Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks

The Power of the Daleks is the completely missing third serial of the fourth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 5 November to 10 December 1966. Written by David Whittaker and Dennis Spooner and directed by Christopher Barry, it is notably the first story to star a new actor in the lead role of the Doctor—namely, Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, who succeeded original actor William Hartnell. In this serial, the new Doctor (Troughton) and his travelling companions Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben (Michael Craze) arrive at an Earth colony on the planet Vulcan. The colony's scientist, Lesterson (Robert James), is experimenting on Daleks recently discovered in a capsule under Vulcan's surface. The Daleks feign loyalty to the colony, but secretly plan to conquer and destroy the humans. Due to Hartnell's ill health and conflict with the production team, the Doctor's ability to regenerate was written into the series to allow the character to be recast. Troughton and the production team reinterpreted the Doctor as a "cosmic hobo" rather than copy Hartnell's performance. To mitigate potential negative reaction to the recasting, the producers centred Troughton's debut serial on the popular recurring antagonists, the Daleks. The Power of the Daleks was the first Dalek serial not written by their creator Terry Nation due to his commitments on The Baron. The Power of the Daleks received mixed reception upon its initial broadcast, but retrospective reviews consider it one of the best Dalek stories and among the greatest Doctor Who stories of the 1960s. Although the audio soundtrack, tele-snaps and clips of the serial exist, no full episodes survive due to the BBC's former archival policy. In 2016, an animated reconstruction of The Power of the Daleks was released to coincide with the serial's fiftieth anniversary, with an updated "special edition" following in 2020 with improved animation.