The Daleks first invaded our television screens way back in 1963 and sent countless numbers of children (and their parents) quaking behind their sofas in fear.
With their menacing robotic exteriors and fearsome war cries of EXTERMINATE, the Daleks quickly became a popular addition to the long-running sci-fi series Doctor Who.
Created by Terry Nation and designed by Raymond Cusick, these malevolent monsters have encountered every incarnation of the Doctor so far. In this article, we list all of their TV appearances on Doctor Who in order of release date.
If you’re a fan of Time Lord’s most famous villains, let us know your favourite Dalek story in the comments below.
The Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 21 December 1963
The Doctor: William Hartnell
Companions: Susan, Barbara, Ian
Synopsis:
The Tardis lands in an alien, petrified jungle, beyond which lies a mysterious, deserted city. The Doctor insists on exploring, but before long the Tardis crew all begin experiencing the early effects of radiation sickness. And then they discover that the metal city isn’t as deserted as they first thought… (source)
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
UK Broadcast Date: 21 November 1964
The Doctor: William Hartnell
Companions: Susan, Barbara, Ian
Synopsis:
The TARDIS materialises beside the River Thames in the year 2167. The world to which they emerge, however, is eerily silent and signs of decay are rife. They soon discover that the streets are patrolled by zombie-like humans, flying saucer-like craft occupy the skies and that desperate rebels are hiding below ground in the disused Underground system. But worse is still to come!
The Daleks, thought destroyed by the Doctor, have invaded and enslaved humanity, having first bombarded it with cosmic storms. Why have the Daleks chosen Earth in particular? What is the significance of the giant mine in Bedfordshire to which they are shipping human slaves? And can the Doctor unite with the small band of resistance fighters to stop the Daleks before their plans wreck havoc with the Earth forever? (source)
The Chase
UK Broadcast Date: 22 May 1965
The Doctor: William Hartnell
Companions: Barbara, Ian, Steven, Vicki
Synopsis:
The travellers are forced to flee in the TARDIS when they learn from the Time/Space Visualiser taken from the Moroks’ museum that a group of Daleks equipped with their own time machine are on their trail with orders to exterminate them. (source)
Mission to the Unknown
UK Broadcast Date: 9 October 1965
The Doctor: N/A
Companions: N/A
Synopsis:
Stranded in the jungles of Kembel, the most hostile planet in the Galaxy, Space Security agent Marc Cory has stumbled across the most deadly plot ever hatched – the Daleks are about to invade and destroy the Universe. Cory has to get a warning back to Earth before it’s too late – but the Daleks find him first. (source)
The Daleks’ Master Plan
UK Broadcast Date: 13 November 1965
The Doctor: William Hartnell
Companions: Steven, Katarina
Synopsis:
In their quest to gain control of the Solar System, the Daleks have taken possession of the Time Destructor, a weapon which threatens the safety of all who stand in their way. As they head up an alliance of alien races bent on destroying the human race, in their midst is none other than the treacherous Guardian of the Solar System, Mavic Chen.
A dangerous chase ensues across volcanos, jungles, deserts and futuristic cities, as the Doctor and his companions struggle to prevent the Daleks’ plans coming to fruition. The stakes are high, and for the first time in the programme’s history the lives of two TARDIS travellers are lost… (source)
The Power of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 5 November 1966
The Doctor: Patrick Troughton
Companions: Ben, Polly
Synopsis:
Landing on the planet Vulcan in 2020AD the Doctor, Polly and Ben are horrified to find two inanimate Daleks. They are even more alarmed when they discover that the colonists plan to reactivate the Daleks and use them as their slaves. (source)
The Evil of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 20 May 1967
The Doctor: Patrick Troughton
Companions: Jamie, Victoria
Synopsis:
The TARDIS has been stolen from Gatwick Airport, and the Doctor and Jamie are hot on its trail. A series of cryptic clues lead them to an antiques shop owned by Edward Waterfield, and there it becomes clear that an elaborate trap has been laid for them – but by whom, and for what purpose? Only a journey back in time to the 1860s will reveal the answer…
The Daleks are in search of the Human Factor, something which they believe will help their quest for universal domination. In order to achieve their aim they need the Doctor’s help – and the use of his TARDIS. (source)
Day of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 1 January 1972
The Doctor: Jon Pertwee
Companions: Jo, Lethbridge-Stewart, Benton, Mike Yates
Synopsis:
UNIT is called in when an important diplomat is attacked in his own home – by a man who then vanishes into thin air. The Doctor and Jo spend a night in the ‘haunted’ house and meet the attackers – who have time-jumped back from the 22nd century in the hope of changing history.
