10 Moments That Changed Doctor Who Forever

It's hard to comprehend these days but there was once a time when the Daleks were just another of the Doctor’s many monstrous enemies.

Their popularity couldn’t be matched (especially during the ‘Dalekmania’ of the mid-60s), but onscreen they were usually depicted trying to invade Earth or destroy individual planets. Yes they were a threat, but they didn’t tend to get more ambitious than destroying Earth’s solar system in The Daleks’ Master Plan.

That all changed with Genesis of the Daleks. Only a few years after putting the Doctor on trial for interfering in universal affairs, the Time Lords pull him out of time and send him to Skaro, tasking him with destroying the Daleks at the point of their creation.

Here, the Daleks are consciously established as the Doctor's ultimate foe, and a genuine threat to both the Time Lords and the universe at large.

The consequences are far-reaching, with Gallifrey's interference in this story being considered one of the opening shots of the Time War, which itself resulted in the Time Lords and the Daleks being all but wiped out.

There's a dark irony in the fact that the Time Lords' attempt to stamp out the Daleks is what led to their own annihilation.