The Dalek Audio Annual: Dalek Stories from the Doctor Who universe

The Daleks rampage in this collection of vintage stories from Terry Nation’s Dalek Annuals of the 1970s.

"Exciting sci-fi adventures in their own right...beautifully pitched sound design...this is a great piece of work from BBC Audio." Doctor Who Magazine "If you’re a Dalek fan of any description, then you need to get hold of this. Before the Daleks arrive..." scifibulletin.com

Urgent message to all Anti-Dalek Force agents: the Daleks are coming! Defend yourself with The Dalek Audio Annual, packed with exciting tales of galactic terror, global invasion and the adventures of plucky human resistance fighters.

Special ADF agents Nicholas Briggs, Louise Jameson and Matthew Waterhouse will read five stories of battlefield reportage ― Terror Task Force, Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!, Timechase, The Doomsday Machine and Report from an Unknown Planet ― alongside factual updates on the Dalek War: Dalek Genius, Mark 7 Humanoid Robot, Special Report: Secret Meeting on Skaro and more. All material is authenticated from Terry Nation’s Dalek Annuals of the 1970s.

Order your copy now. It is your duty to remain informed of progress in the ongoing battle between humans and Daleks!

Duration: 2 hours 30 mins approx.

Text © Terry Nation 1976-77
Daleks as seen in the BBC TV series Doctor Who
Terry Nation’s Dalek Annuals first published by World Distributors by arranged with the BBC
Readings produced by Neil Gardner at Ladbroke Audio
Sound design by David Darlington
Executive Producer: Michael Stevens
Cover by Minty Design/images © BBC Studios 2018

Terry Nation (Author)
Terry Nation was born in Llandaff, near Cardiff, in 1930. As a child, he loved reading and making up stories, and on leaving school he became interested in the theatre, writing and appearing in plays for his local theatrical society. In the early 1950s, he left home and moved to London, where he attempted to launch a career in stand-up comedy. However, he soon found that he lacked performing skills, and hearing that a local agency was looking for comedy scriptwriters he decided to take his material to them. Associated London Scripts liked his work, and hired him to write a 13-week comedy radio show called All My Eye And Kitty Blewitt. This launched his writing career, and throughout the 1950s he produced over 200 scripts for comedians such as Terry Scott, Eric Sykes, Harry Worth and Frankie Howerd. His TV breakthrough came in 1963, when he wrote several episodes for Tony Hancock’s ITV series Hancock. The same year, he was asked to write the second serial for a newly-launched BBC science fiction series, Doctor Who, and the Daleks were born. Nation’s inspiration for the creation of his iconic mechanical monsters came partly from a TV programme. He realised that the creatures had to truly look alien, and ‘In order to make it non-human what you have to do is take the legs off. That's the only way you can make it not look like a person dressed up.’ After watching the Georgian State Dancers perform, he realised how this could be achieved. He explained: ‘the girls do this wonderful routine. They wore floor-brushing skirts and took very tiny steps and appeared to glide, really glide across the floor. That's the movement I wanted for the Daleks.’ He once said that the name ‘Dalek’ came from the letters DAL-LEK on the spine of an encyclopedia, but later admitted that this was just an attempt to satisfy persistent journalists. When asked the reason for the phenomenal success of the Daleks, Nation answered simply 'Kids love to be frightened'. He went on to write several more Dalek stories for Doctor Who, including ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’ (1964), The Chase' (1965), 'The Daleks' Master Plan' (with Dennis Spooner, 1965-1966) and 'Genesis of the Daleks' (1975), and also penned two non-Dalek episodes, 'The Keys of Marinus' (1964) and 'The Android Invasion' (1979). As well as Doctor Who, Terry Nation’s TV work also includes The Saint, Department S, The Persuaders and The Avengers. He also created two other sci-fi cult hits. Survivors began as a novel, published in 1970. It was televised five years later and ran for three series between 1975 and 1977, and a 2008 remake was broadcast by the BBC in 2008. Blake’s 7, described by Nation as ‘Robin Hood in space’, ran for four series from 1978-1981. It was an international success, and continues to have a huge fan following today. Terry Nation died in LA in 1997.