Doctor Who: The Daleks’ Master Plan

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The Daleks’ Master Plan is a 12-episode epic from Season 3 of the classic Doctor Who series. It was originally broadcast on BBC1 in twelve weekly parts from 13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966. It was written by Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner, and directed by Douglas Camfield.

It stars William Hartnell as the Doctor, Peter Purves as Steven Taylor, Jean Marsh as Sara Kingdom, Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen, Nicholas as Bret Vyon, and Adrienne Hill as Katarina. Nicholas Courtney would later star as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in later series.

This epic twelve-part adventure is the show at its most ambitious: the Daleks forge a grand alliance and, with the traitorous Guardian of the Solar System Mavic Chen, prepare a universe-shaking weapon powered by a rare taranium core. The Doctor and Steven steal the core and run, picking up new allies as they are hunted across planets, deserts, prisons, spaceports, and even a surreal holiday detour while assassins, traps, and Dalek squads close in.

Tone shifts from witty interludes to stark, heavy drama, and the cost of resistance is high; yet at its heart the story is a breathless chase where courage, quick wits, and fragile trust are all that stand between the Daleks and victory.

Sadly, only three of the twelve episodes exist in the BBC archives, but the series survives through telesnap reconstructions.

Episode 1: The Nightmare Begins

The TARDIS lands in a hot jungle on Kembel. Steven is weak from his wound after Troy, and Katarina watches over him. The Doctor scouts the trees and finds a small recording device hidden under leaves. He plays it and hears a dead agent’s warning: the Daleks use Kembel as a base and plan a great alliance against Earth.

In space, Space Security agent Bret Vyon steals a patrol ship and heads for Kembel to learn the truth. On the planet he tracks a strange time trace to the TARDIS and holds the Doctor and Katarina at gunpoint, demanding their help. When he sees Steven’s condition, he lowers the weapon and urges them to leave the jungle at once.

Deep in the city of vines, the Daleks hold a council with alien delegates. The Guardian of the Solar System, Mavic Chen, arrives and secretly pledges Earth’s help. He presents a rare taranium core for the Daleks’ Time Destructor and agrees to return to Earth as their hidden ally.

Dalek patrols sweep the jungle. The Doctor, Katarina, and Bret carry Steven to Bret’s ship and blast off under fire. The Doctor grips the warning tape. Far below, the Daleks order pursuit. Far above, Mavic Chen smiles and begins the first steps of betrayal.

Episode 2: Day of Armageddon

On Kembel, the Daleks hold a war council with alien delegates. Mavic Chen, Guardian of the Solar System, arrives in state and presents a rare taranium core: the final element for the Daleks’ Time Destructor. He boasts of the great alliance and promises Earth will not suspect his treachery.

The Doctor, Bret Vyon, Steven, and Katarina return through the jungle to learn more and stop the plan. Varga plants bristle around them; patrols sweep the paths. The Doctor sees a robed delegate (Zephon) slip away from the council. He ambushes him, ties him up, and takes the robe and medallion.

Disguised as Zephon, the Doctor walks into the council chamber. He studies the controls, stalls the Daleks with questions, then creates confusion so he can reach the taranium. Outside, Steven triggers a diversion and Bret readies the stolen ship. Sirens wail. Daleks rush to seal the city.

The Doctor snatches the core and runs. Steven and Katarina cover him through the vines as Daleks fire. Bret leads them to the ship. They blast off with the taranium aboard.

In the council hall, the Daleks rage at the failure. Mavic Chen coolly promises to recover the core and blames Zephon, who is seized for punishment. In space, the Doctor warns his friends: they hold the one thing the Daleks must have, so the real chase now begins.

Episode 3: Devil’s Planet

The stolen patrol ship flees Kembel with the taranium core aboard. The Doctor sets a new course while Bret Vyon pilots. Steven is weak, and Katarina watches over him. Dalek craft follow. A hit jolts the hull. Fuel runs low, and Bret makes an emergency landing on a bleak world he calls Desperus, a penal planet nicknamed the Devil’s Planet.

Rocks, thorny scrub, and wreckage cover the ground. Bret warns that marooned convicts live here and will kill for a way off-world. As the Doctor checks the damaged systems, shadowy figures stalk the ridge. The criminals creep closer, whispering about the ship and its crew.

