Longleat, Blackpool & Dapol

The Longleat exhibition ran from 1974 until 2003 and Blackpool from 1974 until 1985, opening just two days before Longleat. The Daleks made for the displays were relatively faithful to screen Dalek props. The basic shape was smaller but instantly recognisable. There were 'problems' though which a close eye could pick up. The front of the skirt and fender were far more pointed, the hemis were very haphazard and were often missing, and the neck and dome sections were too tall. In the case of the neck and dome this was to house the movement motors etc. In addition to the dome the arm would move and occasionally (when working!) one of the props at Longleat would move forwards and backwards on a short track. In the case of the Blackpool exhibition one prop completed a circuit of one of the displays.

In the early years the props were all silver and blue bar one Longleat prop which was gold and black. Longleat utilised one Dalek as its initial display, chanting at the visitors as they came in. The other mainly stood with other monsters. Blackpool, being the larger exhibition, had grander displays. The Daleks were often in one display together along with Davros. In later years both Blackpool and Longleat painted the props to appear more like the current TV props and were placed in scenes from recent serials. Over the years the various moving parts sometimes worked and sometimes didn't, but they were always the main attraction! 

Its understood that five props were built, but who built them is a mystery at this time as there is so little documentary evidence around. However it appears that the Longleat props may have come from the 1971 Science Museum exhibition, where the BBC Effects were displaying many props. The picture on the right shows Jon Pertwee promoting this exhibition. Longleat had two props whilst Blackpool had three. The original Blackpool exhibition closed in 1985 and it's unknown what happened to the props, but is more than likely they were just disposed of. However in 1986 the "oddball" Dalek (see 'Destiny') was sold at an auction now sporting an exhibition eyestalk, also in 1988 the Supreme Dalek from 'Remembrance' also had a similar eyestalk. Could these have been from the Blackpool props?

It appears that at least two of these props have survived and are now housed at the new Blackpool exhibition in a large Dalek display. Again they have been repainted and like their TV counterparts still going many years after their first appearances!

The Dapol (toy manufacturers) exhibition was based at Llangollen in Wales and featured over the years a mix of fan built props and original props in their usual mix and match state.

'Seven Keys to Doomsday' - Stage play

This was the Daleks second stage appearance. The play began on 16th December 1974 and ran for four weeks and starred Trevor Martin as the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker made his TV debut on the 28th December '74). Five Daleks were made for the production and were constructed by Allister Bowtell and his team (who were already creating the other monsters for the show). They were well constructed props although looked like a strange film/TV hybrid.

As we discussed on the 'Planet of the Daleks' page the Supreme Dalek from that serial appeared in publicity photographs for the play, along with another film prop, but neither actually appeared in it. It appears as if the design of the stage props was based on that Supreme Dalek as there are a number of similarities. The main similarity, and probably the main giveaway that the Supreme was the inspiration, were the neck rings. These were the flat edged style with no neck rods unique (till then) to the Supreme. The main body of the Dalek was faithful to the TV style at the time but with a film style enlarged fender.

The play closed after 4 weeks, and nobody knows what became of these five Daleks.

'The Ultimate Adventure' - Stage play

The Dalek props for this stage play were created by the Suffolk Scenery company who were also responsible for the building of the sets. They may have used the inaccurate 10th anniversary Radio Times 'Build your own Dalek' plans to create the props.

There were five new Daleks built for 'The Ultimate Adventure' comprising of four blue/grey drones and one black Dalek. The inaccurate design lead to a very odd shape when viewed from front and side. The props had only one single vertical column of hemis on the side panels of the skirt and a larger fender than normal Daleks (although not as large as film props). The props also had large, rectangular lights, initially no eye rings along the stalk (although added later) and they lacked the shoulder slats present on all Dalek props from 'The Chase' onwards. The neck ring configuration was such that the bottom one had a diameter much wider than the shoulders, the next ring was slightly smaller, then the top ring was the same diameter as the head. The dome was a perfect hemisphere shape, whereas the TV Daleks have a tapered cylindrical section to start off with, with just a hemispherical cap. Finally, instead of two separate cube-shaped boxes to hold each of the gun and arms, these props had one complete unbroken large oblong box that ran across the front of the body. The hemis (like the NSC props) were not only stuck on from the outside but were of a soft plastic which was easily crushed.

The Dalek Emperor prop was a faithful reproduction of the prop that appeared in 'The Evil of the Daleks' merely with the addition of large wing-like structures where the original was embedded in a network of cables. The stage version was understandably smaller but was able to move around unlike the original Emperor.

The Dalek operators were Oliver Gray, Troy Webb, Deborah Hecht and David Bingham, who was replaced by Gavin Warwick. The Black Dalek was played by Paula Tappenden.

Rob Brown owns one of the stage props which he bought directly from Suffolk Scenery. More photos can be seen by visiting his page on the richardwho.com website - Click here.

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