When Terry Nation was brought back to satisfy the public's demand for the Daleks, the requirements of the story meant that changes would need to be made to the props. A new designer was allocated to this story and, aware that the Daleks were to be used on location, he arranged for a larger fender to be fitted. This housed three larger pneumatic tyres which would cope better with the bumpy roads. This was an idea originally conceived for the first story but never used. Also, in terms of the plot, to  explain the fact that the original Daleks couldn't move outside their city, a dish was added to the rear shoulder section to imply that they were receiving motive power by some means other than through the floor.

We know that four props were used in the first story and it is known that two of these had been given to Dr Barnardo's. According to research by Andrew Pixley, on 22nd July 1964 arrangements were made to have these borrowed back and from 12 August onwards the BBC then had use of them. They were refurbished along with the two that remained from 'The Daleks'.

Two of the props which were reused from 'The Daleks' had more noticeable refurbishment work than the others, including an internal change to the gunboxes which resulted in two new screws appearing on the inside edge of the gunboxes positioned quite high. This allows for the fate of these particular prop components to be checked later on.

In addition to the original four props Shawcraft provided two new ones, both built as ordinary silver props initially. Pictured right is one of these props in rehearsals, still silver, before it had four of its panels and its head painted black to become the saucer commander for episode two (shown above left), and later the entirely black Dalek. Thanks to a number of distinctions, this Dalek can be easily followed through time. It has often been speculated that the panels of the saucer commander were, in fact, painted red and not black. This myth seems to stem from Stuart Evans' painting notes included with his Dalek model kits from the 1980's and 90's. The actual evidence for this is very slim, and the pristine DVD release only seems to confirm the colour is black. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any colour photographs of the saucer commander. A more detailed look at the facts of this can be found here.

Both the new props shared some distinctive features. These include both having bunched up eye-rings. Both have a black-eye ball (all the original props were refurbished with silver ones). Both have bad-quality gunboxes in their own way. Both have some bad hemisphere alignment on their skirts (which would later cause great confusion). Both have an unusually broad lower collar beneath the gunboxes, with the black Dalek having a "sagging" inverted V shape. For reference we'll call these two new props DIoE1 and DIoE2 (for 'Daleks Invasion of Earth').

The most obvious feature of the DIoE1 Black Dalek is a neck repair which takes the form of a piece of reinforcing wood affixed to the underside of the middle neck ring which makes it easy to identify throughout future stories as shown in the image below.

The image (right) shows how the gunboxes of the both DIoE1 and DIoE2 are not quite up to scratch, with the black Dalek's wooden component panels clearly visible. The shoddy nature of these gunboxes would become an important part of the story in future. The random skirt hemisphere alignment of DIoE2 can be seen in the screen shot on the left. The measurement units shown in the image are arbitrary for comparison purposes. It demonstrates the gap between the bottom two corner hemispheres is about 42% greater than the top two.




It's worth noting that in the past there has often been uncertainty about the props used in this story. There was alternative theory that Dr Barnardo's kept their two Daleks and Shawcraft instead made four new Daleks. This theory was publicised by an article in 'The Frame' fanzine, but it can be shown to be incorrect. Not only is there documentary evidence supporting the idea that the Barnardos props were reused, but there are simple means to check what prop components from the first Dalek story made it through to the second. For example, two of the props from 'The Daleks' have distinctive bolts in the rear centre panel of the skirts, and one other has unique hemisphere misalignment (talked about in 'The Daleks' section). These three skirts can all be identified in 'The Dalek Invasion of Earth'. Just one example of evidence against the theory that only two props were reused.

A first for this story was the use of proper location recording in the series. Four Daleks were taken round the landmarks of London and there is a famous scene where a Dalek rises from the Thames. The first part seen in the episode is of a full-sized Dalek prop emerging from a water tank at Ealing (above right). This was a later shot added because a full submersion had not been possible due to the neap tide during earlier location filming. It has been stated in other places (even on the DVD text info) that the Dalek in the tank is a model, but this is incorrect. Considering the perfect build quality, the great detail of the prop, the articulation of the head and extending arm, the scale of the water, and certain small damage marks which match a Dalek on location, it can only be concluded that it is a full-sized prop. If it had been a model as suggested, there has never been a model so perfectly accurate in the series before or since!

The location scene was filmed on the north bank of the Thames by Hammersmith Bridge. A Dalek prop was pulled up by a wire out of shot along boards which had been laid at low tide (visible in the picture left) whist Robert Jewell inside operated the head.

For reasons unknown there is an extraordinary difference in the colour of Thames Dalek's skirt hemispheres while on location. A repaint seems extremely unlikely just prior to its dip in the water but it can be deduced from the shadows that that the publicity photo was taken in the morning and the sequence was filmed later in the day. Whether the colours of the hemispheres is a misleading trick of the light, or whether random repainting was performed, the variation in colours persists throughout the studio recording (shown below left).

As with the first Dalek story, several photographic blowups were also used to bolster the numbers and these can be seen very obviously skirting the studio set of the heliport where the saucer lands. The director's impressive use of high shots sadly means that the flat nature of these background props is all too apparent.

At the end of filming the two Barnardos Daleks were given back to the charity and the number of active props was reduced from six to four. On 30th October 1964 the production office arranged for those remaining four props to be stored at Ealing for future use however it was not long before they were take out of storage again.

As was so often the case, the Daleks from this serial were drafted into extra-curricular activity and took part in a wide variety of promotional work, much of which is forgotten in the mists of time. A great early example of these props going about their touring duties is this photo (right) from Cardiff in 1964 when they were used to promote an early Doctor Who Exhibition which was on its way to Wales.

Outings such as this took a huge toll on the state of the props and they were often returned to storage in an appalling state of disrepair due to the lack of care in handling.

Before the Daleks would return to the small screen again, someone else had much grander designs for them, and would create a new branch on the Dalek family tree...

Next Chapter: 'Dr. Who and the Daleks' >>>