Doctor Who: Why Dalek Empire was such a major series for Big Finish

Dalek Empire is more than just a strong Doctor Who spin-off in its own right. It also paved the way for many other successful spin-offs from Big Finish.

When it comes to Doctor Who spin-offs, you’ll be hard pressed to find a wider variety than the many audio series offered by Big Finish. Each year sees the release of many different series: Gallifrey; Jenny: The Doctor’s Daughter; The War Master; UNIT, to name just a few. Even Torchwood has more of a life on audio at Big Finish these days.

But it wasn’t always like this. Once upon a time, Big Finish’s catalogue of Doctor Who spin-offs was considerably smaller. While the company technically began with a Doctor Who spin-off series – one based on Bernice Summerfield, a highly popular companion from the novels – she had such a life of her own that she seemed almost outside of the world of Doctor Who. Indeed, they were able to make Bernice Summerfield audios for quite some time before they had the license to Who itself.

So for the first couple of years, Big Finish didn’t make any original Doctor Who spin-offs. That is, until they released Dalek Empire.

The Daleks have been as popular with both the fans and the general public as Doctor Who itself. A spin-off based on them seemed to be a guaranteed success.

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

A guaranteed success?

Dalek Empire was a major stepping stone for Big Finish Productions. While they had focused heavily on releasing Doctor Who audios, Dalek Empire was the first time they created something directly tied to that universe, but not featuring the Doctor.

Their first ever original spin-off series could have been something of a risk, and it arguably was. But they made a very safe choice by focusing that spin-off on the Daleks. One of the most popular creations that Doctor Who has ever given us – to the point where the term “Dalekmania” was created to describe the public’s obsession with them back in the Sixties – the Daleks are guaranteed to bring in a good portion of the fan base.

Still, just because a Dalek spin-off series seemed like a good idea, that doesn’t mean that it was guaranteed to succeed. The series needed to show that the Daleks could work without the Doctor around to stop them. That they could be taken seriously as a threat. In short, it needed a really strong writer to make it work. Which is where Nicholas Briggs came in.

From the voice of the Daleks

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As someone who regularly voices the Daleks – both in the New Series and on audio – Briggs is easily recognized now as one of the major authorities on Daleks. If his excellent voice acting didn’t prove that, then his writing certainly does.

With his vision, Dalek Empire became more than just a series focused on the Doctor’s worst enemies. It became a series about the best and the worst of humanity. A series about war, death, love and hope. And it became a pretty dark and brutal series, too. Briggs was never afraid to kill off one of his major characters, which helped to establish just how much darker this spin-off series was.

The first series was so successful that it spawned three further series. More than that, in the years to come, Big Finish would go on to create other Doctor Who spin-offs featuring major characters and monsters, such as Gallifrey or Cyberman. They even created their own series of audios for everyone’s favorite journalist, Sarah Jane Smith.

As pointed out, we now have many, many other spin-offs. But I doubt that we’d have so many if Dalek Empire hadn’t been as brilliant and successful as it proved to be.

Next. Dalek Empire II closes with both major endings and new beginnings. dark

Are you a fan of Big Finish’s Doctor Who releases and spin-off series? Do you think Dalek Empire was a key reason why we have so many spin-off series now? Let us know in the comments below.

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