The Doctor and Bret fetch parts under the ship’s lights while Katarina tends Steven inside. A band of convicts rushes the ramp. Bret drives them back with warning shots. The raiders scatter, but one slips away unseen and searches the hull for a way in.

Repairs finish. The engines whine. Dalek signals grow stronger; Mavic Chen orders Space Security to intercept and calls Bret a traitor. With no time to spare, the ship blasts off. Among the crates, a hidden convict (Kirksen) pulls a knife and rises behind Katarina. As space closes around them, he seizes her as a hostage. The chase continues, and the danger is now inside the ship.

Episode 4: The Traitors

Kirksen, a convict stowaway, holds Katarina at knifepoint on the stolen ship and orders the Doctor and Bret to change course to a world where he can hide. The Doctor pleads, but Katarina makes a choice. She opens the air-lock controls and lets herself and Kirksen be blown into space. Steven is devastated; the Doctor says she believed it was the only way to save them. This is devastating, as it is the first time a Doctor’s companion has died.

They set course for Earth to warn Space Security about the Dalek alliance and Mavic Chen’s treachery. Bret leads them to a contact, Daxtar, who seems friendly and offers help. As they talk, Daxtar slips and reveals knowledge he should not have: about the taranium core and the Daleks’ plan. Bret realises Daxtar serves Chen. A struggle breaks out; Bret shoots Daxtar to stop him raising the alarm.

Chen brands Bret a traitor and dispatches his top agent, Sara Kingdom, with orders to capture the fugitives and recover the core. Sara arrives with guards at the research complex. She confronts Bret, accuses him of treason, and, before the Doctor can explain, shoots him down. The Doctor and Steven run as alarms blare and doors slam.

With Bret dead, Sara leads the hunt through the corridors. The friends race into the maze of labs, clutching the taranium, as Earth itself becomes a battleground of spies and betrayal.

Episode 5: Counter Plot

On Earth, the Doctor and Steven flee through Central City with the stolen taranium core. Space Security hunts them under Mavic Chen’s orders. Agent Sara Kingdom leads the pursuit, cold and efficient. The fugitives slip into a government research complex where scientists test a new matter-transmission beam. The Doctor sees a chance: if he can step into the beam, he can jump off-world and keep the core from Chen and the Daleks.

Chen learns where they are and orders the lab sealed. He contacts the Daleks. Together they devise a counter-plot: they will couple the Earth transmitter to a Dalek time pathway and divert any jump to a distant world called Mira, where a patrol can capture the Doctor and the taranium.

Alarms blare. Sara bursts into the lab with guards. The Doctor throws switches and drags Steven into the transmission chamber. Sara lunges after them. The beam fires. All three vanish.

In deep space the coupled paths bend. The Daleks gloat that the diversion has worked and launch a pursuit squad to Mira. On Mira’s swampy surface, wind hisses through reeds. Footprints appear in the mud; something unseen splashes away. The Doctor, Steven, and Sara rematerialise (stranded together, still enemies) while the Daleks close in.

Episode 6: Coronas of the Sun

On the swampy world Mira, the Doctor, Steven, and Sara hide among reeds while Dalek patrols land to hunt them. Invisible natives, the Visians, stalk the area and strike at anything that moves. Daleks fire wildly, giving the travellers a chance to slip away. Sara still believes Mavic Chen’s orders, but she hears a Dalek transmission praising Chen as their ally and begins to doubt.

The Doctor refuses to hand over the taranium core. He says it powers the Daleks’ Time Destructor and could destroy worlds. Instead he plans a decoy. Using parts from the ruined transmat pod and polished plates to focus fierce sunlight, he fuses local crystals and builds a fake core: good enough to pass a quick inspection.

Daleks close in. Visians attack again, pulling patrols off the paths. The Doctor arranges a “trade,” lets a squad seize the decoy, and lures them into a thicket where the Visians harry them. Steven and Sara fight beside the Doctor and escape with the real core through the marsh.

Back at the clearing, the Daleks fit the substitute to a test unit. Readings look right: for now. In the jungle, Sara chooses a side at last. She vows to stop Chen and the Daleks. The three set off together, still hunted, but with a plan to keep the core from their enemies a little longer.

