The time real police officers were called on Daleks from Doctor Who

If someone hears a Dalek coming on Doctor Who, they know it’s time to run and hide. It turns out they raise just as much alarm in real life.

Even if you’re not a Doctor Who fan, you probably have at least heard of the Daleks, the iconic villains who roll into defenseless planets screaming “EXTERMINATE” in their angry robotic voices. As it ends up, they once caused such a ruckus on the Doctor Who set that they actually drew actual London police to the scene!

The Seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy, recalled the story on a DVD extra. The crew was filming the 1988 episode “Remembrance of the Daleks” at St. John’s School in the Hammersmith area of the city, and the pyrotechnics department got a bit carried away with some explosions. The sounds were so loud that car alarms started going off, which resulted in numerous phone calls to the local police. When the police and fire departments showed up, worried that they were responding to a potential terrorist attack, they found Daleks emerging from a sheen of fog of smoke.

I’m sure the residents of Hammersmith can look back on this and laugh now, but at the time it caused a panic! Honestly, given how loud these guys are, it’s surprising something like this hadn’t happened sooner, or that it hasn’t happened since.

And there were some consequences. The incident meant that the Doctor Who production team had to find a different place to film the episode “Silver Nemesis,” which featured Cybermen, because they were no longer welcome at Windsor Castle, which to be fair isn’t kind of place you want accidental explosions.

But the Daleks’ noisiness can be used for good, too. Earlier this year, someone had a Dalek roam the streets of their hometown asking people to “ISOLATE,” so they’re helpful from time to time:

And fans can see the Daleks again in the upcoming Doctor Who holiday special, “Revolution of the Daleks,” which airs on New Year’s Day!

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h/t Screen Rant