Blood of the Daleks


Blood of the Daleks is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions; the first of two 50-minute parts was broadcast on BBC 7 on 31 December 2006, and the second was aired on 7 January 2007. It is the first original Doctor Who drama produced for BBC 7, and stars Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and Sheridan Smith as new companion Lucie Miller. Lucie, described as a "brash northern lass", is an unwilling passenger in the TARDIS as she has been placed with the Doctor as part of a "Time Lord witness protection programme". It is the first in a series of six stories commissioned by BBC 7 from Big Finish.
The story is set on a human colony named Red Rocket Rising, and features the Daleks.

Plot

Part 1

To the Doctor's puzzlement and consternation, Lucie Miller appears in the TARDIS; he attempts to return her to the North of England in 2006, but finds that a temporal shield prevents him from landing there. Instead, the two find themselves on the human colony world Red Rocket Rising, which has suffered an asteroid strike and the consequent impact winter. The survivors include the colony's acting president, Eileen Klint, disgraced scientist Asha Gryvern and the apparently paranoid Tom Cardwell. Klint receives a message from a Dalek fleet offering rescue to the colony's citizens, and accepts the offer, believing the Daleks to be benevolent. Lucie reveals that the Time Lords have placed her in the Doctor's care because of something she'd seen, although she doesn't know what it is. Asha, apparently the assistant to one Professor Martez, is in reality Martez himself, who had combined dead and living humans with technology salvaged from a crashed Dalek ship in an effort to ensure survival; Martez has created a new race of Daleks. When the true Daleks land, they welcome the survivors onto their ship, and demand that Klint turn the Doctor over to them. Meanwhile, Martez orders his Daleks to open fire on the Doctor.

Part 2

The Doctor tricks Martez's Daleks and escapes. Martez has summoned the Daleks for assistance with his own Dalek creations, but the true Daleks see Martez's Daleks as a threat to the purity of the Dalek race, and plan to destroy them. The Doctor allies himself temporarily with the true Daleks in order to destroy Martez's Daleks, but then works with Tom Cardwell to eliminate both Dalek groups. The Daleks reveal that they caused the asteroid strike on Red Rocket Rising, in a failed attempt to eliminate Martez's creations; they also destroyed the exodus ships carrying refugees from the disaster. Martez's Daleks, which are being birthed at a rapid rate, initially have an advantage over the true Daleks, who are weakened from another conflict. The Doctor eventually convinces Martez that a Dalek-dominated world will know only hatred, war and death. Martez, whose stolen body is breaking down, halts the birthing process; in return, his creations kill him. Eventually, the two groups of Daleks destroy each other. The humans are left to pick up the pieces, and Klint announces that a new offer of rescue has been received from the inhabitants of a planet whose name begins "Tel-".
Lucie considers staying with the survivors on Red Rocket Rising, but the Doctor discovers that the Time Lords will not let him leave the planet without her. And elsewhere, a woman calling herself the Headhunter accepts a commission from one Mr. Hulbert, promising him that she will find Lucie Miller anywhere in space and time...

Cast