard does portray some form of oppression in the line of jackbooted Ogrons and the CCTV camera. Still, I'd like to have had clearer examples of this future Earth, which was better achieved in the 2011 Special Edition using slightly computer gamey CGI. But whichever version of Earth we look at, someone needs to do some weeding...

Back at the control centre the Controller informs his Skarosian masters that a man called the Doctor is on the prowl. "Doctor? Did you say Doctor?" one Dalek rather amusingly replies! The Controller is struggling to convince his bosses that he is efficient enough, asking for more human soldiers to carry out his work, but the Daleks refuse, citing humans as unreliable. The Controller rather clumsily says that Ogrons "will never be a match for human guerillas", but the Daleks are having none of it, and in spite, raise the Controller's production targets by 10%. Production of what, I'm not sure...

The control centre set is a gloriously tactile invention by David Myerscough-Jones. It's got raised and lowered levels and looks textured, although from some camera angles you can see the untreated plain timber beneath. Alan Horne also lights it well.

The Controller and Jo enjoy a feast of fruit while sitting cross-legged on the floor, like Roman emperors, although this is a highly dangerous sitting position for someone wearing a denim mini skirt. Katy Manning does well to conceal her modesty, but later in the episode fails to disguise the fact she was wearing red knickers that day (Monday, October 18th, 1971, for completists...). As with many depictions of the future in sci-fi, the Controller says that food has been reduced to simple pills and tablets, and very few people actually eat foodstuff like grapes and apples in the 22nd century. This got me wondering whether the food pills are actually a Dalek means of subjugation, as they used Smartie-like food pills to feed the Robomen in Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD.

Remember the Robomen? They've been supplanted by Ogrons now, but there may still be a trace of robotisation in the humans who serve the Daleks here. The Controller has a very metallic hue to his skin, and the nameless Girl Technician acts in a very detached, disconnected manner. What I love about Deborah Brayshaw's performance is this utter separation from her surroundings, which is a definite choice rather than poor acting. This woman talks with no emotion or involvement, and in the scene where she speaks with the Controller, she doesn't look at him once. But when he walks off, she turns her head and watches him go, shooting him a look of pure contempt. It's actually quite a nuanced little performance that you could read a lot into. Has this poor woman being part robotised, or has she just been abused and tormented to such an extent that she has become emotionally detached? Brayshaw is one of this story's unheralded stars.

In fact, this third episode is packed with lovely little turns like that. Take Andrew Carr's vindictive Senior Guard, who seems to revel in tormenting the Doctor with his leather whip, kinkily drawing it across his face like he's in an S&M dungeon! Then there's the Manager played by Peter Hill, who crams so much into so little time. Hill manages to express so much in a face which hardly moves a muscle. The ever-so-slight shake of the head he gives to the Doctor in warning is beautifully done, and the exchange between Hill and Aubrey Woods is full of tension. The Controller passes on the 10% production hike to the Manager, who reacts with horror, but he relents when the safety of his family is threatened. This scene is directed really well by Paul Bernard, who zooms right in to Hill and Woods' faces in close-up, ramping up the tension.

It turns out the Manager is actually a spy (codename ZV10) for the freedom fighters, and he contacts Monia to tell him the Doctor is their ally (despite the fact the Doctor told Anat and Boaz the very same at the top of the episode: "[The Daleks] have been my bitterest enemy for years"). Sadly, he's caught out by an Ogron and presumably killed, and all of the work Peter Hill put into his couple of scenes pays off, because the first thing the viewer thinks about is the man's bereaved family... Peter Hill, I salute you.

Later we find the Doctor quaffing more vintage wine with the Controller and Jo, and Jon Pertwee gets his time in the spotlight as he beautifully picks apart the system of government the Controller presides over. Pertwee gives the Doctor a simmering outrage which is well parried by Woods' calm, collected Controller, until the Big Question comes: "Who really rules this planet of yours?". The Controller has no good answer for that, and politely departs. I've had issues with Bernard's direction of the Daleks, but his choices in the human scenes are spot on, using close-ups wisely and dramatically.

After an utterly pointless bit of padding with the Doctor and Jo on a trike, the Doctor is subjected to the Dalek mind analysis machine. They don't know the Doctor in this body, so they want to make sure it's the same man they met on Skaro, Kembel and Vulcan. The machine's display screen shows us photos of the First and Second Doctors against a time vortex backdrop, and it's lovely that William Hartnell finally gets his face in the end titles! There's then a strange melting between fiction and reality when the display screen's time vortex becomes the end titles, and Jon Pertwee's credit appears over the cliffhanger footage itself. Weird, but kind of thrilling!

First broadcast: January 15th, 1971

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: All praise to Peter Hill for a masterclass in how to communicate more than you're saying.
The Bad: The nonsense with the Doctor and Jo escaping on the hokey trike. It's obvious padding and utterly pointless.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

"Now listen to me" tally: 13
Neck-rub tally: 5

NEXT TIME: Episode Four...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode One; Episode Two; Episode Four

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/05/day-of-daleks.html

Day of the Daleks is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Day-Daleks-DVD/dp/B004VRO89C