With the TARDIS caught in a time corridor at the end of the previous story, the Doctor is surprised to find that he is being taken to some rather unremarkable London docks. His investigation into the origins of the time corridor lead him to a meeting with a group of hapless 20th century soldiers who can’t even begin to imagine the traces of technology they’ve discovered in a nearby warehouse. The Doctor’s arrival has been expected – in fact, carefully orchestrated – by the Daleks, who are in the midst of a plot that involves clones, biological warfare, and the rescue and revival of their mad creator, Davros.
written by Eric Saward
directed by Matthew Robinson
music by Malcolm ClarkeCast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Terry Molloy (Davros), Maurice Colbourne (Lytton), Rodney Bewes (Stien), Rula Lenska (Styles), Del Henney (Colonel Archer), Chloe Ashcroft (Professor Laird), Philip McGough (Sergeant Calder), Jim Findley (Mercer), Leslie Grantham (Kiston), Sneh Gupta (Osborn), Roger Davenport (Trooper), John Adam Baker, Linsey Turner (Crew members), William Sleigh (Galloway), Brian Miller, Royce Mills (Dalek voices), John Scott Martin, Cy Town, Tony Starr, Toby Byrne (Daleks), Nicholas Curry (Chemist), Michael Jeffries, Mike Braben (Policemen), Mike Mungarven, Simon Crane (Soldiers), Pat Judge (Man with metal detector)
Broadcast from February 8 through 15, 1984
LogBook entry & review by Earl Green
Review: A fast-paced and sometimes confusing story, Resurrection Of The Daleks is actually a good outing for its titular adversary, giving them a stronger role and more menace than they’ve had in years, and even the reappearance of Davros – who, in the previous two Dalek stories, had come to overshadow his creations – doesn’t diminish their effectiveness. Davros himself is brought back much more effectively by the script and by Terry Molloy’s hateful portrayal. Most of the rest of the cast is believable, though some of the actors portraying the future Earth soldiers early in the story are pretty bad.
There are several abrupt, out-of-left-field plot twists thrown into the mix that make this story difficult to follow. Lytton and his policemen – hired killers in disguise – aren’t really explained, aside from establishing that they’re bad guys for the purposes of this story. Lytton is later given a background in 1985’s Attack Of The Cybermen, but even then his presence on 20th century Earth isn’t fully explained. It almost smacks of a character being planted for a spin-off series that never happened. There is also the annoying reiteration of the concept that most everyone in the universe knows who the Time Lords are, and in one non-sequitur scene, the Doctor is told that he’s being cloned so his double can assassinate the High Council of the Time Lords. There is no preamble to this, and it is not mentioned again later in the story. So much for those advanced assassination plans…
If for no other reason than its breakneck pace, Resurrection Of The Daleks is a commendable Doctor Who adventure, but you might need to take notes to keep track of the various plot threads!