7 APRIL – 12 MAY

No, not Skaro – this time the Daleks are massing on Spiridon. The planet may be different, but the plan is familiar…

By EDDIE ROBSON

A Nation United

Terry Nation (below inset) and his most famous creations both returned to the BBC in 1972 – but not together. Nation wrote more episodes of Doctor Who during the William Hartnell era than anyone (32 in total), but after 1965 he moved away from the BBC entirely. Instead, he wrote for glossy filmed series made by ITC Entertainment and later withdrew the Daleks from Doctor Who while pitching a Dalek series to American TV.

Day of the Daleks (1972) was in pre-production when Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks belatedly sought Nation’s permission to use his creations. An amicable agreement was reached, whereby the Daleks would feature in one serial per year and Nation would have first refusal on writing it. Shortly afterwards, Nation did his first BBC work in nearly seven years, The Incredible Robert Baldick (1972). He hoped this single play would spawn a series; when it didn’t, he agreed to write 1973’s Dalek serial for Doctor Who. Rejoining the pool of regular Who writers brought Nation firmly back into the BBC’s orbit, and he would create two successful series for the BBC, Survivors (1975-77) and Blake’s 7 (1978-81), before the decade was out.