‘Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks’ – Terrance Dicks (BBC Books)

Yesterday was a day in the office so, of course, I needed a little something for the bus ride in and the journey home (and for some of lunchtime too, once I’d found something to eat). I’ve been really enjoying revisiting some of the old Doctor Who novelisations and figured it was time to go back and read ‘Day of the Daleks’, one that I always enjoyed as a kid. Way, way back in the day (and it’s a bit scary how long ago that was now), I used to have ‘Day of the Daleks’ as part of the ‘Dalek Omnibus’ collection, I’ve no idea where that book is now but Amazon saw me coming and so, when I left for work yesterday morning, ‘Day of the Daleks’ came with me...

UNIT is called in when an important diplomat is attacked in his own home - by a man who then vanishes into thin air. The Doctor and Jo spend a night in the 'haunted' house and meet the attackers - who have time-jumped back from the 22nd century in the hope of changing history.

Travelling forward in time, the Doctor and Jo find themselves trapped in a future world where humans are slaves and the Daleks have already invaded. Using their ape-like servants to Ogrons to maintain order, the Daleks are now the masters of Earth.

As the Doctor desperately works to discover what has happened to put history off-track, the Daleks plan a time-jump attack on the 20th century.

It has been far too long since I read ‘Day of the Daleks’ (although I did finally get to watch it a few years ago, better late than never) but some things clearly never change. ‘Day of the Daleks’ was a real comfort read for me, as a kid, and honestly, reading it again was like meeting up with an old friend and realising that even if you know each others stories off by heart, they’re still awesome to hear. A whole load of nostalgia wrapped up in a surprisingly well told tale from Terrance Dicks.

I saw ‘surprisingly well told’, I should be clearer… Terrance Dicks has never told a bad ‘Doctor Who’ tale but his habit of sticking to exactly what happened on the screen can sometimes make for a slightly less riveting read. Not so with ‘Day of the Daleks’, Dicks takes a few risks, elaborating on some details and adding stuff that never made it into the final script. What would normally be an almost word for word retelling becomes something that feels little more alive, something that you can actually engage with. That’s probably what hooked me as a kid, having never seen ‘Day’ at that point, and that’s what got me back into it now. It’s a book that gives you a lot and it’s really easy to take what’s on offer and keep reading.

And there is a lot on offer here. We’re talking Daleks doing what Daleks do best and human rebels trying to do the right thing but falling foul of a timeline that will do the one thing it has to do, no matter what. I have trouble following the ‘timey wimey stuff’ but Dicks presents it here in such a way that it’s easy to get your head around and yes, I’m still feeling pretty pleased that I got it ;o) It’s all over in a rush but what a rush it is and you’re left in a bit of an odd place, the timeline plot is wrapped up perfectly but is bittersweet at the same time.

I’m know I’m saying this a lot at the moment but it’s still true, I’m really glad I took the time to give ‘Day of the Daleks’ another read. Definitely one of the better novelisations in my opinion ;o)