Doctor Who review: Davros offers a unique look at an iconic villain
By James Aggas
We look at 2003 audio story Davros, a unique exploration of one of Doctor Who’s biggest villains – one without a Dalek in sight.
In 2003, for Doctor Who‘s fortieth anniversary year, Big Finish decided to celebrate the occasion in several ways. The biggest was the (kind of) multi-Doctor story Zagreus, released during the anniversary month itself. But just before that, they decided to release a trilogy of stories. One focused on iconic villains of the series. These stories were titled Omega, Master, and of course, Davros.
Among the many stories featuring the character, Davros stands out as one of the most unique. A rather noticeable reason for this is that it doesn’t feature the Daleks at all, only Davros himself. Exploring who the creator of the Daleks is without his creations is a bold move. But it actually works. In fact, it offers us a fresh opportunity to get a whole new side to Davros.
This is Terry Molloy’s first appearance in a Big Finish audio. Naturally, he plays his old, familiar role of Davros so easily – in fact, he gives us one of his greatest performances as the character. There are many different sides that are explored of Davros in this audio, both in the main story itself and in flashbacks, and it allows Molloy to show off just how great he is, right from the very start with a fantastic opening monologue.
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A rich story
We can’t talk about how great Davros is without mentioning Lance Parkin’s brilliant writing. There are so many great moments that cast a new light on the villain, and while he doesn’t exactly become more sympathetic, you do understand him better. It’s easy to see why Big Finish decided to make an entire series that explored the life of Davros just a couple of years later in I, Davros – with Parkin naturally writing one of the episodes.
But Davros isn’t the only villain in this story. We’re also introduced to Arnold and Lorraine Baynes – an extremely rich and powerful couple who see Davros as an opportunity of expanding their empire.
Each character is presented as a really nasty piece of work, and both are played brilliantly by veteran Doctor Who actors: Bernard Horsfall, who played several roles in the Classic Series, and Wendy Padbury, who’s best known to Doctor Who fans as Second Doctor companion Zoe Heriot.
But while they’re both villains who represent the very worst of capitalism, Lance Parkin avoids painting a black and white picture. The idealistic Willis wants to see the destruction of all corporations, but it’s made clear that if that were to happen, something far, far worse would take its place. It’s refreshing to have a Doctor Who story where not everything is simply black and white – something I rather enjoyed about Malcolm Hulke’s stories.
Overall, Davros is an absolutely brilliant audio. It’s one of the best explorations you’ll get of the iconic Doctor Who villain, and is still one of his very best stories – on or off the screen. A highly recommended listen.
Next. Review: Resurrection of the Daleks is a violent but soulless story. dark
Have you listened to Davros? What is the best exploration of the character that you’ve seen or listened to? Should his origins be explored more deeply on television? Let us know in the comments below.