The last few days have seen a little frisson of excitement spread round the world of Doctor Who aficionados after snaps of the latest Dalek model - soon to be seen battling Christopher Ecclestone and Billie Piper - invaded the web.

There's some background to the filming of the new series on gallifreyone.com [1] - including the revelations that the Daleks will be able to indulge in thruster-powered flight and, what's more, that they now come in a fetching golden livery. This latter factoid delighted UK tabloid the Sun [2], since the paper spearheaded the campaign to restore the Daleks to the series after the Beeb and the estate of Terry Nation fell out. Accordingly, it duly celebrated the motorised villains' new-found "bling" by declaring that they "look even shinier than jewellery-plastered rapper Puff Daddy".

Quite what Davros would have made of his creation being compared to a fur-clad rapper is anyone's guess, although we suspect he would have fully approved of Mr Diddy's alleged fondness for firearms. ®

Related stories

Daleks invade Blackpool [3]
Dalek veteran ready for galactic domination [4]
Daleks to sprout legs [5]
BBC confirms Daleks will battle Doctor Who [6]
Daleks invade New York [7]
Daleks boycott Dr Who [8]
Doctor Who fans applaud new assistant [9]

Links

1. http://www.gallifreyone.com/newstv.php
2. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004510454,,00.html
3. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/10/daleks_invade_blackpool/
4. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/10/dalek_veteran/
5. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/09/dalek_legs/
6. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/04/daleks_confirmed/
7. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/05/daleks_invade_new_york/
8. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/02/daleks_bycott_who/
9. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/28/doctor_who_assistant/