In my opinion the first truly great episode in the Revival era and probably Christopher Eccleston's best performance as The Doctor.

His first scene with Dalek is an incredible piece of acting. The Doctor goes on quite the emotional journey in that scene. He begins with his usual Doctorly concern, when he thinks he's in the room with just another alien, and one who has been tortured. Then once he learns that the alien is in fact a Dalek his emotions quickly turn to abject fear as he begs to be let out. As he realises the Dalek is damaged and not a threat his fear changes to a gleeful fury, as the Doctor mocks and berates the incapacitated Dalek. There's a genuine sense of joy in the Doctor's anger when he gloats about being responsible for wiping out the Daleks in the Time War. His rage then subsides and turns to guilt and sadness as the Doctor thinks on the Time War, his part in it and his place after it as the only one left. Before finally the Doctor becomes vengeful and tries to murder a defenseless Dalek. We see a new side to the 9th Doctor in this scene. In fact we see a few new sides. This episode as a whole and this scene in particular do an incredible job at establishing how threatening a Dalek is, as well as showing us the toll of their shared history with the Doctor, both before and during the Time War. A truly great performance from Christopher Eccleston and some truly great writing from Robert Shearman (in what is criminally his only writing credit for the TV series).

In fact this entire episode as a reintroduction of the shows most iconic villains, is pretty much perfect. For anyone who considered the Daleks to be a joke, just a pepperpot who is defeated by a flight of stairs, this episode demonstrates that (when well written at least) they're a truly formidable and frankly terrifying adversary. A single, broken Dalek still brings fear to our hero. Once it's repaired itself, the same single Dalek will efficiently, methodically kill entire teams of elite commandos. The Doctor insists that should it escape the underground complex, it will proceed to wipe out the nearest cities. It is also presented as incredibly smart and can now 'Elevate' to handle those pesky stairs (although both of these things were also established in their previous televised appearance 'Remembrance of the Daleks').

Almost as terrifying as the Dalek in this episode is The Doctor. A man who is desperate, afraid and angry. He not only tries to murder the Dalek in their first meeting, but he is prepared to sacrifice Rose to stop the Dalek. He immediately regrets this decision and lashes out at his allies (although they're not the nicest, most likeable bunch to begin with), and then decides to grab a weapon to kill the Dalek himself. You always know things are bad when the Doctor has a gun.

At one point in the episode the Doctor explains why a Dalek would just go around killing people. He explains

"Because it honestly believes they should die. Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing"

Then later when talking with the Dalek, the Doctor is mocking the Dalek for being the last, for having no-one to give it orders and for having no purpose. He tells the Dalek

"The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct. Rid the Universe of your filth. Why don't you just die?"

to which the Dalek calmsly replies "You would make a good Dalek."

It's a brilliant exchange. Demonstrating the anger, guilt and vengeance he feels as the last survivor from the Time War risks the Doctor losing his humanity. This is brilliantly mirrored by the Dalek, who in order to regenerate had to absorb time energy from Rose, a time traveler. But, in doing so also absorbs some of Roses humanity, and is mutating into something less Dalek and more human. Being less than a pure Dalek is an untenable situation for a Dalek to be in, it couldn't even bring itself to kill Rose (or indeed some other humans). So it does the only thing it feels it has left, and it self-destructs. As the Dalek cannot live with becoming less Dalek, the Doctor feels shame at becoming 'more Dalek' (even pointing a gun at Rose who stands between him and the Dalek). He doesn't know what to do, but if Rose can give a Dalek a little humanity, she might just be able to restore the Doctor's humanity as well.

Just brilliant stuff.

The greatest catalyst of this episode is that the Doctor and the Dalek are far more similar than he would like to think, both in their capacity for hatred but also humanity. The combatting moralities between Rose and the Doctor come to a head here with striking compassion from our human companion coming out on top. I think it is from here on that we see so much more of Nine embracing himself beyond the darker parts of him forged by the Time War. But regardless, such a solid episode.

There is no celebrating the best of the Ninth Doctor without this episode. My favourite writer in all of Doctor Who, Rob Shearman’s, one and only televised contribution to the show. As I mentioned in Jubilee, this episode is partially reworked from the former, specifically the iconic scene in the cage where the Doctor confronts the Dalek, almost line for line, though this episode is 100% its own unique entity. Honestly the poetic similarity between the two stories is much like how Jubilee is the ideal first story for newcomers to Big Finish, I feel Dalek is the perfect first episode for anyone interested in Modern Who. Series 1 until this point had been at best average, it got the necessary premise of the show out of the way; introducing the Doctor, the concept of time travel, visiting the past and the future, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say they were all that good. In fact, if a newcomer started watching the series from the beginning, I feel they’d give up by the time they got to the farting aliens from Aliens of London and wonder why the hell people love this show to begin with. If you’re new to Modern Who and are looking for a very strong first impression, you won’t find many as strong as Dalek.

This is an intense 45 minutes packed with memorable scenes, quotable dialogue and great performances from all involved, especially Eccleston who delivers his best performance as the Ninth Doctor, I honestly don’t think any other Doctor could’ve pulled off the intensity and rage Eccleston brings to this episode, or at least not to that level. The scenes between him and the Dalek is honestly some of the best scenes in Doctor Who history. Speaking of the Dalek, a common criticism from fans, even by 2005 was the fact the Daleks can’t exactly feel like a terrifying force anymore, they’ve appeared more times than any other villain, are always defeated, they spent the last half of the classic show being reduced to Davros’s minions and the fact that they’ve been parodied and merchandised to death since the 60s. Yet this episode manages to achieve the near impossible by making this single, damaged Dalek truly feel like the most dangerous creature in existence. Sadly, the Daleks have gone downhill in the years since and never really hit this peak again, they’ve basically just become the typical main villains we expect to appear every year and outside of the Series 1 finale it’s gonna take a lot for them to shake off that stigma.

But the real beauty of Dalek is all in its subtext, anyone familiar with Rob Shearman’s works will know that he is big on meta-commentary and here he creates an episode that under the surface is a story about what it meant for Modern Who in its infancy after the destruction of Classic Who. You have the Doctor and the Dalek, the last two survivors of an old epoch who find themselves in a new era where everything they knew is long gone and are questioning whether they still have a purpose in this new era.

Dalek is a self-aware commentary on Doctor Who finding itself in a new era with a new generation of audience after its failure from the old era and asking if it still has a place. Which ties into the beautiful ending where the Dalek would rather die than accept this change. If you think I’m reading too much into that, trust me, look into Shearman’s works, this is kind of his schtick and why he’s a favourite writer of mine. Part of me wishes we got more from him in the show, but I am fully content with all he’s given, especially after having listened to his final Doctor Who audio My Own Private Wolfgang which was all about how even the best can become a shell of what they used to be when they go for too long (case and point The Simpsons). Shearman knew just when to stop and not let his talents diminish and I have a lot of respect for people like that. Of course, he hasn’t quite stopped with his writing contributions in other mediums and most recently has written a novelisation of Dalek which I highly, highly, highly recommend!

Maybe the best the dalek[s] have been in the modern era.

On a recent rewatch, I was struck by how brave this script is regarding where it takes the Doctor. He's angry, he's vulnerable, he's very, very fallible - the sense of which is only bolstered by an astonishing performance from Eccleston. His skill is the final piece of a puzzle that risks falling apart without the gravitas and weight he imparts to the story.