Return of the 77-year-old Dalek

John Scott Martin has offered to return to his Dalek costume for the new series of "Doctor Who" - aged 77.

16:31 11 August 2004

John Scott-Martin has offered to return to his Dalek costume for the new series of "Doctor Who" - aged 77.

Between 1964 and 1980, Scott-Martin took on the role of the Doctor's stair-phobic enemy and has said he would like to become an exterminating alien again.

"I really enjoyed doing it before," he told the BBC, adding: "I would happily run around as a Dalek again."

It was feared that the latest version of the BBC's iconic science fiction series would see the end of the Daleks (something the Time Lords never managed), after a legal dispute with the estate of the man who created them.

But negotiations with the family of the late Terry Nation appear to be resolved.

Scott-Martin was one of four actors to regularly play a Dalek.

He had to climb inside a metal or wooden costume and scuttle around to make it look like the Dalek was gliding.

"It could be difficult at times and I'm not as fit as I used to be, but I'm sure I could do it again," Scott-Martin said.

"I always thought playing a Dalek was as interesting as playing a cow in a pantomime - there was potential to put some personality into it," he said.

"We had to believe that the Dalek was not a human being, yet it was still a being. That's not to say it wasn't really nasty."

The BBC is still deciding if Daleks will be fully automated or still have actors inside them in the new series.

The new series of "Doctor Who" is set for a Christmas debut, and stars Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and Billie Piper as his companion Rose Tyler.