| 226 – "Asylum of the Daleks" | |||
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| Doctor Who episode | |||
 Promotional poster | |||
| Cast | |||
Others
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| Production | |||
| Directed by | Nick Hurran | ||
| Written by | Steven Moffat | ||
| Produced by | Marcus Wilson | ||
| Executive producer(s) | Steven Moffat Caroline Skinner | ||
| Music by | Murray Gold | ||
| Series | Series 7 | ||
| Running time | 50 minutes | ||
| First broadcast | 1 September 2012 | ||
| Chronology | |||
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"Asylum of the Daleks" is the first episode of the seventh series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, broadcast on BBC One on 1 September 2012. It was written by executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by Nick Hurran.
The episode features the alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) being captured by the Daleks, along with his companions Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill), who are about to divorce. They are sent by the Daleks to the Asylum, a planet where insane Daleks are exiled, to enable the Asylum to be destroyed before the insane Daleks can escape. The Doctor is helped along the way by Oswin (Jenna-Louise Coleman), a woman whose spaceship had crashed on the planet a year ago and has been trapped there since then.
"Asylum of the Daleks" incorporates many of the different varieties of Daleks seen throughout the programme's 50-year history, and was intended to make the Daleks scary again. Coleman makes her first appearance in Doctor Who in this episode, before returning as the Doctor's new companion in the 2012 Christmas special; her appearance was successfully kept a secret from the general public prior to the episode's broadcast, as her casting as the new companion had already been announced. The episode was watched by 8.33 million viewers in the UK, and received attention on BBC iPlayer and international broadcasts. Critical reception was positive, with some critics questioning the circumstances behind Amy and Rory's breakup.