Doctor Who theme music

In 1963, Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop created the Doctor Who theme music, one of the first electronic music signature tunes for television. Its haunting and ethereal sound has become as indelibly associated with the programme as the TARDIS or the Daleks, and the theme has endured over four decades. Grainer composed the music, and Derbyshire "realised" it with electronics.

Related Topics:
1963 - Ron Grainer - Delia Derbyshire - BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Doctor Who - Electronic music - TARDIS - Dalek

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The original 1963 arrangement of the Doctor Who theme music, as composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, is widely regarded as a significant and innovative piece of electronic music.

Related Topics:
1963 - Delia Derbyshire - BBC Radiophonic Workshop

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Recorded before the introduction of synthesisers, Derbyshire used musique concrète techniques. Each and every note was painstakingly handcrafted using pre-recorded individually struck piano strings as well as primitive electronic equipment such as wave signal generators, noise generators, filters and square- and sine-wave oscillators (which were themselves rare at the time), with the results pitch-shifted if necessary. Finally each note, on magnetic tape, was cut up and joined together in the correct order.

Related Topics:
Musique concrète - Oscillator

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Grainer was amazed at the results and famously asked, "Did I write that?" when he heard it. Derbyshire replied that he mostly had. Unfortunately, the BBC — who wanted to keep members of the Workshop anonymous — prevented Grainer from getting her a co-composer credit and a share of the royalties.

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The theme has been often cited as being both memorable as well as frightening, priming the viewer for what was to follow. During the 1970s, the Radio Times, the BBC's own listings magazine, announced that a child's mother said the theme music terrified her son. The Radio Times was apologetic, but the theme music remained.

Related Topics:
1970s - Radio Times

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The 1963 arrangement served, with minor edits and additions, as the theme tune up to 1980 and the end of Season 17. For Season 18 (1980), the show's new producer, John Nathan-Turner, wanted to modernise the theme music. Radiophonic Workshop staffer Peter Howell provided a new arrangement performed on analogue synthesisers, giving a more dynamic, glossy and strident feel.

Related Topics:
1980 - Season 17 - Season 18 - John Nathan-Turner - Peter Howell - Analogue synthesisers

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The Howell theme was eventually replaced by a new arrangement by Dominic Glynn for Season 23's The Trial of a Time Lord (1986). The Glynn arrangement was not well received, and was itself replaced by a new arrangement by Keff McCulloch for the Seventh Doctor's era beginning with Season 24 (1987). Nathan-Turner stated that the new music, logo and title sequence were to signal a fresh start to the programme.

Related Topics:
Dominic Glynn - Season 23 - The Trial of a Time Lord - 1986 - Keff McCulloch - Seventh Doctor - Season 24 - 1987

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The 1996 Doctor Who television Movie used a fully orchestrated version, arranged by John Debney (although Debney later revealed that he had originally intended to replace the original theme with one of his own design). This contained a new introduction, being a quieter piece of music over which part of the Eighth Doctor's (Paul McGann) opening narration was read, building up to a crescendo as it began with the middle portion of the theme.

Related Topics:
1996 - ''Doctor Who'' television Movie - John Debney - Eighth Doctor - Paul McGann - Crescendo

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Murray Gold's arrangement of the theme for the new series in 2005 featured samples from the 1963 original with further elements added, including orchestral sounds (low horns, strings, percussion) and part of the Dalek ray-gun and TARDIS materialisation sound effects.

Related Topics:
Murray Gold - 2005 - Dalek - Ray-gun

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