Season 12, Episode 4 | 6 parts | First broadcast: 8 March – 12 April 1975 | Writer: Terry Nation | Director: David Maloney
Cast
- Tom Baker as the Doctor
- Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith
- Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan
- Michael Wisher as Davros
- Peter Miles as Nyder
Summary
Intercepted by the Time Lords and sent to Skaro at the moment of the Daleks’ creation, the Doctor is tasked with averting their birth entirely or at least altering their development to make them less dangerous. Arriving amid a devastating war between the Kaled and Thal peoples, the Doctor encounters Davros, the brilliant and ruthless Kaled scientist engineering the Daleks as the ultimate weapon and life form. Forced to work alongside the very creatures he has come to destroy, the Doctor faces an agonising moral question: does he have the right to commit genocide, even against evil not yet fully unleashed?
Interesting Facts
- This serial introduces Davros, who would go on to become one of the show’s most iconic and enduring villains.
- The Doctor’s anguished line “Do I have the right?” is frequently cited as one of the most quoted and philosophically significant moments in the show’s history.
- Michael Wisher’s performance as Davros, delivered under extensive prosthetic makeup, is widely regarded as a benchmark for the role despite his never reprising it on screen.
- It is consistently ranked by fans and critics alike as one of the greatest Doctor Who stories ever produced, Dalek or otherwise.
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