In a way the BBC would be mad not to include Doctor Who’s most iconic monsters in this episode.
Barring the Children in Need special Destination Skaro and a flash of reused/reworked footage in The Reality War, the Daleks have been absent from the show since 2022 – and for the entirety of the RTD2 era.
At the time this was part of a conscious move away from iconic enemies, in favour of fantastical new baddies and obscurer old favourites. There was also a feeling that the bronze Time War Daleks had been done to death, and that a rest/redesign probably wasn’t a bad idea.
But by the time next year’s special airs the Daleks will have been away from our screens for four years. It’s honestly baffling that they never appeared in the Disney era given how iconic they are, you’d have expected Disney to be all over them. And honestly we’re ready for them to come back now! Plus there’s no other monster that could generate as much interest in the show among casuals as the Daleks can.
While a redesign would be cool it would arguably make even more sense to have the bronze boys back alongside Billie Piper, assuming she’s actually in this thing. Honestly at this point we’ll take anything we can get!
