Daleks: The Early Years

Daleks: The Early Years
Subject:	Black-and-white era Dalek episodes
Release date:	6 July 1992
Runtime:	105 minutes
Catalogue number:	BBCV4756
Key crew
Narrator:	Peter Davison
Writer:	John Nathan-Turner
Producer:	John Nathan-Turner
← Previous	The Pertwee Years
Next →	Cybermen: The Early Years

Daleks: The Early Years was a video containing rare episodes from early Dalek stories. It was presented by Peter Davison and contained the following full episodes:

• The Daleks' Master Plan: "Counter Plot"
• The Daleks' Master Plan: "Escape Switch"
• The Evil of the Daleks episode two

as well as interviews with Terry Nation, Raymond Cusick, John Scott Martin, Roy Skelton; clips from The Daleks, The Chase, The Daleks' Master Plan (surviving clips), Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., The Power of the Daleks and The Five Doctors; the BBC trailers for The Dalek Invasion of Earth; an outtake from The Five Doctors; and an extract from "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek" by The Go-Go's.

Daleks: The Early Years title card

Crew

• - Daleks - The Early Years
• Presented by - Peter Davison
• with - Terry Nation, Raymond P. Cusick, John Scott Martin, Roy Skelton
• Special thanks to - Museum of the Moving Image, South Bank, London and KRMA TV, Denver, USA
• Doctor Who theme composed by - Ron Grainer
• Theme arranged and performed by - Keff McCulloch
• Production Assistant - Ingrid Taylor
• Make-up - Erika Wareing
• Cameraman - Mike Winser
• Post Production - Ace Editing
• Sound - Tim Davies
• Lighting - Ian Dow
• Written and Produced by - John Nathan-Turner
• BBC
• © British Broadcasting Corporation and BBC Enterprises Ltd. MCMXCII

Notes

• This was one of a series of videos produced by John Nathan-Turner intended to release rare episodes and incomplete serials, as well as interviews and other extras that wouldn't have seen a video release at the time.
• All British releases were handled by BBC Worldwide, Australasian releases by Polygram and American releases by CBS/Fox.
• The video was classified "U" in the UK and "PG" for "Low Level Violence" in Australia.
• It was released on 6 July 1991 in the UK, 1992 in America and on 3 February 1993 in Australia.
• The arrangement of the Doctor Who theme used for this and succeeding Years releases was originally arranged by Keff McCulloch for the 1989 album Doctor Who: Variations on a Theme.
• Peter Davison mistakenly referred to the first episode of The Daleks as "The Dead City" rather than "The Dead Planet".
• Highlights from the documentary were featured on the Special Edition DVD and Blu-ray release of The Power of the Daleks.

Six similar videos were later released up to 1994. They were:

• The Hartnell Years
• The Troughton Years
• The Pertwee Years
• Cybermen: The Early Years
• The Tom Baker Years
• The Colin Baker Years

Home video releases

VHS releases

The documentary was released on VHS on 6 July 1992.

• 

  Daleks: The Early Years VHS cover

DVD and Blu-ray rreleases

Highlights from the documentary was released on the special edition DVD and Blu-ray release of The Power of the Daleks in 2020.