Dalekmania at BFI! Dr Who and the Daleks & Dalek Invasion Earth 2150 AD

On the 19th of June, the BFI opened its doors to a special double bill of the two 1960’s Dalek films, Dr Who and the Daleks and Dalek Invasion Earth 2150 AD. The event was to celebrate their 4K releases on Blu-ray in Collector’s Edition and Steelbook. The two BFI hosts of these events Justin Johnson (Lead Programmer for BFI) and Dick Fiddy (BFI Archive Television Programmer) were there to open this popular event.

Also in attendance were actors Roberta Tovey (Susan) and Jill Curzon (Louise) as well as some surprise special guests. 

A Dalek Phenomenon

Its been almost 60 years since the films were shown on the crest of a wave called Dalekmania. Dalekmania was the first commercial success created by the transmission of the BBC tv series and the seven-part story The Daleks in December 1963 and its follow-up The Dalek Invasion of Earth almost a year later in November 1964. There isn’t much spoken these days about the two 1960’s Daleks films and they have been somewhat disregarded as non-canon however Dick Fiddy discussed his own childhood memories of the films.

He explained there was real excitement in seeing Daleks in colour and also on the big screen. He remembered the cinema sound of the films which was quite different from the tinny noise of home television.

I suppose a modern equivalent would be the excitement of the launch of Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures within a couple of years of the revived Doctor Who series and that general sense of a series in the public consciousness. The peak of Dalekmania was in 1964 with sweet cigarettes, soap, slippers, wallpaper, games, play suits, clockwork and battery-operated toys as well as books written by Nation and David Whitaker.

Let’s not also forgot the obligatory novelty record single ‘I’m Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek’ sung by The Go Go’s or Roberta Tovey’s singing Whose Who?

Creation of the films

Amicus Productions were a British production company, known for its horror and thriller films that used a similar screen style to Hammer Horror films. Amicus’s founders were American producers and screenwriters Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg. Subotsky and Rosenberg were keen to exploit through a big-screen film adaptation the popularity of the Daleks within the UK and open a US film market for them. They also wanted to get there before their rivals Hammer Films. The Daleks they saw were the selling point of the films.

There was a deliberate commercial decision to reinvent the films to stand on their own. Hence they are quite different in tone and style to the tv series and don’t have any continuing connection but some borrowed elements. Existing within a separate world they disposed of with the Doctor being a timelord. “Dr Who” (yes that is his surname) became a very clever human scientist with two granddaughters, one called Susan (or Susie) played by Roberta Tovey and the other called Barbara played by Jennie Linden. The second film also introduced Jill Curzon as the doctor’s niece Louise. Both films had a U classification and aimed at a family audience with a set-up to appeal to adults and children alike.

Peter Cushing was known mainly as a horror genre star who had worked closely with Hammer films but his interpretation as “Dr Who” is more of a kindly, clever grandfather. His Doctor is without the irascibility of William Hartnell. Susan is younger than in the tv series but has inherited his curiosity for exploring and Barbara is the elder granddaughter with a clumsy boyfriend called Ian (played by Roy Castle) rather than these characters being school teachers.

According to a 2015 BFI article, the first film Dr Who and the Daleks was the 20th biggest box office earner of 1965 in the UK. Its success was enough for Amicus Productions to commission a follow-up film Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. almost straightaway. The second film had more money than the first but commercially didn’t do as well with audiences. It’s a strange thing as I think the script is probably more robust for the second film based as it is on an occupied Earth.

Restoration of the Films – Interview with Anthony Badger and Mark Ayres 

Before the first film, Dr Who and the Daleks was shown, Anthony Badger – Restoration Supervisor at StudioCanal and Mark Ayres who did the sound restoration came to the stage to be interviewed by Dick Fiddy. Anthony explained that there had been a hunt made for the original negatives for both films which were not used on any previous DVD presentation. The original negatives were found but the negatives for the first film were heavily scratched which may explain why they were not referred back to. It wasn’t known initially if they were good enough to use.

Anthony explained there was a lot of effort made using a wetgate scanner – a scanner that runs the film through a chemical bath that fills in any scratches on the negative. to restore the film so it could be used. Dick Fiddy asked if it was typical of 1960’s films that negatives can be hard to find. Anthony confirmed that StudioCanal has brought up a lot of film libraries and there is an element of the unknown with how well the collections have been looked after but also logged.

Mark Ayres detailed his involvement with getting the audio master for the Dalek films which goes back as far as the previous VHS documentary Dalekmania produced in 1995. He was involved in the audio mix for that production where they used clips from the films, which included music. The copies of the music were magnetic track transfers.

