Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150 AD ** (1966, Peter Cushing, Bernard Cribbins, Ray Brooks, Roberta Tovey, Jill Curzon, Andrew Keir) – Classic Movie Review 3,308

The 1966 sci-fi adventure film Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150 AD is an even milder TV spin-off sequel, with Peter Cushing re-creating his Doctor Who character, Jill Curzon as his niece, and Bernard Cribbins as the comedy turn.

The acting and production team from the hit Dr Who and the Daleks (1965) reassembles and – guess what? – the rotten robotic mutant Daleks have invaded the hapless planet Earth in 2150 AD and enslaved its population. But there’s more: Dr Who and his time travelling companions arrive on Earth and set about to help human resistance groups to foil the Daleks’ evil scheme to mine the Earth’s core. Producer Milton Subotsky again adapts Terry Nation’s BBC TV serial.

Director Gordon Flemyng’s 1966 British sci-fi adventure is an even milder sequel to an already thin TV spin-off, with Peter Cushing re-creating his re-invented characterisation as the benignly good and always gentle, grandfatherly eccentric inventor Doctor Who and Bernard Cribbins successfully replacing Dr Who and the Daleks’s Roy Castle as the comedy turn, making his character much less irritating than Castle’s was.

Also returning from the original is Roberta Tovey as Doctor Who’s granddaughter Susan, who is joined by Dr Who’s niece Louise (Jill Curzon) and a comical male companion, London police constable Tom Campbell (Bernard Cribbins).

Other new additions to the cast are Ray Brooks, Andrew Keir, Godfrey Quigley, Roger Avon, Keith Marsh, Geoffrey Cheshire, Steve Peters, Philip Madoc, Eddie Powell, Peter Reynolds, Bernard Spear, Sheila Steafel, Eileen Way, Kenneth Watson, John Wreford and Robert Jewell.

A remake of the TV serial Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964), this is the second, and (so far) last, Dr Who cinema spinoff, though a TV film, Dr Who, appeared in 1996. The special effects are by Ted Samuels.

The film is produced by Milton Subotsky and Max J Rosenberg for their Amicus Productions company.

Amicus Productions had bought an option to make three Dalek-related stories from Terry Nation and the BBC for only £500. But plans for a third movie based on the TV serial The Chase (1965) were abandoned after weak box office for the second film.

American writer and producer Milton Subotsky (September 27, 1921 – June 27, 1991) founded Amicus Productions with Max J Rosenberg in 1964.

Oddly, Cushing does not mention the Dr Who films in his autobiography, although he kept a collection of newspaper clippings about them in a scrapbook.

Filming took place at Shepperton Studios, England, from 31 January 1966 to 22 March 1966, ending up 11 days behind schedule. The budget of £286,000 was nearly 60 per cent more than that of the first film.

Cushing’s illness required some script rewriting to reduce his appearances in the film.

The TV Doctor Whos so far are First William Hartnell, Second Patrick Troughton, Third Jon Pertwee, Fourth Tom Baker, Fifth Peter Davison, Sixth Colin Baker, Seventh Sylvester McCoy, Eighth Paul McGann, Ninth Christopher Eccleston, Tenth David Tennant, Eleventh Matt Smith and Twelfth Peter Capaldi. Jodie Whittaker, the first female Doctor, appeared in three series as the Thirteenth Doctor (2018–2022), David Tennant was then confirmed to be the Fourteenth Doctor and the first actor to play two incarnations (2023), and Ncuti Gatwa played the Doctor for two seasons between 2023 and 2025, the Fifteenth Doctor and first black actor to star.

English actress Jill Curzon (29 September 1938 – April 2026) 

Jill Curzon’s film roles include a nurse in 80,000 Suspects (1963), Katharine Banks in Dr Syn, Alias the Scarecrow (1963), Dr Who’s niece Louise in Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD (1966), and June in Smokescreen (1964).

Cast

The cast are: Peter Cushing as Dr Who, Bernard Cribbins as Tom Campbell, Ray Brooks as David, Andrew Keir as Wyler, Roberta Tovey as Susan, Jill Curzon as Louise, Roger Avon as Wells, Geoffrey Cheshire as Roboman, Keith Marsh as Conway, Philip Madoc as Brockley, Steve Peters as Lead Roboman, Eddie Powell as Thompson, Godfrey Quigley as Dortmun, Peter Reynolds as Man on Bicycle, Bernard Spear as Man with Carrier bag, Sheila Steafel as Young Woman, Eileen Way as Old Woman, Kenneth Watson as Craddock, John Wreford as Robber, with Robert Jewell as the Lead Dalek Operator and David Graham and Peter Hawkins as Dalek Voices.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,308

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/