10 Doctor Who Mistakes Confirmed By The Creators
7. Hiding The Daleks
Resolution was a new type of festive special – not so much a coda to Series 11 as a second finale.
Chris Chibnall would be the first to admit that Series 11’s actual finale was fairly lacklustre (the version of The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos that went before cameras was actually a first draft).
“I really attacked Resolution, so hopefully I made up for it with that one,” he told Doctor Who Magazine in 2022.
Many would agree, but there was one thing fans took issue with: the fact that the Daleks were completely absent from the marketing. Instead, promotion focused mostly on... Jodie Whittaker’s scarf?
This allowed the reveal of the Recon Dalek to be a surprise, but also meant the episode potentially lost whole swathes of viewers by not showing it off ahead of broadcast.
Even Chibnall concedes this might not've been the best strategy. “We were torn between keeping it a secret or not,” he said, "and I’m not sure we got that call right”.
Thankfully, Revolution of the Daleks put the villains front-and-centre in the marketing. It was a have-your-cake-and-eat it approach, allowing the Defence Drones to make a splash without detracting from the episode they appeared in. Win-win!