In 2001 when both films were released by Warner and Mark was able to advise on making corrections on missing music cues, putting the pre-title sequence of Dalek Invasion Earth 2150 AD to its correct place in the film (so not after the titles). He confirmed he also did a near definitive audio remaster in 2020 for a Blu-ray release by US distributor Kino Lorber. 

Director Interview with Anthony Way – First Assistant Director

In a long career as an assistant director and producer Anthony Waye has been involved in over seventy films including the James Bond franchise, The Elephant Man and Star Wars. He explained his role as keeping control of the shooting schedule, speaking to the actors where necessary and supporting the director. He described Gordon Flemyng the director as good fun at times but also at times nervous.

For Dr Who and the Daleks, he said there was an awareness of tight finances and schedules and as such enormous pressure. He also remembered the difficulties of working with the Daleks, as the enemies of both films. Keeping them on a straight line when manoeuvring and issues as the operators got hot inside the casing.

Cast Interview with Jill Curzon

Jill was asked about working with Peter Cushing and said he was a “real gentleman and that he epitomised Dr Who” when she played his niece Louise. She recounted a story of going to Whitstable where Peter Cushing lived and visiting an Art Deco building which was an old cinema but was turned into a restaurant.

The restaurant had framed pictures celebrating Peter Cushing and Jill asked for a picture to have. The assistant came out with a massive gold-framed picture which she gave to Jill Curzon for free. Thankful Jill bundled it quickly into her car boot and gave it later to a charity signing.

Cast Interview with Roberta Tovey 

Roberta disclosed she was thrilled to get the role of Susan as she was aware of watching Doctor Who on Saturday afternoon. She talked about how she got the role after a mass audition at the Corona Theatre School. Roberta was asked for a further audition at Shepperton where she selected a book to read and chose Spike Milligan poems although she didn’t understand them. Roberta found Gordon Flemyng a kind man who was always lovely and supportive to her. 

Roberta successfully gained the role of Susan and started work on Dr Who and the Daleks. Of the two films, the first is very dear to her due to all of the main cast being kept together. As an actor from the age of six, she explained how she took her time on set seriously understanding it was a job.

Scheduled for three hours on set due to her age she would then have to do her schoolwork to the sound of Roy Castle (Ian) playing his trumpet and tap dancing down the corridor! She recalled how Peter Cushing summoned her to his caravan one day and asked her very sweetly how he would only do a second film if she would.

Interview with Sergei and Dmitri Subotsky

After the screening of Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D the sons of Milton Subotsky, who wrote the screenplays and produced the films as part of Amicus Productions came to the stage. Although both were born after the films came out they were able to shed some light on their father from his memories and some mementoes he had kept from his time doing the films. Their father had been very busy in 1965 under Amicus because as well as Dr Who and the Daleks being produced, the films Dr Terror’s House of Horrors and The Skull came out. Dr Terror’s House of Horrors also starred Peter Cushing and Roy Castle.

They shared some really interesting items including:

A letter from the International division of British Lion Films to Milton Subotsky dated 18^th May 1965 where they were rejecting his idea, a plan to enter the first film in the Trieste science fiction festival. This was due to the perception that it would bring the film into a “lower category”, They described a planned publicity stunt of a Dalek invasion of Cannes festival whilst promoting the film as a “Swiss Family Robinson type full of “action, adventure and colour with the additional gimmick of Daleks”…

A telex from 1965 where an initial agreement from 1964 was made between the BBC, Terry Nation and AARU Productions where they talked about the options for the two films and the costs to gain the rights…

Dalek deal set. British Lion financing 70% NF7C 20%. (Joe) Vegoda (of production company AARU) will find us other 10%… Shooting starts March 9th – Telex from Milton Subotsky to Max Rosenberg in New York

They explained after the first film there was a further agreement to give the rights for a third film but possibly the option lapsed. Asked about the third film the brothers revealed their father some 15 years later had prepared a script called “Dr Who’s Greatest Adventure “ a repurposed script and there was much laughter from the audience here a horror film called King Crab (original title Night of the Crabs!) An idea for the script was a younger and an older doctor.

After the screening, Roberta Tovey and Jill Curzon stayed for autograph signings. There was a long queue to see them both and chat though before the event ended.

Available at the event also was a special postcard.

The first film Dr Who and the Daleks Steel book is available now. The second film Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. 4K Collector’s Edition Blu-ray or Steel book is released on 18^th July. There is also a Dr Who & The Daleks: The Official Story of the Hardcover being released on the 6th Sept. 2022.

You can pick up the movies here:

Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. 4K Steelbook

Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. 4K Collector’s Edition

Doctor Who and the Daleks 4K Collector’s Edition

The two Dalek films will also be shown in selected cinemas in full 4K from 10 July 2022 in the UK.