Although Julian Bleach did an excellent job with the role of Davros in the New Series, for me nobody will be better suited for the role than Terry Molloy, the actor who portrayed Davros in the 1980s Dalek stories as well as many Big Finish audios. Not only does Terry clearly understand the character better than most, he gives a fantastic performance as both the scheming, subtle villain and the cackling, maniacal psychopath that Davros embodies. This is never more true than in the Big Finish audios, which contain some of Terry Molloy’s best performances as Davros to date.
The three Davros customs featured in this post are all based on Big Finish audios, and so are heavily inspired by the Terry Molloy version of Davros. However, for the sake of consistency, I have also attempted to include a degree of transition between my Davros customs and the official figures that they go between on my shelf. For example, I have gradually incorporated elements from New Series Davros figures into Classic Davros customs that are based later in his timeline.
Custom Davros figure from The Davros Mission
Davros is in a bad way at the end of Revelation of the Daleks, as by the end of the episode he has lost his only remaining hand and been captured by the Daleks. This is followed up on in the I, Davros series and the follow-up audio The Davros Mission, which depicts the events leading up to Davros’ trial as well as the trial itself. I created this custom to depict Davros as he stands trial, including his life-support chariot and bloody arm stump bandage. I created this figure using the body of an Auton figure with a heavily modified head, and several Dalek bases linked together with metal wires and create a ‘hovering’ effect. The wires connecting from the chariot to Davros’ body are smaller electrical wires, and the figure was painted using black Citadel paint for the top of the chariot and Davros himself, silver Citadel paint for the outside of the chariot and green Citadel paint for the Kaled blood on Davros’ hand.
Custom Davros figure from The Juggernauts
This custom is based on one of my personal favourite Doctor Who audios, The Juggernauts. After crashing on the planet Lethe and assuming the identity of ‘Professor Vasso’, Davros begins to create the ultimate anti-Dalek force using salvaged Mechanoids, and the titular Juggernauts are born. One of the best things about this story is that we see Davros playing the role of a kind old man whilst secretly plotting to harvest the organs of everyone in the colony. As depicted on the cover and mentioned by the Doctor in the audio, this figure uses the Necros Dalek colour scheme for the skirt, as Davros allegedly salvaged one of the Necros Daleks to repair his damaged life support chair. This custom was painted using white Citadel paint for the base of the skirt, Davros’ shoulder panels and the control console, gold Citadel paint for the hemispheres, black Citadel paint for the base and for some of Davros’ machinery, and grey Citadel paint for Davros’ ‘Professor Vasso’ tunic. The Davros body in this custom is a heavily modified version of the New Series Davros figure, with the hand replaced with a more primitive claw and the tunic enhanced with wires.
Custom Davros figure from Daleks Among Us
Once again hiding out on a remote world, Davros in Daleks Among Us is depicted as occupying a battered and beaten-up life support chair, either due to damage caused by age or as a result of botched repairs. Either way, I created this custom to represent a more slapdash version of Davros’ life support controls, to reflect the fact that Davros is in hiding. The skirt of this Dalek came from a New Series Dalek, but the base is from a Classic Series Dalek. The body of Davros came from a Pig Slave figure with the hand replaced with a plastic claw and the head heavily modified to resemble Davros. I painted this custom using black Citadel paint for the skirt, control panel and body of Davros, Gold Citadel paint for the hemispheres and the base, and a combination of beige, red and blue Citadel paint for the detailing on Davros’ face. The control panel itself was made using a piece of old computer mother board, and the back of Davros’ chair is the rear panel of a Paradigm Dalek.
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