Doctor Who review: Dalek inspiration Jubilee is far darker than its TV counterpart

While Jubilee acted as the inspiration for the popular Ninth Doctor episode Dalek, there’s no question that this is a very different Doctor Who story altogether.

Tomorrow brings us the latest Doctor Who watchalong: Dalek by Robert Shearman. Not only is it a crucial episode in terms of New Series mythology, as it was absolutely essential in bringing the Daleks back with a bang. Not only is it a strong story in its own right, and remains one of the best Dalek stories of the New Series. But – like last week’s watchalong Human Nature – it was also inspired by another story from the same writer.

However, while Human Nature was almost a direct adaptation of the novel of the same name, Jubilee is an extremely different story from Dalek. In some ways, Dalek is the inverse of Human Nature – while the latter was broadly the same as its source material, only being crucially different in the details, Dalek was a completely different story from Jubilee altogether, with only key elements being used directly. But which ones?

Before we get to that, let’s look at the overall story. The Sixth Doctor and his companion Evelyn Smythe arrive in London in 2003. But it’s not the 2003 that they know. 100 years after a thwarted Dalek invasion, the English Empire rules the world, with the completely unstable President Rochester in control. But what caused this new history? Are the Doctor and Evelyn in some way to blame?

A horrific world

So, as you can see from that plot description, Jubilee sounds nothing like Dalek so far. In some ways, it’s a lot bigger. It’s certainly a lot darker, but it’s also quirkier, too. For example, amidst all the scenes of tyranny and torture, we also have scenes of singing Daleks, too. In fact, we have arguably one of the funniest opening scenes in Doctor Who history!

That’s essentially Robert Shearman’s style: humor and horror, in equal measure. Well, not quite, at least not in this case. While The Holy Terror was in some ways darker, the first half of the story was extremely funny before revealing that darkness in the second half.

Jubilee, however, makes its dark and cynical tone clear from the start. While in some ways, it’s a Dalek story, make no mistake: it’s humans who are the real monsters in this one. Now, don’t get me wrong: that particular storyline has definitely been handled badly at times. But it works extremely well here. Partially because the alternate timeline aspect allows Shearman to clearly go nuts with his story, but also because he helps to sell it well.

I also need to mention how fantastic Martin Jarvis is as Rochester. He plays it brilliantly, enjoying playing up the unstable elements of the character and having fun with it, but still making the role terrifying. Rochester is a much nastier character than Dalek‘s Henry van Statten, although both villains work in their respective stories.

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The Dalek inspiration

Ah, yes. Dalek. So how does Jubilee serve as the inspiration for it when it’s clearly completely different? Well, both stories have a lot of focus on a single Dalek and how much it changes due to extreme circumstances. The Dalek also forms a bond with the Doctor’s companion – in this case Evelyn, in Dalek‘s case Rose. So there are at least some key elements that the two stories share.

However, that’s where the similarities end. Dalek is far from a remake of Jubilee – in fact, they’re distinctly different stories. There are a couple of small elements that they share, particularly with the way both adventures handle the single Dalek. But that’s it. The overall stories are so different that it’s more than easy to imagine the two sharing the same continuity. (Especially when looking at the works of Terry Nation, who also seemed to borrow ideas from previous stories for new ones.)

While Human Nature as a novel initially seemed difficult to reconcile with its TV adaptation as being in the same continuity, there’s no such problem with Jubilee. More than that, though – it’s a really fantastic story in its own right. Not for the faint of heart, but a brilliant and unique take on a Dalek story, regardless.

Did you know that Dalek was inspired by Jubilee? Have you listened to it? What are your thoughts on it? Let us know in the comments below.