10 Doctor Who Background Events You Might Have Missed

The Daleks have an annoying habit of not dying. Much like the Master, they always find a way to survive, even when it seems like they're done for. The rascals.

Case in point: at the end of Series 4 finale Journey's End, the entire Dalek fleet (including Davros) gets blown to pieces by the Metacrisis Doctor, and yet, in Series 5's Victory Of The Daleks, Skaro's most famous inhabitants are doing pretty well for themselves, considering their apparent destruction.

Now, sure, we don't need explanations for how certain Doctor Who villains keep coming back repeatedly, even after being definitively thwarted. It's just a quirk of the show that fans have come to expect. However, in this case, there actually is an explanation - albeit a really subtle one that's hidden in the background.

In Journey's End, there's an epic wide shot of the Dalek fleet exploding, but if you pay close attention during this shot, you might be able to notice that a lone ship manages to sneak away, flying out of the right-hand-side of the frame.

This detail was confirmed by then-showrunner Russell T Davies during a lockdown watch-along of the episode, with the idea being to keep some Daleks alive for use in future stories. To quote the Metaltron in Series 1 "the Daleks must survive!"