Doctor Who: 12 Big Moments When Moffat Delivered The Chills

By Baz Greenland /

9. Rory Walks Through The Dalek Asylum - Asylum Of The Daleks

One of the most successful elements of Steven Moffat's series seven opener - beside the surprise appearance of Oswin Oswald - was his ability to make the Dalek threat scary. We're talking of course of the tense scene where a stranded Rory walks through a dusty, dead corridor, motionless Daleks all around him. The tension is already high. A nervous Rory creeps towards a seemingly dead Dalek and pushes it backwards. Nothing happens, he shrugs and moves on. We think that's the worst of it and then Moffat throws a ship full of zombie passengers after the Doctor and Amy just to scare the pants of us. By the time we get back to Rory and he starts examining a dead Dalek with a torch, we think the terror has been delivered. But then the Dalek starts to wake up, Rory trips on a piece of metal and the light on the Dalek stalk ignites. Before we know it, he's surrounded by a room full of cobweb-covered Daleks. It's eight and a half minutes of pure tension. All thoughts of the Power Ranger rainbow Daleks are instantly forgotten as the deadly pepperpots become a very real threat again.