by Billy Seguire

Obverse Books, out now

Obverse Books’ ongoing series of monographs focusing on a Doctor Who serial or story hits 2005’s Series 1 episode Dalek.

Billy Seguire starts his analysis of the popular episode that introduced the Daleks to 21st Century audiences with a lovely quote from its writer, Robert Shearman, observing that some bits ‘…could no doubt be picked to pieces very smugly by a future writer with a hangover if he were in the mood.’ I’m glad to say that Seguire comes across as neither smug nor hungover, offering a detailed and balanced look at the 45 minutes.

Among the themes and topics he tackles, he looks at the power of names and how Henry van Statten uses them as a control mechanism, as well as how the story set the template for individually-named Daleks in future stories. The use of museums is considered, contrasted with exhibitions, and how showrunners Moffat and Davies took different approaches to these repositories of the past.

The transformation from Shearman’s Big Finish audio Jubilee to his final version of Dalek is examined through analysis of the different drafts of the script, including the drolly titled ‘Absence of the Daleks’ from the time when the use of Terry Nation’s creations was in dispute and the Toclafane were planned replacements.

Seguire Includes references to Shearman’s Target novelisation of the episode, and unpacks the issues of torture and suicide – tricky subjects for a primetime family show. The lengthy, 30-page Skype interview with Shearman from May 20 is a great read too, the author as ever being eloquent and informative. And as a final bonus, there’s a link to an online-only chapter about the in-universe website built for GeoComTex, and The Last Dalek Flash game.

Verdict: An easy-to-follow look at Dalek that is just as content spending time on how it was created than what themes it contains. 7/10

Nick Joy

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