Episode 7: The Feast of Steven

This episode is a light-hearted Christmas special, unrelated to the main arc. The TARDIS lands beside a police station in England (1960s) on Christmas Day. The Doctor steps out to check the scanner and is promptly mistaken for a meddler around a public police box. A constable escorts him inside for questions about a stolen car.

Outside, Steven and Sara watch a puzzled officer try to use the “box” as a telephone kiosk. A petty crook also tries the door, thinking it is ordinary. The confusion grows when the TARDIS suddenly vanishes and reappears, leaving the policemen staring and the crook running for his life. The travellers slip away and dematerialise.

They land again: this time on a 1920s Hollywood film lot. No one listens when they say they are not actors. Steven wanders onto a slapstick comedy set and is chased by “policemen” in baggy uniforms. Sara stumbles into a grand desert epic with extras in armour and dancers with veils.

The Doctor wanders between stages, accidentally shouting “Action!” and sending both productions into chaos. Props fall, cameras topple, and an outraged director orders everyone off every set at once. Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor pours a small toast. Steven and Sara calm after the mad day. The Doctor smiles at the scanner and wishes everyone a merry Christmas: even the audience at home.

Episode 8: Volcano

The TARDIS lands on a rocky world beside a smoking volcano. Ash drifts in the air. The Doctor checks the scanner while Steven and Sara watch the horizon for Daleks. A robed figure steps from behind a boulder: the Meddling Monk. He smiles and pretends friendship, then snaps a small device onto the TARDIS lock. The doors fuse shut like metal stone. The Monk laughs, says this is revenge for 1066, and demands the taranium core. He slips away before Sara can fire.

Cut to space: the Daleks test the core they took earlier and discover it is a fake. They order all units to pursue the Doctor at once. Mavic Chen boasts he will recover the real taranium and keep his power on Earth.

On the volcano world, tremors grow. The Doctor rigs a counter-frequency using coils, a lens, and the ship’s exterior circuits. The clamp shivers and falls. The doors open. The Monk darts back, tries to snatch the core from Steven, and fails. Lava bursts from the slope. Dalek saucers descend through the smoke. Daleks roll into the flow and stall as heat rises.

The Doctor dematerialises. The Monk races to his own TARDIS and follows. Both time machines arrive in the desert of ancient Egypt. Sun beats on stone. Workers stare at two blue boxes, and the chase begins again.

Episode 9: Golden Death

The TARDIS and the Monk’s TARDIS arrive in ancient Egypt during pyramid building. Heat shimmers over sand and gold-painted statues. The Doctor hides the taranium core and scouts the ruins with Steven and Sara. The Monk sneaks after them, still plotting revenge. Local workers see the strangers and raise an alarm. Guards seize the Monk and march him to a temple, where he claims to be a holy man.

Dalek saucers descend. Mavic Chen steps out and orders the Daleks to search the ruins. They capture the Monk, learn he knows the Doctor, and force him to guide them. Egyptians panic as Daleks burn through doorways and smash statues: the “golden” city turns deadly.

Steven and Sara are cornered by temple guards, then by Daleks. Chen recognises Sara and mocks her for serving the wrong side. She and Steven are taken as hostages. The Doctor lays decoys among tombs and writes quick plans in the sand, but a patrol finds him. He escapes into a burial chamber and signals he will bargain.

Chen announces terms: bring the real taranium to a set place, or the hostages die. The Monk tries to trick both sides and save himself, but ends up a prisoner again. As night falls on the desert, Daleks take positions around the temple. The Doctor prepares for the exchange, knowing the next move will decide everything.

Episode 10: Escape Switch

Daleks surround the temple at night. Mavic Chen stands with them and calls out his terms. Steven and Sara are brought forward as hostages. The Doctor steps into the torchlight with the taranium core. The Monk, still trying to save himself, whispers offers to both sides and gets shoved around for his trouble.

The Doctor insists on a straight exchange. Steven and Sara cross the steps to him. In return, the Doctor hands over the core. Chen snatches it proudly and orders the Daleks to withdraw to their ship. Egyptian guards charge in confusion; Daleks fire and scatter them. In the chaos, the Doctor pulls his friends into cover and slips away from the temple.

