Or is he?
BRINGING DAVROS TO LIFE
The creator of the Daleks has been played by four actors:
After a suggestion that Davros be based on Dan Dare’s green-skinned arch-enemy the Mekon, Wisher’s mask was created before the actor had been cast. Wisher’s own teeth were blackened to suggest decay and his voice passed through a ring modulator to give it a Dalek edge. The actor reportedly based Davros’s intonation on that of the philosopher Bertrand Russell.
Wisher was unavailable, so David Gooderson was cast as Davros but the budget wouldn’t run to a new mask. The badly damaged original had been on display at Doctor Who exhibitions in Longleat and Blackpool, and it was in such a state of disrepair that a cleaner even threw it away one night after shooting, believing it was rubbish.
When Terry Molloy was cast as Davros in 1984, budget was allocated to the creation of a completely new mask. While it was undoubtedly more flexible than the original, Davros’s new haggard visage was soon dubbed ‘Ena Sharples’ by the crew after the popular character from Coronation Street in the 1960s and 1970s. Molloy would return for two further stories, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks.
When Julian Bleach recreated Davros for the 21st century, prosthetic artist Neil Gorton looked to the 1975 original for inspiration. While Wisher had only one mask, the modern crew created a new prosthetic for every day of shooting. Other changes included strengthening the wire around Davros’s head, making it look like a medical brace holding his skull together.
MONSTER MAKER – THE BLUFFER’S GUIDE TO…
RAYMOND CUSICK
Full name: Raymond P. Cusick
Born: 1928, London
Died: 21 February 2013, Horsham
Famous for: Designing the Daleks
Came to Doctor Who producer Verity Lambert’s attention while working on situation comedies such as Scott On and Sykes. Was hired as one of two designers on Doctor Who. Barry Newberry would design the historical stories, while Cusick concentrated on the science-fiction romps.
Inspiration struck when Terry Nation told Cusick about the Georgian State Dancers who glided around the stage wearing long skirts so you couldn’t see their feet.
The cost for making the Daleks had to be kept below £250 each, which meant Cusick had to revise some of his original ideas, such as having them mounted on a tricycle or having the Dalek bumps in the skirts flash when the Daleks became excited or angry.
The Daleks’ iconic shape came from Cusick’s realisation that the Dalek would have to have an operator concealed inside. He drew a chair and sketched the shape of the Dalek around it. The meshed grill beneath the revolving ‘head’ was added so they could see out.
Cusick stayed with Doctor Who for a further two-and-a-half years. In this time he worked on The Edge of Destruction, The Keys of Marinus, The Sensorites, Planet of Giants, The Rescue, The Romans, The Chase, Mission to the Unknown and The Daleks’ Master Plan.
He was awarded the coveted Blue Peter Gold Badge for designing the Daleks.
Other notable works: Designer on series such as The Duchess of Duke Street, When the Boat Comes in and To Serve Them All My Days.
A DALEK A-Z
In 1964, Terry Nation famously told a Daily Mirror reporter that he got the Dalek’s name from the spine of an encyclopaedia volume labelled DAL-LEK. Naughty Terry later admitted this was complete balderdash (although volumes of the London telephone directory of the period could be arranged to read ‘DALEK’). In honour of his blatant fib, we present an A-Z to the Dalek Empire.
A is for the Abomination – The word the Daleks use for anything that gives them the heebie-jeebies. The Dalek Emperor branded Rose Tyler as the Abomination after she absorbed the Time Vortex (The Parting of the Ways), while Dalek Caan picked up the nickname when he started predicting the future (The Stolen Earth).
B is for Biological Warfare – The Daleks made use of biological warfare throughout their history. When invading Earth in the 22nd century, they dropped germ bombs on the planet wiping out whole continents of humans including Africa, Asia and South America (The Dalek Invasion of Earth).
C is for Crucible – The spherical flagship of the new Dalek Imperial armada. Powered by a Z-Neutrino core, capable of even destroying a TARDIS, the Crucible also contained the Vault, where the Supreme Dalek kept Davros on a tight leash (The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End).
D is for Distress Call – Most Daleks were fitted with an automatic distress call that would be activated as soon as its top was removed, even if the Dalek was already deactivated (Planet of the Daleks).
E is for Eyepiece – The most vulnerable point of the Dalek. Take this out and not only would it be blinded but it would often fly into a complete panic (for example in Revelation of the Daleks). Unfortunately, as Wilfred Mott discovered, by the time of the Dalek invasion of 2009, the Daleks had perfected ways of automatically clearing visual obstructions (The Stolen Earth).
F is for Force Fields – During the Last Great Time War, Daleks developed personal force fields that could melt bullets in mid-air (Dalek).
G is for Gunstick – Feared throughout the universe, the Daleks’ personal weapon was a focused energy beam. The gun had various settings. While it obviously killed, the weapon could also paralyse its victim’s legs. Hit once and your legs would eventually recover. Hit twice and the effect would be permanent (The Daleks). At the other end of the scale, three Daleks using maximum extermination settings could easily blow up a terraced house (The Stolen Earth).
H is for Hatred – The Doctor once described the Dalek mutants as a ‘living, bubbling lump of hate’ (Death to the Daleks). He later discovered that Daleks considered pure hatred to be a thing of beauty (Asylum of the Daleks).
I is for Incendiary Bombs – During the revolt of 2167, Dalek Supreme Command gave authorisation for the destruction of London with firebombs (The Dalek Invasion of Earth).
J is for the letter J – The letter J is forbidden in the Dalek language. To precede a word with the letter is considered a great insult! (At least, according to Terry Nation’s 1964 Dalek Book.)
K is for Kaleds – The race that Davros mutated into the Daleks (Genesis of the Daleks). Strangely, when the Doctor first encountered the Daleks, he was told that their original race was known as Dals (The Daleks).
L is for Last Great Time war – The conflict sparked by the Time Lords’ attempt to prevent the creation of the Daleks on Skaro. It was brought to an end by the Doctor, at the cost of both races. But for the Daleks, this was not the end…