Daleks dropped from Doctor Who?

Doctor Who's famous Daleks are reportedly set to be dropped from the new series of the BBC One show.

The Time Lord - played by Matt Smith - will instead fight The Cybermen as they try to destroy the Earth, with TV bosses deciding it was time to give the Daleks a rest after the robotic aliens first appeared in the long-running sci-fi series in 1963.

According to the Daily Star newspaper, other baddies to feature this year include an army of Nazis, space pirates, evil dolls and The Silents, with the show being split in to two halves.

During the last show of the first seven episodes - which are to be aired this Spring - the half-human, half-robot Cybermen will return for a dramatic cliffhanger ending before resuming with six episodes in the Autumn.

The dramatic episode will also reveal the identity of River Song (Alex Kingston), who has been rumoured to be the Time Lord's future wife.

Speaking about splitting the series into two, executive producer Steven Moffat said: "It's hugely exciting. It means you are never more than a few months away from the next Doctor Who - Easter, Autumn, Christmas."