The latest release in the Black Archive series from Obverse Books rewinds to the earliest days of Doctor Who, with a fascinating examination of The Daleks, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) classic that was also, remarkably, the second ever Who serial.
The Black Archive is an ongoing series of monographs about Doctor Who stories, and The Daleks is the earliest instalment so far, just trumping Simon Guerrier’s exceptional analysis of The Edge of Destruction.
Here’s the Archive blurb for The Daleks, written by Oliver Wake:
After the neutronic war, our Dalek forefathers retired into the city, protected by our machines.’
The second Doctor Who serial, The Daleks (1963-64), establishes both the principle that the Doctor fights alien monsters and the most iconic of those he fights.
Oliver Wake looks at its influences, from HG Wells’ The Time Machine through Nazi eugenics to the movies of the atomic era, and at how Terry Nation’s script was translated through sound and visual design into perhaps the most important Doctor Who story of all.
It’s easy to forget just how vital The Daleks is to the history of Doctor Who; and to its future, considering its success likely meant the show stayed on TV even when comparatively few people believed in it. So this Black Archive promises to be really eye-opening.
The Black Archive #82: The Daleks is available directly from Obverse Books. And you can get a 10% discount until the end of April 2026 using the code tenyearanniversary — yes, celebrating a whole decade of the range!
