According to a news report in today's Daily Star [4 May], the rights issues between the BBC and the estate of Terry Nation, which owns the Daleks, has been sorted. "Doctor Who's most memorable foes are to return to the BBC in a deal worth £250,000," says the article, which mentions that the BBC jointly owns the rights to the Daleks with Nation, who died in 1997, but it still needed permission to feature them in the new show. Says the article, "Show producers are already having fun giving the Daleks more powers. The formerly floor-bound machines will be able to fly. Also under discussion is a plot in which they try to take over London," which could possibly be referring to one of the story titles previously announced (the two parter at episodes four & five). All of this "signals the BBC's firm intention to make the sci-fi series even more successful than it was the first time around," says the article, which notes that each episode is running to a £1 million budget - more than the BBC has ever spent on a drama.
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May 4's Express picked up on the Dalek rights story, which we reported yesterday, stating that "the BBC had to broker a £250,000 deal with the estate of the show's creator, which some might say was ex-tor-tion-ate!" The deal is said to have been concluded last month and the Express says that now "the deal means that the formidable baddies can get ready to terrify an entirely new generation." Interestingly, the article says that Eccleston is signing what they call a "three-year megadeal".
