Just as David Tennant is about to leave the series and hand over the keys of the TARDIS to the eleventh doctor Matt Smith—the final episodes with Tennant air Christmas and New Year’s Day—the last remaining Dalek from the original series in 1963 is about to go on the auction block in Britain:
Despite the Daleks’ fearsome reputation onscreen, off it the plywood and fibreglass mutants were frequently cannibalised due to tight production budgets.
Mr Beech said: “Every time a new artistic director came in and ordered a redesign, they were re-patched and re-patched, until they got so bad they couldn’t be patched up any longer.”
Only the lower half of this Dalek dates from 1963, he said.
Also to be sold are a number of Cybermen, Sea Devils and Tractators.
They were all part of a touring Dr Who exhibition and are being sold because of the cost of conserving them.