The plot of  'Remembrance of the Daleks' again featured two opposing Dalek factions. However it appeared that Davros now had more power and the Daleks loyal to the Supreme Dalek were now called the 'renegades'. For the second story running new props appeared.

The renegade Daleks were made up from two of the Revelation 'Necros' props from the previous story, plus one more drafted in from the same batch of promotional props, and two of the older 'mixed' props from the 60s and 70s. This totalled six renegade props including their leader (more about that below).

One old prop was made up from an NSC skirt, film-style shoulder section, NSC neck and dome. These pictures (right) highlight the differences in shape between the original props and the new 'Necros' builds. The other old prop (left) was essentially the Dalek from The Five Doctors featuring the film-style skirt first seen in Power of the Daleks plus the TV shoulders with enlarged gunboxes. Both were heavily and very well refurbished including a new shoulder mesh. The refurb efforts are made all the more surprising given the screen time of both these "original" props totalled less than thirty seconds.

This time the renegades were painted up in the grey and black scheme and a few modifications were made. All the Daleks had their shoulder mesh removed and refitted with a polystyrene based material, patterned to look like mesh. This was due to the SFX guys catching their hands on the metal. The props had a variety of eye-types with most having four eye-discs and one having five. There was also one prop with a white iris where most had silver. The neck section of all the Daleks now sat directly on the shoulder section, although they didn't appear to be fixed as in at least one scene a neck section wobbles as the Dalek moved.

Generally the three 'Necros' Daleks did most of the work, with the older Daleks sitting in the background, but they did appear prominently in a couple of short scenes.

The Renegade Daleks were led by the Supreme Dalek. This was also a BBC promotional prop constructed by Martin Wilkie around the same time as the 'Necros'  Daleks. It is very similar to the 'Necros' look, the main body being from the same moulds but the main differences being the orange dome lights and a smaller eyeball (taken from an exhibition Dalek) and the neck rods were the original 'clover' style the other builds hadn't had. When next to the 60s prop in studio it is noticeably taller!

The 'Imperial' Daleks were new props (again made by the BBC Visual FX department) and were predominately made from fibreglass. Four were made from 'flexible jelly' moulds meaning that they were simpler in design, but also meant less refurbishment would be needed.

The skirt was similar to the more vertical 'Necros' model, with the fender now a moulded part of the of it. The hemis were attached after moulding. The shoulder section was the most different section from the existing Daleks. Again it was similar in shape to the 'Necros' model but all the slats and collars were part of the mould, meaning the design was simpler but saved all the slats from having to be put  on by hand. The neck section was again placed directly on the shoulders. The arm 'sucker' was designed with slots to fit certain Dalek controls, this updated the rubber plunger that had become a long standing joke.

A change to the dome section was made for these Daleks. A spring system was employed whereby the dome would only move about 10cms each way and spring back to a set position, the eyestalk having a similar action. A new dome light was designed to replace the old style light which had been in use for some years. The colour scheme was the cream and gold again, with the shoulder slats, neck section and iris in gold foil.

All props were given wheelbarrow style wheels (except for the 60s prop which was only featured in studio briefly), and these were arranged one at the front two at the back.  Although this meant they coped much better on rough ground, it did mean they had a tendency to wobble from side to side!

Several lightweight Daleks were used for blowing up.

In the story a brand new Dalek design was unveiled. The Special Weapons Dalek was originally to be a floating tank, but when  this was decided to be too expensive, a modified Dalek was produced.  Basically it was a single large gun on top of a new skirt. The prop was heavily 'weathered' to make it look as if it had been in many battles. As its a different design we haven't included it in the prop count above.

Another new design, the Emperor Dalek, was based on the Emperor from the sixties comic strip. It had a standard 'Imperial' skirt and a large dome section on top that slid back to reveal Davros  beneath. Initially Davros was not due to appear in the story, but an SFX employee suggested the possibility of Davros being inside and the writer was happy to include this.

This serial is also notable for the Dalek battle computer, voiced by John Leeson, and based on a Dalek look. It was also the first time a Dalek was seen to go up stairs although one had hovered in the previous story.

And thus ended Dalek involvement in the original series. Public perception at the time was generally to think that the BBC had an endless conveyor belt of new props being made for each story. Little did they know! It's incredible to think that so much of the original six Shawcraft Daleks was being used for so long, and testimony to how well made those original props were made by them.

Of course, as was usual with the props, they appeared at the various exhibitions and  cropped up on TV from time to time. Again, as was usual, components were mixed and repainted. The ease of manufacture of the last two sets of Daleks meant that it was easy to produce sets for exhibitions, and several 'Necros' and 'Imperial' props were made for this purpose. The picture (left) shows a 'Necros' build with an 'Imperial' arm and lights. The 1999 Comic Relief skit 'Curse of Fatal Death' included a mix of 'Necros' and 'Imperial' builds (along with some fan made props) but it's unclear as to their screen history.

In an act that horrified Dalek fans, one of the long standing Dalek props was cut up to produce a "walk-in" Dalek for the Momi exhibition in the early 1990's. Specifically the film skirt and original thin collared shoulder section. The exhibit stood infront of a mirror and attendees were able to walk-in and talk like a Dalek (left). The prop is now at the permanent Blackpool exhibition in a repainted and very battered form. However galling this act was in a way it may have saved us an "original" prop as the whereabouts of the other two long standing props is unknown, and there are even reports that they were junked having outlived their use. Collector Chris Balcombe is known to own the two removed parts from 'walk-in' Dalek (see links page). The Momi (Museum of Moving Image) exhibition also had custom made Dalek props, and continued to have a different "walk-in" Dalek after the original went on tour.

Viewers in 1988 were not aware that 'Remembrance of the Daleks' would be that last Dalek story for 17 years. Doctor Who was taken off the air in 1989, and a whole new generation grew up without even knowing what a Dalek was. However Doctor Who spectacularly returned in 2005 and of course so did the Daleks! Surprisingly their first appearance featured just one Dalek... but what a Dalek! 

They were back and deadlier than ever...!