A huge, carnivorous creature, native to Skaro, brimming with tentacles and claws. Transported to Earth to guard mines in the South of England during the 22nd-century occupation. A favourite of the Dalek Supreme. Weaknesses: If it catches you, it will eat you. Unfortunately for the Daleks (but fortunately for its prey) it moves very, very slowly.
Perfect copies of humans, created by biological or mechanical means, designed to infiltrate and kill.
Weaknesses: Dalek conditioning is a bit hit and miss. Annoying human memories and conscience have a habit of bubbling to the surface.
Prick yourself on a Varga plant and you’ll transform into a homicidal half-animal, half-vegetable plant. Originally only found on Skaro, the Daleks transplanted them to act as sentries on some of their occupied worlds.
Weaknesses: Almost as slow as a Slyther. Easy to dodge.
Hulking ape-like bipeds of limited intelligence. Violent, but thick-witted, Ogrons make excellent heavies.
Weaknesses: Almost as thick as Robomen. Phobia of the flesh-eating, blobby monsters that roam their home planet.
Genetically spliced human-porcine hybrids, created by the Cult of Skaro from New Yorkers of low intelligence (and, presumably, pigs). Can slit a human’s throat with their bare teeth.
Weaknesses: Only have a life expectancy of a few weeks.
Robomen 2.0. Humans wiped of their memories and converted into Dalek infiltrators by exposure to genetic altering nanoclouds. Have mini-Dalek eyepieces hidden in their foreheads and Dalek guns in their palms. Weaknesses: Same as for any human, except they can’t be killed as they are already dead.
THE ONLY DALEKS WITH NAMES
‘You can talk to me, Dalek Sec. It is Dalek Sec, isn’t it? That’s your name? You’ve got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you’re thinking right now.’
The Doctor, Evolution of the Daleks
Alpha – A Dalek given the Human Factor on the instructions of the Dalek Emperor. Named by the Doctor
Beta – Another Dalek altered by the Human Factor
Dalek Caan – Member of the Cult of Skaro and, at one point, the last Dalek in the universe. Driven mad by flying unprotected through the Time War. Able to predict the future. Aka the Abomination
Dalek Jast – A member of the Cult of Skaro
Dalek Sec – The leader of the Cult of Skaro. Became the first of a new breed of human-Dalek hybrids
Arthur Stengos – An agronomist friend of the Doctor converted into a Dalek by Davros on Necros
Dalek Thay – A member of the Cult of Skaro
Omega – The Doctor’s third Human Factor-changed Dalek
Oswin Oswald – A starliner Junior Entertainment Manager converted into a Dalek. Liked soufflés. There was something about this one…
DALEK OPERATORS
‘Do you think there’s someone inside them?’ asks Barbara in The Daleks. Yes, indeed there is Miss Wright, but who has crammed themselves into a Dalek the most times?
VOICES OF THE DALEKS
FAMILIAR VOICES
Dalek voice artists also turn up where you least expect them:
Peter Hawkins was the voice of Zippy in the first year of the children’s TV series, Rainbow and provided all the voices for Captain Pugwash. He also created Bill and Ben’s idiosyncratic language, was the voice of the Martian robots in the 1970s ‘For mash get Smash adverts’ and even recorded a voice track for Gromit of Wallace and Gromit fame before it was decided that the plasticine mutt would remain mute. He also joined fellow Dalek voice artist David Graham in supplying vocals for the big-screen adaptations Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.
David Graham was the voice of Brains and Gordon Tracy in Thunderbirds. As well as providing the grating voice of the Daleks in the two Peter Cushing films, he also turned up in Doctor Who as Charlie in The Gunfighters and Professor Fyodor Nikolai Kerensky in City of Death. He has most recently been heard as the voices of Grandpa Pig in Peppa Pig and the Wise Old Elf in Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom.
Roy Skelton took over as the voice of Rainbow’s Zippy in 1973, a role he would play for over 900 episodes, as well as various cameo appearances in other programmes including the BBC’s Ashes to Ashes. He played other roles in Doctor Who, including the invisible Spiridon Wester in Planet of the Daleks, and more visible roles in Colony in Space and The Green Death. His last Doctor Who Dalek appearance was in the 1999 Comic Relief spoof, The Curse of Fatal Death.
Brian Miller was the husband of Elisabeth Sladen and appeared with her in The Sarah Jane Adventures story The Mad Woman in the Attic. He also appeared on screen in Doctor Who as Dugdale in Snakedance.
DALEK VARIANTS
DALEK SUPREME
The Dalek Supreme was often a ‘normal’ Dalek painted predominantly black to indicate its rank and status. But there have been other designs which differ more from the standard Daleks:
Version One (Planet of the Daleks)
Taller than standard configuration Daleks
Gold and black livery with larger base section
Larger dome lights
Eyestalk lights up
Version 2 (The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End)
Deeper voice (much like the Emperor)
Red and gold livery
Gold restraining bars on upper grilling
SPECIAL WEAPONS DALEKS (Remembrance of the Daleks)
Designed for heavy combat
White and gold livery
Heavily armoured torso section, no eyestalk
One large centrally mounted energy cannon
EMPEROR DALEK
Version 1 (The Evil of the Daleks)
Immobile and fed by nutrient pipes
Much taller than standard Daleks