It has long been believed that if you want to get the real rate a Doctor Who star—which, deep down, their birth as a Time Lord really is compared to what came before—finds out in their first encounter with a Dalek. Whether it’s in writing or performance, Doctor Who is built on its response to the show’s classic and iconic villains, no matter how many stories come before or after that legendary show. So it is crazy that Ncuti Gatwa’s first speech as the Kaled whip will be in a very small gathering.
This week the BBC announced A Dalek Awakensa new escape room experience for UK fans powered by Escape Hunt. Players who work by boarding a ship occupied by a single Dalek, A Dalek Awakens you will see people solving puzzles together to escape the deadly wrath of the Doctor’s arch enemy without being able to rely on the presence of the Time Lord… directly at least.
Help the Doctor defeat the Dalek! Get up close and personal with the Doctor’s deadliest foe and help the Fifteenth Doctor in the newly revamped escape room ‘A Dalek Awakens’ from @EscapeHuntUK 💥 pic.twitter.com/A3hScoNeVO
– Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) November 19, 2024
As seen in the teaser video above, Gatwa will reprise his role as the Doctor A Dalek Awakensproviding a voice to guide the players in their quest to escape certain doom—and providing context for what a Dalek is really capable of. Which means this is, in fact, the first time anyone has heard what the 15th Doctor is like when facing the threat of the Daleks… rather than in the show itself.
It’s an unusual decision, but not all that surprising. Although there have been teases and hints that a new, redesigned version of the Dalek will appear in the latest iteration of the Doctor Who at one point, returning showrunner Russell T. Davies also made it clear that the latest season of the show wants to keep the Daleks away from the plunger for a while. “I think a lot has been done—people expect them every year now. So I think they need a good break,” Davies told Britain’s Mirror newspaper ahead of last year’s 60th anniversary specials. “Hopefully, there will be new old enemies, but it’s always good to move on.”
That’s right, Davies it was and you’re about to fast-track the 14th episode of Doctor Who three-part series by having David Tennant’s latest Time Lord face off against an early Dalek prototype in a small charity episode, so that nice break didn’t last that long, but still.
On the one hand, it makes sense, given that the Daleks had become a regular staple of New Year’s Eve specials by the time of Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall. Doctor Who before—making them look predictable obscures the Daleks’ unique identity and relationship with the Doctor and Doctor Who big. On the other hand: he is really mad that the first time some people heard that Ncuti Gatwa talking about fighting the Daleks would be for escape!
Fingers crossed it won’t be that long until we find the same within the program itself—something Gatwa wishes to see. “When I finished Doctor Who, I’d rather face a Dalek. “What good would it do me to be Doctor Who without dealing with a Dalek,” the actor asked Entertainment Weekly in an essay before the premiere of its first season earlier this year. What would be point be, really.
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