Travelling forward in time, the Doctor and Jo find themselves trapped in a future world where humans are slaves and the Daleks have already invaded. Using their ape-like servants to Ogrons to maintain order, the Daleks are now the masters of Earth. As the Doctor desperately works to discover what has happened to put history off-track, the Daleks plan a time-jump attack on the 20th century. (source)
Frontier in Space
UK Broadcast Date: 24 February 1973
The Doctor: Jon Pertwee
Companions: Jo
Synopsis:
When the TARDIS accidentally brings the Doctor and Jo aboard Earth cargo ship C982, they find it under attack. The crew perceive the Doctor, Jo and the attackers as Draconians, whose empire currently rivals Earth’s for control of the galaxy. But the Doctor and Jo see only Ogrons – brutish, simian mercenaries who steal the cargo, including the TARDIS, and head off into space.
The Doctor’s investigations take him to Earth, the Moon and then to Draconia itself. He discovers that the Ogrons are employed by his sworn enemy, the Master, who is attempting to provoke a war between the space empires. The Doctor suspects the scale of the plan is too grand for the Master, but even he is shocked to discover the identity of the far deadlier foe waiting in the wings… (source)
Planet of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 7 April 1973
The Doctor: Jon Pertwee
Companions: Jo
Synopsis:
Injured after a shoot-out between his old nemesis the Master and the Ogrons, slaves to the evil Daleks, the Doctor sends a message to the Time Lords, asking them to pilot his TARDIS and follow the Daleks to their new base. After he slips into a coma, it falls to his assistant Jo Grant to explore the planet where the TARDIS finally materialises. She meets a party of Thals and is left in hiding aboard their crashed spaceship while they go to the Doctor’s aid. On his recovery, the Doctor learns of their mission to destroy a party of Daleks sent here to discover the native Spiridons’ secret of invisibility.
Not only must the Doctor contend with the Daleks’ new scheme, but he must try to stop them unleashing a plague that will exterminate all organic life. When a rescue ship of Thals arrive, they bring with them darker news still – somewhere on Spiridon 12,000 Daleks are waiting to emerge and take what they believe is their rightful place as the Universe’s supreme beings! (source)
Death to the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 23 February 1974
The Doctor: Jon Pertwee
Companions: Sarah-Jane
Synopsis:
A power failure in the TARDIS draws it off course, and the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith end up stranded on the bleak planet of Exxilon. They soon meet members of an Earth expedition in a similar situation. The humans are searching for a rare mineral, but first they must find out what is draining their power and avoid what’s inside another grounded spaceship – the Doctor’s oldest enemies, the Daleks… (source)
Genesis of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 8 March 1975
The Doctor: Tom Baker
Companions: Sarah-Jane, Harry
Synopsis:
The Doctor and his companions are transported back in time by the Time Lords who have decided that the Daleks need to be destroyed. The Doctor’s mission is to change history so that they have never existed. Soon they are separated and The Doctor and Harry are captured by the evil Elite of the mad scientist Davros, who is working to perfect his Mark 3 travel machine: the Dalek. (source)
Destiny of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 1 September 1979
The Doctor: Tom Baker
Companions: Romana II, K-9 II
Synopsis:
The Doctor and the newly-regenerated Romana land on a strangely familiar planet and investigate the drilling that is going on there. The Daleks are searching for their creator, Davros, in the hope that he can assist them in their war with the Movellans. The Doctor has to reach the evil Kaled scientist before the Daleks, but just who can he trust? (source)
The Five Doctors
UK Broadcast Date: 23 November 1983
The Doctor: Richard Hurndall, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison
Companions: Tegan, Turlough, Susan, Sarah, Brigadier, Romana, Jamie, Zoe, K9, Liz
Synopsis:
The Doctor’s past incarnations are being snatched out of time and transported to the Death Zone on Gallifrey, where they are reunited with some old friends and pitted against their deadliest enemies in the Game of Rassilon. Someone is manipulating the Doctor and his companions in order to claim the most ancient and powerful secret of the Time Lords… but can they survive the challenges and uncover the traitor before it is too late? (source)
Resurrection of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 8 February 1984
The Doctor: Peter Davison
Companions: Tegan, Turlough
Synopsis:
The TARDIS materialises in present-day London within sight of Tower Bridge. Investigating some nearby warehouses, the travellers stumble into a trap that the Daleks have set for them… (source)
Revelation of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 23 March 1986
The Doctor: Colin Baker
Companions: Peri
Synopsis:
The Doctor and Peri arrive on Necros to attend the funeral of an old friend of the Doctor who has recently died. However, Tranquil Repose is not all it seems and an attempt is made on the Doctor’s life. Soon the Doctor comes face to face with the Great Healer, only to discover it is none other than Davros, the creator of the Daleks, intent on rebuilding the Dalek race decimated by the Movellans. (source)
Remembrance of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 5 October 1988
The Doctor: Sylvester McCoy
Companions: Ace
Synopsis:
London, 1963, and the Doctor returns to Coal Hill School with his new companion Ace, where he has unfinished business. His oldest foes, the Daleks, are on the trail of Time Lord technology – an artefact the Doctor himself left behind on Earth. Enlisting the assistance of the local military, the Doctor must protect the Gallifreyan secret of time travel as two opposing Dalek factions meet in an explosive confrontation, with the fate of the entire Universe at stake! (source)
Dalek
UK Broadcast Date: 30 April 2005
The Doctor: Christopher Eccleston
Companions: Rose, Adam
Synopsis:
Beneath the Salt Plains of Utah, billionaire collector Henry Van Statten holds the last relic of an alien race. When The Doctor and Rose investigate, they discover that The Doctor’s oldest, and most deadly, enemy is about to break free… (source)
Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways
UK Broadcast Date: 11 June 2005/ 18 June 2005
The Doctor: David Tennant
Companions: Rose, Mickey, Jack
Synopsis:
Episode 1
The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack have to fight for their lives on board the Game Station, but a far more dangerous threat is lurking, just out of sight. The Doctor realises that the entire human race has been blinded to the threat on its doorstep, and Armageddon is fast approaching. (source)
Episode 2
As the Daleks attack the Game Station led by their Emperor, the Ninth Doctor finds himself helpless. He knows he must make big sacrifices if he is going to survive. But does this mean losing his beloved Rose Tyler forever?