He catches the Monk by a pillar and turns the tables. Smiling, the Doctor borrows a vital part from the Monk’s TARDIS: the directional control he needs to steer his own ship. The Monk blusters, begs, and tries another trick; the Doctor swaps a lead, throws an “escape switch,” and sends the Monk’s craft jumping to the wrong time and place, stranded again.

With the stolen unit fitted, the Doctor, Steven, and Sara reach their TARDIS. He sets a course to follow the Daleks to Kembel. Out among the stars, Chen boasts of victory as the fleet turns for home: and the final phase of the Dalek plan.

Episode 11: The Abandoned Planet

The Doctor steers the TARDIS back to Kembel using the Monk’s stolen part. The jungle is silent. The Dalek city stands empty. Burned Varga plants lean over quiet paths. Inside the base, control rooms hum on standby but no Daleks answer. The Doctor, Steven, and Sara search and discover a signal log: the Dalek council has left Kembel, and the invasion fleet is moving to the Solar System under Mavic Chen’s guidance.

A Dalek patrol lands, takes orders from a distant command, and lifts off again. The Doctor boards a small bay, studies the codes, and traces the command path to Earth’s Central City. He decides they must go there to stop Chen. They seize a Dalek pursuit ship from the deserted hangar and follow the signal.

On Earth, Chen strides into Communications and announces his “guardianship” over the coming new order. Space Security splits: some obey, some hesitate. The Doctor and Steven slip into a relay room while Sara confronts old colleagues and confirms Chen’s treachery. Together the travellers jam the link long enough to sow confusion in the fleet.

The Daleks cut through the noise and order Chen back to Kembel with the taranium for final assembly. Drunk on power, Chen agrees. The Doctor, Steven, and Sara hide aboard the returning craft. Course set for Kembel, the Time Destructor nearly ready, they prepare for a last, desperate move.

Episode 12: Destruction of Time

The Dalek fleet returns to Kembel to assemble the Time Destructor. Mavic Chen strides into the city, boasting that he alone brings victory. The Daleks ignore him once the taranium core is fitted. When he orders them about, they judge him useless and exterminate him. The Doctor, Steven, and Sara slip through corridors to the control area. In the confusion, the Doctor seizes the Time Destructor, snaps it to his belt, and runs into the jungle with Sara while Steven heads for the TARDIS.

The machine activates. A fierce wind rises. Plants wither to dust. Stones crack. Time itself speeds up around them. The Doctor tells Sara to go back, but she refuses to leave him. The force ages her in moments; she stumbles, smiles bravely, and collapses: gone. The Doctor staggers on, older with every step, clutching the device as Daleks roll from the city and begin to crumble in the storm of ages.

Steven finds the TARDIS, then fights his way to the Doctor through dead vines and drifting ash. He reaches the control and shuts the machine down. Silence falls. The Dalek city is a ruin. The jungle is a grave of dust. Steven helps the exhausted Doctor back to the TARDIS. They mourn Sara and depart Kembel, leaving the Time Destructor’s ashes behind.

Themes and Legacy

Sprawling, ruthless, and often brilliant, The Daleks’ Master Plan is the First Doctor era at its most epic. Across twelve chapters, it marries chase-serial momentum to genuine tragedy. Katarina’s sacrifice and Sara Kingdom’s fate give the adventure a gravity few 1960s stories attempt, while Mavic Chen’s grand betrayal keeps the politics sharp.

It’s baggier than The Dalek Invasion of Earth and less perfectly chiselled than The Aztecs, but for scale, stakes, and audacity it sits in the top tier of Hartnell serials. Its web of links is rich. The tale is lit by the flare of Mission to the Unknown, flowed into from The Myth Makers, and spiked with a mischievous rematch when the Meddling Monk returns from The Time Meddler.

The Time Destructor’s cataclysm on Kembel closes one Dalek chapter even as it hardens Steven and steers the TARDIS toward the sombre recalibration of The Massacre and, soon after, the fresh dynamic that emerges in The Ark. In that sense, this serial doesn’t just cap an arc: it resets the compass, proving the show can pivot from cosmic conspiracy to intimate consequence without losing its nerve.

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This is a chapter from Craig Hill’s book “Doctor Who – The First Doctor”, chronicling every episode featuring the First Doctor. It is available on Amazon.

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