The exterminators return
- Publication: Radio Times
- Date: 1984-02-04
- Author:
- Page:
- Language: English
John Craven's Back Pages
BEWARE! The Daleks are back this week to threaten the human race and our greatest non-human defender, Doctor Who.
The present Doctor, Peter Davison, comes face to antennae with the series' most formidable foes in a new adventure called 'Resurrection of the Daleks' (Wednesday 6.50 BBC1).
Now all five Doctors will have battled with the dreaded Daleks who made headline news when they first appeared in 1963. A year later it seemed as though the first Doctor, the late William Hartnell, had defeated them. Good had triumphed over evil to provide the perfect ending to a chapter in the saga.
But the Daleks had become Britain's favourite baddies. There was such an outcry that the BBC had to bring them back to life for more confrontations with the Doctor.
Vicars used models of Daleks in their pulpits to illustrate sermons about wickedness. Television critics called them 'dustbins on wheels' and 'preposterous pepper pots'. Yet for the past 21 years viewers have loved to hate these aliens.
During the 1960s and 70s a whole generation of children half-hid behind sofas while the Doctors and the Daleks did battle, and then rolled around the house uttering that famous and evil catchphrase 'ex-ter-min-ate!'
Maybe we all thought the Daleks really had been exterminated when in 1979 we saw their leader Davros trapped, apparently for ever, in a tomb of ice.
We should have known better. On Wednesday, Peter Davison is strolling along the banks of the Thames at Wapping when he stumbles over Rodney Bewes, a victim of the Daleks who's managed to escape from them down a time corridor.
Before long Davros is defrosting and the screen is filled with Daleks back on Earth to see what havoc they can cause.
As this is their 13th attempt to defeat the Doctor, could it be a fateful number for Peter Davison?
Caption: Will Rula Lenska and Rodney Bewes overcome the evil Davros?
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- APA 6th ed.: (1984-02-04). The exterminators return. Radio Times .
- MLA 7th ed.: "The exterminators return." Radio Times [add city] 1984-02-04. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: "The exterminators return." Radio Times, edition, sec., 1984-02-04
- Turabian: "The exterminators return." Radio Times, 1984-02-04, section, edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=The exterminators return | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/The_exterminators_return | work=Radio Times | pages= | date=1984-02-04 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=22 April 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=The exterminators return | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/The_exterminators_return | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=22 April 2025}}</ref>
