The Evil of the Daleks is the mostly-missing ninth and final serial of the fourth season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in seven weekly parts from 20 May to 1 July 1967.
In this serial, the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his travelling companion Jamie (Frazer Hines), shortly after losing the TARDIS, are transported to 1866, where the Daleks force the Doctor to help them in their latest plot to implement the human factor into Dalek brains in order to 'humanise' themselves into even deadlier living weapons.
In 1993, readers of DreamWatch Bulletin voted The Evil of the Daleks as the best ever Doctor Who story in a special poll for the series' thirtieth anniversary.
Waterfield is being coerced by the Daleks, who appear in a secret room of his shop through a time machine, and exterminate his mutinous employee Kennedy.
Investigating the store, the Doctor and Jamie succumb to a booby trap that gasses them, and are dragged into the time machine by Waterfield.
The Doctor is strangely cooperative with the Daleks, manipulating Jamie into the rescue mission but not telling him of the nature of the test.
Waterfield discovers that Maxtible has betrayed them all to the Daleks, hoping that he will be able to learn the alchemical secret of transmuting base metals into gold.
Maxtible travels to Skaro through the mirror cabinet and discovers just how ruthless the Daleks are and how empty their promises can be; he is tortured for his failure to bring the Doctor to them.
While the Doctor and his companions escape, Maxtible rushes back into the exploding city, screaming of the everlasting glory of the Dalek race.
Jamie, Victoria and the Doctor watch the Dalek City in flames from the top of a hill as the civil war continues.
[4] According to the short BBC Video documentary The Dalek Factor about the making of the story, released in September 2021 as part of the animated restoration of the serial, Denise Buckley was cast in the role of Victoria Waterfield by director Derek Martinus.
When Collins confirmed she did not want to join the regular cast, it was decided to introduce Victoria as the new companion and Denise Buckley was released, but paid in full, with Deborah Watling replacing her as a more suitable actress for the ongoing role.
The discovery of a behind-the-scenes film, The Last Dalek, made by the special effects team as they worked on the story's conclusion, facilitated a recreation of the climactic battle scenes.
This recreation, along with the entire film, have been made available in different forms on various Troughton releases, and has often been used to fill in for the missing climax of Episode 7 in fan-made reconstructions, to give fans an idea of what it looked like when it first aired.
In addition, tele-snaps and off-air audio recordings made by fans upon the original broadcasts exist for the entire story.
[6] Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping gave the serial a positive review in The Discontinuity Guide (1995), describing it as "a grandiose production which papers over its scientifically implausible aspects with a confident swagger.
"[14] In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker noted how The Evil of the Daleks paid tribute to the series' past, and praised Whitaker's writing and the production values.
[15] In 2009, Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times awarded it five stars out of five and wrote that the story "boasts an intriguing mystery, well-drawn characters, atmospheric settings and thrilling set-pieces", though it did have an "overly elaborate" plot.
[20] It was the last serial of the original series to be novelised as part of Target's Doctor Who Library, due to copyright clearance difficulties from the Daleks' creator Terry Nation.
[24] To promote the vinyl release, an exclusive EP of the CD's bonus tracks was bundled with the "Deluxe Edition" of Doctor Who Magazine issue 539.