Demon Records, out now

The Daleks threaten to destroy the fabric of time itself by wielding the devastating Time Destructor. But the Doctor leads the metal meanies on a chase across space when he steals a vital component of the deadly device.

If you’re going to buy Demon Records’ LP boxset of The Daleks’ Master Plan you’d better have a large space in your record shelving, as this is quite the beast. The release contains seven discs, six for the main story (one episode per side) and one single-sided pressing for the prelude episode Mission to the Unknown.

The original story was shown from October 1965 to January 1966 and all but three episodes were lost when so many of the 60s tapes were wiped. Luckily, good quality off-air recordings were made at the time of transmission, and they’ve been cleaned up and had linking narration added by Peter Purves, who played Steven in the story.

Purists can argue whether or not the narration is intrusive (I certainly appreciate hearing what on-screen action I can’t ascertain from audio alone) but having Purves at the mic does at least make it feel authentic. There’s something of a novelty in having to put each episode individually on the record deck, and collectors can opt for ‘splatter effect’ orange as an Amazon exclusive or blue for the regular release. Both versions are heavyweight 180g translucent vinyl, as is standard spec for collectors discs today.

Verdict: This formidable, weighty, multi-disc set is probably being picked up by most collectors simply because they wish they’d had it in their childhood. Or maybe it’s because only three film episodes exist, that this is the closest we’ll get to a deluxe release? The story itself is of course wildly overlong and variable in quality as it lurches from peril to peril – and we love it all the same. 9/10

Nick Joy