Innocence

We jump now to the planet Skaro to witness the life of a certain mad scientist known as Davros. Lance Parkin’s A History has placed the Davros mini-series from Big Finish (and subsequently, Genesis of the Daleks) in a variety of different time periods depending on the edition and the evidence available. Initially placed BC, the third edition of the book (which forms the backbone of this marathon) now places it around 600 AD. Placing the mini-series in particular, parallel with stories set in the Roman Empire seems incredibly apt seeing, as I mention later in this review, this series parallels with the glorious BBC series I, Claudius which detailed the lives and deaths of various Roman Emperors.

So what of the first episode of I, Davros – Innocence? Aside from the framing device of the Daleks ‘trying’ Davros, the part is played by Rory Jennings (from The Idiot’s Lantern). He is great as the young Davros: all teenage disinterest and morbid curiosity. He is backed up by a superb cast including Captain Yates himself, Richard Franklin as Davros’ ‘father’, Colonel Nasgard, ex-Neighbours star Richard Grieve as Major Brogan, Peter Sowerbutts as Magrantine and Big Finish regulars, Lizzie Hopley as Yarvell and Sean Connolly as Councillor Quested. However, nearly everyone is eclipsed by the tour de force delivered by Carolyn Jones as Calcula, Davros’ mother. If anyone was going to have the sort of mother presented here, then it would be Davros. She is scheming, murderous, manipulative and borderline insane. The apple never falls far from the tree.

This audio is very much a character piece and there is little plot to speak of. That said, it’s really just the first chapter in a 4 part story so what we have is an establishment of characters such as Calcula and Yarvell, and the background to Davros’ later achievements such as his tuition by Magrantine and experiments into how radiation affects the Kaled biology.

There are lots of clever nods to other Dalek stories: Calcula refers to ‘the flying pests’ (as a Dalek does in The Evil of the Daleks); Davros’ older (half) sister is called Yarvell (recalling the character of Yarvelling in the 60s Dalek comic strip).

It makes sense to me that this period of Skaro’s history should be set thousands of years before this sort of technology was possible on Earth as we need to believe that the Daleks could develop to the level of space exploration they are capable of in ‘later’ Dalek stories such as The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Also, having recently seen the planet Mondas and how far ahead of Earth it was in technology, it seems reasonable that Skaro would also be this advanced.

Skaro as a planet is detailed sketchily: Davros’ family home is next to a lake and the Kaleds and Thals are already well into their war (which has been going for hundreds of years already) and the main cities are housed under the giant domes seen later in Genesis of the Daleks.

Technology is much the same as seen in Genesis of the Daleks, although the war of attrition doesn’t seem to have taken hold as much as it has in that story.

I, Davros plays like a science fiction version of I, Claudius (which, bearing in mind the choice of title is probably deliberate). As such it is a joy to listen to the machinations of Davros’ family and see the groundwork to Davros’ later achievements laid out for us in all its terrible glory. I look forward to the next chapter.