NB: This review was written before the animation was available

We all have our own ‘fan-minds’. Opinions on stories are formed often when we are newish fans. Sometimes its influenced by ‘fan wisdom’; sometimes from having read the novelisation first. For me, I’ve always had an ‘opinion’ on the two David Whitaker Dalek stories: Power and Evil. This opinion was formed from listening to the cassettes of the soundtracks way back when (yes, the cassettes, people – I’m that old). As far as I’ve been concerned, The Power of the Daleks was the stronger of the two stories. The Evil of the Daleks always left me a little non-plussed. Now, admittedly, I haven’t listened to The Power of the Daleks for a long time (and won’t, in this marathon, for a few years to come), but I have come to appreciate The Evil of the Daleks a little more. I don’t think I’m quite at the levels of praise given by some fans, but equally, I don’t have the issues with the story that some detractors can have (including a rather damning review by Graham Kibble-White in an issue of DWM a few years ago).

I will focus on the Victorian aspects of the story for the most part, but the opening makes for interesting watching/listening (I went, as is my usual, with the audio soundtrack – as well as the existing episode, of course). The pairing of the 2nd Doctor and Jamie is absolutely golden and this is evident from episode 1 onwards. I enjoyed the tracking down of clues and the mystery presented by Waterfield. His character is one of the reasons I decided to include the story now in my marathon. He is every inch the Victorian gentleman, even when supplanted to 1966. I love the stuff where he doesn’t understant Kennedy’s vernacular and seems wary of the telephone.

Episode 2, having been available for quite a while (since the release of the VHS, Daleks: The Early Years) has always stuck with me. The Doctor and Jamie arriving at the shop, stopping the bell from ringing and musing over the antiques is an iconic scene for me. I also love the bit where the Doctor deduces there is another room behind the bookcase. What’s less appealing in the slightly odd, campy performance of Geoffrey Colville as Kenneth Perry. His delivery of the ‘they seem to have disappeared’ line which segues into the Victorian part of the story is so camp, I’m surprised scouts aren’t having a gang show in the shop. Quite why the Doctor and Jamie can’t have just left the shop rather than ‘disappeared’ is beyond me (the viewer knows they have done just that but Perry has no reason to be quite so ‘spooky-voiced’ about it).

Another reason I plumped for sticking this story here, was the fact that I realised the Victorian-set section is easily my favourite part of the story. From Mollie Dawson’s first appearance to Maxtible’s bubbling laboratory to Kemel’s silent yet powerful friendship with Jamie, most of this part really works. I say most of it because there are a couple of niggles. Ruth Maxtible, Arthur Terral and Toby are superfluous to requirements. Brigit Forsyth, as Ruth, has a thankless role as she contributes absolutely nothing to the story. Frankly, Mollie does more. Arthur, although linked to the plot, has a role in it which doesn’t seem to make any sense. Why is he being controlled? Is he a test subject? Why does he get Toby to kidnap Jamie? Nothing to do with him is really explained. Even his mood swings don’t really make sense as he seems confused/nasty/apologetic/desperate depending on what the scene requires him to do rather than any consistency with how his implant is affecting him.

But if we leave those three characters aside, the rest of this section has a lot to enjoy. Maxtible is a fun creation and his interplay with Waterfield is fascinating. One man driven by greed, the other by desperation, makes for a good contrast. The introduction of Victoria is also nicely handled (although the stuff with her mother’s portrait is a bit of a non-sequiter). Isn’t it good that we have Deborah Watling’s first appearance on film still? I realised, in this story, that Watling is actually very, very good. Her performance hasn’t yet reached the hysterical heights it will do as Season 5 progresses. Here she delivers a very convincing performance; even if her look (huge dress aside) does smack more of a 1960s girl than and 1860s girl (particularly the hair).

Another character I like is Kemel. I know there is much that could be written about the implicit racism – much as we have seen with the character of Toberman in the following story – but here I think, inability to speak aside, we have a better version of the muscular yet sensitive henchman trope. It is frustrating that Kemel is mute, particularly as much of the fourth episode involves Jamie and Kemel fighting and avoiding traps with very little dialogue (not a great match for audio). But his bond with Jamie is convincing as is the way Maxtible treats him like a simpleton. Maxtible’s attitude is consistent with the way he treats everyone, including Waterfield and Mollie. There is no trace of this condescension in Victoria, Jamie, Waterfield or the Doctor. The upstairs/downstairs aspect of Victorian life is something not much explored by Doctor Who but it is interesting to see the division of characters in this story: Mollie, Kemel and Toby are all treated as intellectually inferior to the Maxtibles, the Waterfields and Terrall; but it is done in a subtle way.

