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• The Dalek Masterplan
  • Performance dates and cast details
  • Looking back, moving forward
  • From screen to script to stage
  • Composing a Masterplan
  • The Daleks
  • Daleks out and about
  • Making the music for Masterplan
  • Inside the music studio
  • So it begins
  • The Return of the Daleks
  • The Dalek Masterplan reviewed
  • Photograph gallery
  • Music from the Masterplan
  • Behind the scenes video
• Related Web sites
  • New Theatre Royal
  • Doctor Who: Devious
  • My Dalek Life

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Before the Saturday matinee performance of The Dalek Masterplan, Interalia Theatre hosted a ‘mini-convention’ – the Return of the Daleks.

None other than author and publisher David J Howe, who is more than well known among Doctor Who fans, hosted this informal convention.

The convention’s guests included:

• Nick Scovell, who played the Doctor in the stage production of The Dalek Masterplan.
• Peter Labrow, your host and Webmaster from Dalek Links.
• Barnaby Edwards, chief Dalek operator from the new series of Doctor Who.
• Nicholas Briggs, the voice of the Daleks in the new series of Doctor Who and in Big Finish audio plays.
• Terry Molloy, who played Davros in the original series of Doctor Who and in many Big Finish audio adventures.

I have to confess to being backstage while Nick Scovell was being interviewed, so it was difficult to hear exactly what was being said! Also, I was chatting to Barnaby Edwards and Rob Shearman, who were trying to cook up as many bizarre ways as possible to wrong-foot David Howe – including dropping in totally invented and outrageous storylines from season four of Doctor Who!

Backstage chat with (left to right) Nick Scovell, Terry Molloy, Rob Shearman and Peter Labrow. Photo by Adrian Cranwell-Child.

Nick told how the production came together – what goes into a play, especially one which is so complicated to stage.

Clearly a fish out of water, I came on after Nick to talk about Dalek Links. Sadly, I forgot many of the great stories I’d rehearsed – especially the one about being contacted by the real Dalek family from Sweden! Being a family audience, I also had to tone down the story about how I was contacted by BBC news for my views on the now infamous Dalek porn movie – since this Web site also has junior readers, I won’t be recanting it here, either!

Peter Labrow of Dalek Links (centre) is asked an awkward question by David J Howe (left); Nick Scovell looks on (left). Photo by Martin Mackenzie.

Barnaby Edwards was next up, and what a gent he is – he’s one of the most giving and positive people I have met, and he was a delight to have on stage. The questions, of course, focused around the unique challenges of acting while in a tight, heavy Dalek casing – and Barnaby’s answers were both revealing and funny: such as how he had to be pushed up a ramp by a man in a black suit at the TV awards show, because the ramp was too steep for him to push the Dalek casing up from the inside.

On stage with (left to right) David J Howe, Nick Briggs, Rob Shearman, Barnaby Edwards, Peter Labrow and Nick Scovell. Photo by Adrian Cranwell-Child.

Rob Shearman took to the stage next – Rob is another lovely person, who brought the Daleks back to the screen with the instant classic episode ‘Dalek’. Rob’s stories were terrific and very funny, telling us how ‘Dalek’ had nearly been the early introduction of the Toclafane – (if permission had not been granted to use the Daleks) and that his briefing to the monsters was Russell T Davies simply drawing a circle on a piece of paper.

Nick Briggs, voice of the Daleks, is a larger-than-life character who is a natural performer – so it’s no surprise that he had the audience in stitches with his stories, including his discomfort at having to flirt with Anne Robinson on The Weakest Link.

The star of the line-up was Terry Molloy, who played Davros. Terry is also one of nature’s gentlemen and a very entertaining speaker. He brought along the Davros head used in the stage play of The Trial of Davros – and told of how hot and uncomfortable playing Davros can be, especially during the stage play where he couldn’t take a break when he wanted, with the light of the ‘third eye’ literally burning his forehead.

A short session with each person was followed by questions from members of the audience (both young and old) including the good old ‘which is best – Daleks or Cybermen?’ question. (I thought that Army of Ghosts/Doomsday put that one cleanly to bed!)

Autograph time with (top to bottom) Terry Molloy, Barnaby Edwards, Nick Briggs, Rob Shearman, Peter Labrow and Nick Scovell. Peter Labrow is chatting to well-known Doctor Who illustrator, Anthony Dry (bottom left). Photo by Adrian Cranwell-Child.

The signing session took a lot longer than was expected, mainly because the guests are such wonderful people – never rushing anyone or limiting their time. For someone who plays less than a minor role in the Dalek universe, it was nice to be asked for my autograph (normally something only my bank manager does) and to get good feedback for the site.

This was a superb, relaxed event that was an excellent warm up to the afternoon show.