Davros

Editor: Peter Labow · Last update: 24 April 2007

In the far future, Davros has been revived and seems to be a reformed character – working for major corporation TAI to end universal famine. The Doctor, however, remains unconvinced – and suspects that Davros may have a hidden agenda.

Davros CD cover

Writer: Lance Parkin
Director: Gary Russell
The Doctor: Colin Baker
Davros: Terry Molloy
Scientist Ral: David Bickerstaff
Willis: Eddie De Oliveira
Arnold Baynes: Bernard Horsfall
Shan: Katarina Olsson
Lorraine Baynes: Wendy Padbury
Kimberley Todd: Ruth Sillers
Release date: September 2003

Journalist Willis contacts the Doctor to help expose TAI, one of the leading corporations in the galaxy as corrupt. The Doctor isn’t interested – he’s not one for interfering in such matters – but his arrival has coincided with the arrival of a spaceship carrying a special cargo – the dead body of Davros.

As you might expect, Davros turns out to be slightly less dead than he’s supposed to be. Newly revived, he accepts an invitation to join TAI as a scientific researcher. Suspicious of Davros’ motives, the Doctor agrees to work alongside Davros.

For a while, it seems that Davros really has changed his nature – deciding to work on a project to end famine across the galaxy. But of course, Davros can’t change his nature – and behind the scenes he’s working on a plan to ensure the total collapse of the galaxy’s stock markets, leaving him in full control of the galaxy, free to create a new order of society which is driven solely by war.

He fails to kill the Doctor (with a well-hidden nuclear bomb) but succeeds in contaminating the entire TAI dome with radiation. The Doctor races against time to save as many people as possible – and to destroy Davros before he can put his plan into action.

This is Davros’ first appearance in a Big Finish audio adventure and, for the most part, it succeeds well. In the television series, Davros started as a strong character, played by Michael Wisher in Genesis of the Daleks, but his subsequent reappearances often disappointed. He was usually written as a two-dimensional madman who acted as the Daleks’ spokesman, usually subjugating the Daleks to a supporting role as mere stooges. Although often acted well enough – especially when Terry Molloy took the part – the role of Davros was often too thinly written to convince.

This play is different. Using flashbacks, we get glimpses into Davros’ earlier life, before his accident and immediately after it. We see how his grip on reality and his motivation is shaped by his unique perspective – his only input comes from a camera and sensors, and every second lasts a lifetime for him. Emotions are something he senses merely as chemical imbalances – though we find that even prior to the Thal attack which crippled him, he was driven by logic and not emotion, to the point of him believing that he doesn’t have normal feelings.

Molloy plays Davros very well, giving a performance that reveals the conflicts and contradictions within Davros’ character. If this had been a television story, Davros would have been evil, plain and simple. But in this play we find that there is the possibility that he genuinely believes he can change – before deciding that he lacks the feelings necessary to change, and reverts back to his old ways.

We meet Shan for the first time, a character who is given a much greater role in the later series of audio plays, I Davros. The character is slightly different from the later version, merely working for Davros with only a hint of suppressed attraction on Davros’ part.

Colin Baker is the Doctor we always knew he could be on screen, though he was seldom given the material to make the character strong enough. Bernard Horsfall, a long-time veteran of Doctor Who, plays the head of TAI, Arnold Baynes, with great conviction and believability. Wendy Padbury, who played Zoe Herriot alongside Patrick Troughton’s second Doctor, plays Baynes’ wife, Lorraine – a misguided historian who is not only taken in by Davros, but believes that he is much maligned by history.

Refreshingly, the Doctor appears without an assistant (Peri having been dropped off to attend a botany convention) and there is no appearance (and little mention) of the Daleks. This leaves the stage clear for the Doctor and Davros to interact without distraction or the usual plot contrivances.

Overall, this well-paced story is enjoyable, keeping the listener on his or her toes as the story draws towards its inevitable conclusion. We know that, whatever we are told, Davros won’t remain good – we’re just waiting to see what his plans are. Davros is back as what he should be – a careful, scheming manipulator with a cold-hearted disregard for life, and not simply a pantomime villain.