With Jack Harkness assembling an army together and the Doctor powerless against the Dalek Emperor, a deadly net closes around the whole universe. One thing is for certain, not everyone will make it out of this deadly battle alive. But who or what is Bad Wolf? It’s time for the Doctor and Rose to find out. (source)
Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
UK Broadcast Date: 1 July 2006/ 8 July 2006
The Doctor: David Tennant
Companions: Rose, Mickey
Synopsis:
Episode 1
The human race rejoices as the ghosts of loved ones return home in the latest adventure from the nation’s favourite time traveller. But as the Doctor, Rose and Jackie investigate the Torchwood Tower, the whole of modern-day Earth threatens to fall to an almighty invasion force. (source)
Episode 2
A secret order of Daleks emerge and the Cybermen from Pete’s World make their way to Torchwood Tower. As the two deadly forces fight over Earth, the Tenth Doctor realises that in order to stop the threat, sacrifices will be made. (source)
Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 21 April 2007/ 28 April 2007
The Doctor: David Tennant
Companions: Martha
Synopsis:
Episode 1
It’s Thirties New York and, in the midst of the Depression, people are disappearing off the streets, as Russell T Davies’s Doctor Who continues. Savage Pig Men hide in the sewers and, at the very top of the Empire State Building, the Doctor’s oldest enemies are at work, preparing their most audacious plan yet. (source)
Episode 2
As a new Dalek Empire rises in 1930s New York City, the Tenth Doctor receives help from an unlikely ally. (source)
The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End
UK Broadcast Date: 28 June 2008/ 5 July 2008
The Doctor: David Tennant
Companions: Donna, Rose, Martha, Jack, Sarah-Jane, K9 IV
Synopsis:
Episode 1
Earth’s greatest heroes assemble in a time of dire need. Can the Doctor’s secret army defeat the might of the new Dalek Empire? With battles on the streets and in the skies, the Doctor and Donna must brave the Shadow Proclamation to find out the truth. However, a fearsome old enemy waits in the shadows…(source)
Episode 2
All hell has broken loose! Humanity is threatened with global annihilation, as Davros and the New Dalek Empire prepare to detonate a bomb that will wipe out all of existence. The Tenth Doctor is helpless, and the TARDIS faces destruction. The only hope lies with the Doctor’s companions — the “Children of Time” — but Dalek Caan predicts that one will die… (source)
Victory of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 17 April 2010
The Doctor: Matt Smith
Companions: Amy
Synopsis:
The Doctor has been summoned by an old friend, but in the Cabinet War Rooms far below the streets of blitz-torn London, it’s his oldest enemy he finds waiting for him, as the time-travelling adventures continue. The Daleks are back – but can Winston Churchill be in league with them? (source)
The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang
UK Broadcast Date: 19 June 2010/ 26 June 2010
The Doctor: Matt Smith
Companions: Amy, Rory, River Song
Synopsis:
Episode 1
A Van Gogh painting ferried across thousands of years offering a terrifying prophecy, a message on the oldest cliff-face in the universe and a love that lasts a thousand years: in 102 AD England, Romans receive a surprise visit from Cleopatra. Nearby, Stonehenge hides a legendary prison-box. As it slowly unlocks from the inside, terrible forces gather in the heavens. The fates are closing around the TARDIS. The Pandorica, which contains the most dangerous threat in the Universe, is opening. Only one thing is certain: “The Pandorica will open… Silence will fall”. (source)
Episode 2
The Alliance has trapped the Eleventh Doctor in the Pandorica, the TARDIS has exploded with River inside, Rory has shot Amy and the cracks have swallowed everything but the Earth and Moon.
