"Well, well, well! Daleks without the power to kill! How does it feel?"

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Intro
00:37 Part One
02:04 Part Two
02:55 Part Three
03:13 Part Four

TIMELINE

13th July 1987

BBC Video release the #DoctorWho story "Death To The Daleks" solely on VHS at a new 'budget' price of £9.99 RRP. Running to just under 93 minutes, the compilation has intermediate opening titles and closing credits removed, along with cliffhanger endings. It spends eleven weeks in the UK video charts and by 1997 was the best-selling Doctor Who video release with over 50,000+ units sold.

Part One of "Death To The Daleks" was the final Doctor Who episode to have its master two-inch transmission tape wiped following broadcast. The 1987 VHS used what was the only known complete copy, a 525-line NTSC conversion recovered from BBC Toronto in Canada during 1981.

Part One also existed as an edited 625-line PAL recording returned from Australia in 1985, missing the opening scene. Efforts could have been made to combine the two recordings and make the most of the surviving native PAL footage, but unfortunately this did not happen.

13th February 1995

Re-released on video as part of the 'Complete and Unedited' range of stories previously available in edited form. Unfortunately, it soon becomes obvious to fans that Part Two has two cuts, including a line of dialogue ("Myself, chiefly"). It is believed BBC Video accidentally used an edited version of Part Two also returned from Australia in 1985. It is reported the ABC censors took exception with poor Bellal's face, but the removal of dialogue remains unclear (possibly the tape was damaged at that point).

Part One is now sourced from a complete 625-line PAL recording returned to the BBC from the United Arab Emirates a few years earlier. The UAE tape was in very poor condition and several partial replays were required to transfer all parts of the episode to D3 tape in order to create a new archive master. The redundant two-inch tape has since been repurposed as a handy doorstop by Doctor Who historian/archivist Richard Molesworth.

18th June 2012

Finally complete and unedited, the story arrives on DVD in the UK in restored form.

SOURCES

1. 1985 VHS, edited compilation, no restoration (BBCV4073) - out of print
2. 1995 VHS, episodic but slightly edited, no restoration (BBCV5520) - out of print
3. 2012 DVD, episodic, complete & unedited, fully restored (BBCDVD3483) - currently available

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Researched and compiled by Pip Madeley.
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DISCLAIMER: The footage in this video is the copyright of the BBC and I do not claim ownership. Limited clips have been used in accordance with fair dealing as allowed by UK law for the purposes of review, research and education. Death To The Daleks is available to buy on DVD.