Broadcast and Reception
Arguably the most famous of the 1960s Doctor Who serials, The Daleks was one of the Doctor Who serials slated for destruction by the BBC in the 1970s. However, in 1978, Ian Levine came across them at BBC Enterprises just hours before all remaining copies of the story were to be destroyed and managed to save them.
In 1999 during a BBC2 themed evening, "Doctor Who Night" (13 November 1999) hosted by Tom Baker, a special edit of episode 7 'The Rescue' was broadcast which included 5 minutes of footage from episode 6, not only that but due to a mistake when mastering a short section of episode 7 was omitted. The serial was most recently broadcast in the UK on BBC Four, as part of a celebration of the life and work of producer Verity Lambert. It was shown in three blocks from 5 April to 9 April 2008.
Christopher Bahn of The A.V. Club wrote that The Daleks is "quite solid, full of well-paced action and some interestingly subtle characterizations, though it definitely begins to drag around the fifth episode, with a long trek through swamps and caverns that moves the plot forward by about an inch". Radio Times reviewer Patrick Mulkern praised the strength of Nation's script, especially the first three cliffhangers. However, he felt that "the urgency and claustrophobia dissipate towards the end", with the final battle being a "a disappointingly limp affair". DVD Talk's John Sinnott, despite noting that "there are a few parts that drag just a bit", commended the script for holding tension unlike in An Unearthly Child and allowing the characters to develop. Sinnott also commented that the serial made the Daleks scary despite what they would become later. In 2010, Charlie Jane Anders of io9 listed the cliffhanger of the first episode among the show's greatest cliffhangers.
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