Remembrance of the Daleks Part Four

The one where the Daleks do battle on the streets of '60s London...

We've had three episodes of thrills and spills, people and things running, shooting and exploding every few minutes. It's been the most action-packed story I think Doctor Who has ever managed. But part 4 does not disappoint, not by a long chalk. Just when you think the production team can't possibly stretch Doctor Who's meagre budget any further, the Daleks wage all-out war on the streets of East London, the Renegades fending off the attacking Imperials.

It's stupendous, explosive stuff. The Imperial Daleks clash with the Renegades on the corner of Wootton Street (actually in Southwark, not Shoreditch) beneath a bridge, and are faced with what they describe as "heavy resistance". This is despite the fact there are four Imperial Daleks to the Renegades' two, but the Renegades do seem to have the keener aims, knocking seven bells out of the bling Daleks. The Imperials retreat like intergalactic wusses, but they have a trick up their plungers in the form of the Special Weapons Dalek.

Remembrance of the Daleks Part Three

The one where the Imperial Daleks land a shuttle in the school playground...

In traditional melodramatic fashion, the Doctor arrives in the nick of time to rescue Ace from the Dalek death squad, using his Sixth Doctor glitter gun to disorientate them (but he doesn't talk to them sternly). The resulting explosions are suitably impressive, something we've got accustomed to with this "big budget" story.

In any normal Doctor Who story, that would be the action highlight of the episode, but this is Remembrance of the Daleks, a story that does not let the viewer rest for a moment. Before you can say "Dalek mutant", the Doctor is grabbed round the throat by a hideous black claw from within the Dalek casing, giving Alison her one and only reason for existence when she rescues him with Ace's baseball bat. That done, Alison goes back into her box.

Remembrance of the Daleks Part Two

The one where Ace attacks a Dalek with a baseball bat...

The resolution of the cliffhanger is just as exciting as the build-up, with Ace regaining consciousness and kneeing the headmaster in the goolies before unlocking the cellar door to let the Doctor out. The Doctor falls onto his back as Ace slams the door in the face of the rising Dalek, which then blasts its way through the door with explosive effect. It's a well-executed scene, typical of this story that all the money is squarely on the screen. All credit to director Andrew Morgan for making this story look as glossy and expensive as he could.

Darting outside, the Doctor and Ace pick up some handily-just-arrived anti-tank rockets, and then go back into the school with the intention of destroying the transmat, presumably so no more Daleks can beam down. Just as you think you've got chance to draw breath, the cellar Dalek emerges and starts firing at our heroes, who have to dive behind an upturned table for cover. Sparks fly, explosions erupt, and Ace aims for the Dalek's eyepiece. BOOM! The Dalek's wiped out, as is the school's trophy cabinet.

Remembrance of the Daleks Part One

The one where the Doctor returns to Totter's Lane, 1963...

When Doctor Who began back in that dark November of 1963, I wonder how many of those involved in making it thought it would still be going 25 years later? The year 1988 would have felt like the far-flung future, a place that only existed in comics and Saturday morning serials. And boy, how the series had changed since William Hartnell first emerged from the gloom in that junkyard, his scarf wrapped around him and his karakul hat perched atop his white-haired head.

For Doctor Who's silver anniversary, the production team decided to go back to where it all began, back to London, 1963. Back to 76 Totter's Lane and Coal Hill School. How exciting!