Doctor Who: Every 9th Doctor Episode Ranked Worst To Best

The introduction of the Daleks to a 21st Century audience needed to be done well to maintain their reputation as the aliens that made a generation hide behind their sofa during the 1960s. This simply titled episode, Dalek, managed to do just that.

This episode made sure the Daleks maintained their terrifying status while adding a level of emotional complexity as we witness a Dalek wrestling with its new found emotions. The scene where the Doctor confronts the last surviving Dalek of the Time War is a masterclass in acting. Eccleston portrays absolute terror, intense fascination followed by sadistic pleasure as he studies and tortures his oldest foe.

While, despite popular belief, this wasn't the first time the Daleks managed to defeat the stairs, it will go down in Who Lore as the moment the Daleks (quite literally) elevated their status beyond their shaky plastic appearance from the Classic era to the metal killing machine we know today.