Episodes Cutaway - The Evil of the Daleks Repeat

The Wheel in Space brought Season 5 to a close, with The Dominators and The Mind Robber being held over to begin the sixth season. 

In order to fill the schedules whilst the programme was on its summer break, Peter Bryant arranged to repeat a Doctor Who story. This was only the second time in its history that fans were given the opportunity to rewatch any episodes - the first time being when An Unearthly Child was broadcast again the week after its debut, immediately before The Cave of Skulls, due to the real life drama of the JFK assassination and a major regional power outage.

The British summer is known for two things - Wimbledon and rain (usually at the same time) - so there were nine Saturday evening slots in total to be filled, which included a two week break for the annual tennis tournament. 

As Season 5 had been the first not to include a Dalek story, and there was a recent seven part story featuring them available, The Evil of the Daleks became the natural choice.

Rather than simply broadcast this story as an out of context repeat screening, it was decided to link it in with the ongoing narrative of the Doctor's travels. After finding new companion Zoe trying to stowaway aboard the TARDIS at the conclusion of The Wheel in Space, the Doctor would recount one of his earlier adventures in order to let her know what travelling in the TARDIS might entail if she persisted with her decision to join them:

Zoe: "I want to go with you"

Jamie: "Well, it's impossible"

The Doctor: "Now Jamie, it's not impossible. It's something we have to decide. You may change your mind"

Zoe: "No I won't"

(The Doctor removes a headset from behind one of the TARDIS roundels).

Jamie: "What are you going to do?"

The Doctor: "I'm going to show Zoe the sort of thing she may be in for"

Zoe: "Thought patterns?"

The Doctor: "Yes. Only I'm going to weave them into a complete story for you. Have you ever heard of the Daleks?"

Zoe: "No"

The Doctor: "Then watch..."

On the TARDIS scanner we then see the cliffhanger sequence from the end of the opening episode of The Evil of the Daleks. In this Kennedy is rifling the contents of Edward Waterfield's safe, unaware that a Dalek has just materialised behind him. He notices too late and tries to flee - only to be exterminated. 

This is from Episode One and not the surviving second instalment which reprises this sequence, as - according to DWM - there are a few frames which don't feature in the latter.

This particular clip was chosen purely because it marks the first sighting of a Dalek in the opening episode, and we - and Zoe - get to see it in action.

Clearance to use the clip was obtained on Thursday 4th April, after the decision to repeat the story had been finalised the week before.

To further tie-in the repeat screening with the ongoing series, Patrick Troughton and Wendy Padbury recorded some special dialogue on Friday 31st May, during the recording of the third episode of The Dominators. This was then played over the opening scene of the first episode:

The Doctor: "Now as I remember Zoe, it all started when Jamie and I discovered someone making off with the TARDIS"

Zoe: "But what about those Daleks you showed me?"

The Doctor: "Coming to that Zoe. Just let me show you the story from the beginning..."

Linking the repeat further, the Doctor would later comment on how exhausting it was to project the mental images when he and his companions emerge from the TARDIS onto the surface of the planet Dulkis in The Dominators...

Data:

All episodes went out at 5.15pm.

Episode 1: Saturday 8th June 1968 (6.3 million / AI 50)

Episode 2: Saturday 15th June 1968 (5 million / AI 52)

Episode 3: Saturday 22nd June 1968 (6.3 million / AI 51)

Episode 4: Saturday 13th July 1968 (5 million / AI 49)

Episode 5: Saturday 20th July 1968 (5.1 million / AI 50)

Episode 6: Saturday 27th July 1968 (4.2 million / AI 51)

Episode 7: Saturday 3rd August 1968 (5.5 million / AI 49)

Trivia:

• The repeat screening of the third episode had a higher audience viewing figure than that for its original broadcast (6.1 million).
• This particular episode was hit with a technical fault, during a scene between Jamie and Mollie as she told him about the closed-off wing of Maxtible's house. Viewers were treated to a bit of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, playing A Banda.
• Apart from brief cameos in The War Games and The Mind of Evil, this would be the last appearance of the Daleks on TV within the context of the series until their return, in colour, in January 1972 with Day of the Daleks.
• Radio Times publicised the repeat with a full colour backpage spread in the issue dated 8 - 14th June:

• The listing for the opening episode featured artwork by Victor Reinganum, whilst that for the third instalment included a photograph of guest actor Marius Goring as Theodore Maxtible. The summary mistakenly claims the Doctor and Jamie to be in Victorian London:

• The repeat got its own novelisation from Target, written by Frazer Hines, in October 2023. It was also given away free, with new artwork, with DWM 609. Though credited to Hines, the inside reveals that he collaborated with Mike Tucker and Steve Cole. There was also an audiobook, read by Hines, which used the same Lee Binding artwork as the 2023 novelisation.