The BBC’s position on fan-built Daleks

Dalek Links is the most comprehensive listing of the Web’s Dalek Web sites.

Dalek Links has been approached by the BBC and asked to remove certain items related to fan-built Daleks. They have asked us to include the following statement on this Web site: “Self-build Daleks are not encouraged or endorsed by BBC or BBC Worldwide, and that any attempt to sell or trade a self-build Dalek (or any sale or supply of parts used in the construction of self-build Daleks) will be viewed as a breach of the trade mark and copyright held by BBC and other parties.”

Dalek Links has always supported the position that it is illegal to make money from unlicensed Dalek products. Therefore we have complied with this request.

However, we believe that the BBC’s position is somewhat inflexible, with no distinction drawn between those companies wrongly producing Dalek products without a licence and those individuals who have built their own Dalek and now may have to part with it – and wish to at least recover their costs.

Sadly, the BBC draws no distinction between those companies which (wrongly) produce unlicensed materials for personal gain or the recreational activities of fans. It’s a shame that the BBC can’t be as enlightened as Lucasfilm, which, although it rightly pursues all pirates to the full letter of the law, recognises that activities such as the notionally copyright-breaking fan film Star Wars Revelations actually helps to support the Star Wars brand, encourages fan interest, generates news and stimulates further sales.

In our view, it is largely down to the excellent work of fan Dalek builders that Daleks have been kept alive in the public’s mind when the BBC ‘rested’ the show. Also, fan-built Daleks are more related to the BBC’s own activities than they would care to mention. Some notable examples are:

The current ‘real’ BBC Daleks were partly developed by taking moldings of the skirt section from fan-built Daleks, to save production time!
The skirts of the Dalek from the episode ‘Dalek’ were fan-built – again, to save time – both on the damaged Dalek and the regenerated one.
It is our understanding, the executive producer of Doctor Who, Russell T Davies, himself owns a fan-built Dalek! It may well be that, since they are fans, other members of the production team also own Daleks which were built by fans.
The BBC has itself published plans on how to build your own Dalek, in the Radio Times, which has even been reprinted recently with the plans still in place.
A fan-built Dalek was used in a Kit-Kat advertisement, itself endorsed by both the BBC and the estate of Terry Nation!
Fan-built Daleks have even appeared in actual BBC-produced Doctor Who episodes, such as ‘Curse of Fatal Death‘! The extras on this VHS tape include a documentary which references how this production could not have been made without assistance from fans, in supplying props – including Daleks!
The BBC documentaries 30 Years in the TARDIS and More than 30 Years in the TARDIS use fan-built Daleks.
The 2006 BBC TV show ‘Totally Doctor Who’ featured a fan-built first movie red Dalek!
Fan-built Daleks have appeared – as guests – on the BBC TV show Blue Peter on three separate occasions over the last three years!
During the first series of the new Doctor Who, fan-built Daleks appeared in episode twelve of ‘Doctor Who Confidential’ in the section where Russell T Davies is talking about ‘home made Daleks in a shopping centre’!
BBC News has itself reported about the sale of a reproduction Dalek!

(The above examples are to the best of our knowledge. If you know of any other examples, or can demonstrate that I am incorrect, please let me know and I will update the list.)

A fan-built Dalek appears on Totally Doctor Who

A fan-built Dalek appears on Pebble Mill

Two fan-built Daleks on Pebble Mill

This fan-built Dalek skirt went on to become part of the Dalek in the first new series episode to feature the Daleks, called simply Dalek