The trappings of Victoriana, from evidence of the existing episode and the telesnaps, are well-realised. I rather like how we have the bubbling, equipment-filled laboratory of Maxtible. A mad scientist’s lab, ala Jekyll and Hyde, is something we haven’t seen very much on our 19th Century journey. As I’ve commented before in my reviews, there seems to be an obsession for 19th Century-set Doctor Who stories to focus on the supernatural and spiritual fascination of Victorians rather than the scientific advances. It’s touched on a little in stories such as The Crimson Horror, and in the Jago and Litefoot series, but there are far more ghostly adversaries in this century for the Doctor to battle than mad scientists. Maxtible, therefore, stands out in this century, as a proper bonafide bonkers villain. He becomes steadily more unhinged as the story progresses and its almost a shame that he is ‘Dalekised’ in the final act as this robs his character of any nuance; or grand insane Zaroff moment for that matter. The almost fantastical science of this story – alchemy and mirrors that allow time travel – though, still fits with the obsession Victorians had with trying to marry the scientific and the supernatural.

To be honest, I sort of lose interest once the story arrives on Skaro. The Daleks are one of the least interesting monsters for me and whilst I quite enjoyed their being juxtaposed against a Victorian mansion, once we get back to their home planet I’m not as bothered. The Emperor Dalek is a good creation although I’ve always found the Doctor’s line about wondering when they would meet a little odd as there has been absolutely no indication up to this story that such an entity exists; but then the Doctor’s relationship with the Daleks has always been a moveable feast, what with their first encounter more or less being retconned by Nation and subsequent writers so that they could quickly become the mortal enemies we recognise them as now.  I’m also not convinced by the ‘human Daleks’.

It’s a nice idea, but the whole ‘dizzy Doctor’ stuff is a bit irritating. I think better use was made of these characters in the DWM comic strip Children of the Revolution. That said, it’s interesting that the humanised Daleks are used as a means of finishing off the Daleks, apparently for good (although I wonder how many viewers at the time, actually believed it was the final end proper for the series most loved and well-known monsters).

Something I do like, though, is the edge to Troughton and Hines’ performance of the scenes where Jamie loses his trust in the Doctor. Troughton really does come across as ‘alien’ and there a couple of times when it isn’t fully clear whether the Doctor has Jamie’s best interests at heart. It’s an enigmatic portrayal of the Doctor which doesn’t really appear again till Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy’s time – certainly it’s not something I feel we get from Pertwee or Tom. Yes, Tom plays up the ‘alienness’ of the Doctor, but I think its in a different, less sinister way. Some of Troughton’s scenes in this have an edge which is a little uncomfortable. Hines pitches his reactions as Jamie perfectly. These two really are a dream team of Doctor and companion.

The DWM review points out that The Evil of the Daleks is the show’s first visit to Victorian England and how surprising this was to the reviewer. Of course, technically the show visited the Victorian period in The Gunfighters, but he is right that it took so long for the series to visit this era. Can you imagine the 1st Doctor pitching up in Victorian London; how interesting would that have been? The ‘Edwardian gentleman’ persona of the 1st Doctor would have melded so easily into Victorian society that I think there could have been some interesting story possibilities.

I’m not falling over myself with praise for The Evil of the Daleks – I do think it’s too long at 7 episodes; I don’t think Maxtible ends up as a convincing character (having started out quite interesting; the lack of visuals is always going to hurt any serial; and I’m a self-confessed ‘not-a-huge-fan’ of the Daleks). However, I did find much to enjoy this time round.

Animation update June 2025:

The animation for this story is a really good production and does bring the story to life.  The all but silent episode 4 is convincingly animated (although it does remain a little clunky due to the this animation style's limitations).  I still don't think, though, that any animation can truly reflect the nuances and brilliance of Troughton's performance.  I tend to watch the colour versions of the animations but have decided this creates a slight disconnect for me as the stories were never shown originally in colour.  I will continue to watch the colour versions to begin with but on repeated viewings I think I will be more inclined to watch the black and white version or, indeed, the telesnap reconstructions.