The fate of all existence lies in the hands of a little girl who still believes in stars. (source)
Asylum of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 1 September 2012
The Doctor: Matt Smith
Companions: Amy, Rory
Synopsis:
Matt Smith returns as the oldest time-traveller in the universe. The Time Lord, Amy and Rory are kidnapped by their oldest foe the Daleks and forced on a seemingly impossible mission – to enter the Asylum, a planetary prison confining the most terrifying and insane of the deadly aliens’ kind.
They need an escape route, and fast – but with an army of mad Daleks closing in, and the Ponds’ relationship in meltdown, it is up to the Doctor to save not only their lives but his friends’ marriage. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill co-star. (source)
The Day of the Doctor
UK Broadcast Date: 23 November 2013
The Doctor: Matt Smith, David Tennant, John Hurt
Companions: Clara
Synopsis:
The Doctors embark on their greatest adventure in this 50th anniversary special. In 2013, something terrible is awakening in London’s National Gallery; in 1562, a murderous plot is afoot in Elizabethan England; and somewhere in space an ancient battle reaches its devastating conclusion. All of reality is at stake as the Doctor’s own dangerous past comes back to haunt him. (source)
The Time of the Doctor
UK Broadcast Date: 25 December 2013
The Doctor: Matt Smith
Companions: Clara
Synopsis:
Orbiting a quiet backwater planet, the massed forces of the universe’s deadliest species gather, drawn to a mysterious message that echoes out to the stars. And amongst them, the Doctor.
Rescuing Clara from a family Christmas dinner, the Time Lord and his best friend must learn what this enigmatic signal means for his own fate and that of the universe. (source)
Into The Dalek
UK Broadcast Date: 30 August 2014
The Doctor: Peter Capaldi
Companions: Clara
Synopsis:
A Dalek fleet surrounds a lone rebel ship, and only the Doctor can help them now… with the Doctor facing his greatest enemy, he needs Clara by his side.
Confronted with a decision that could change the Daleks forever he is forced to examine his conscience. Will he find the answer to the question, am I a good man? (source)
The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar
UK Broadcast Date: 19 September 2015/ 26 September 2015
The Doctor: Peter Capaldi
Companions: Clara
Synopsis:
Episode 1
Where is the Doctor? When the skies of Earth are frozen by a mysterious alien force, Clara needs her friend. But where is the Doctor, and what is he hiding from?
As past deeds come back to haunt him, old enemies will come face-to-face, and for the Doctor and Clara survival seems impossible… (source)
Episode 2
The Doctor is trapped in the place that is the nightmare of all Time Lords: Skaro, the home planet of the Daleks. Forced to keep Davros company, the Doctor will be tempted by the dying madman to trying to do something for the greater good of the universe; however, is this really what Davros had intended, or does he have something else up his sleeve?
Elsewhere, the Doctor’s best friend and Clara Oswald are figuring out how to rescue him. (source)
Resolution
UK Broadcast Date: 1 January 2021
The Doctor: Jodie Whittaker
Companions: Graham, Ryan, Yasmin
Synopsis:
On Earth, New Year’s Day 2019, a long-buried creature is beginning to stir. The most dangerous creature in the universe and it will stop at nothing to claim the Earth. Conquest in 9376 rels.
The Doctor must gather all her friends and resources to prevent another invasion. And if they fail… The Daleks are coming. (source)
Revolution of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 1 January 2019
The Doctor: Jodie Whittaker
Companions: Graham, Ryan, Yasmin, Jack
Synopsis:
As the Thirteenth Doctor marks her days in prison, back on Earth the Daleks are presented on national television. They are the new Defence Drones, designed to protect the British public.
Left behind on Earth, Yaz, Graham and Ryan need their friend more than ever. Now with Daleks on the assembly line, and a familiar face behind their production… What would the Doctor do? (source)
Eve of the Daleks
UK Broadcast Date: 1 January 2022
The Doctor: Jodie Whittaker
Companions: Yasmin, Dan
Synopsis:
Ten minutes until midnight and the dawning of 2022. With the Doctor’s TARDIS out of action, the Doctor, Yaz, and Dan are forced to wait in an ordinary self-storage facility with only one customer. However, Dalek Executioners are on the hunt and a time loop forces the trapped allies to keep reliving the dying minutes of 2021.
What has gone wrong with time? What do the Daleks want? As New Year’s Day ticks ever closer, the Doctor’s tactics will be pushed to the limit to break the loop and dodge extermination on a night where auld acquaintance can’t be forgot. (source)
Which is your favourite Dalek story? Let us know in the comments below.