Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known only as "The Doctor". It is also the title of a 1996 television movie featuring the same character. It is common to see the show's title abbreviated as Dr. Who, even by the BBC, although purists consider this form incorrect.

Music

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. Derbyshire used musique concrète techniques (working from tape loops of an individually struck piano string) and primitive electronic equipment such as individual test oscillators and filters. This 1963 arrangement served, with minor edits, as the theme tune up to the end of Season 17.

Related Topics:
1963 - Delia Derbyshire - BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Musique concrète - Oscillator - Season 17

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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:
Season 18 - 1980 - John Nathan-Turner - Peter Howell

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The Howell theme was replaced by a new arrangement done by Dominic Glynn for Season 23's The Trial of a Time Lord (1986). The Glynn arrangement was not as well received, and was itself replaced by a new arrangement by Keff McCulloch for the Seventh Doctor's era beginning with Season 24 (1987).

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

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For the new series in 2005, Murray Gold provided a new arrangement which 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 sound effects.

Related Topics:
Murray Gold - Dalek - Ray-gun - Sound effect

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In the early 1970s, Jon Pertwee, who had played the Third Doctor, recorded a version of the Doctor Who Theme with spoken lyrics, entitled, "Who Is The Doctor". In 1985, when the production of the series was suspended for a year and it looked like it faced cancellation, a charity single, "Doctor in Distress", performed by a group of mid-level celebrities including actors Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Nicholas Courtney was released but was universally panned. In 1988 the band The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (later known as The KLF) released the single "Doctorin' The Tardis" under the name The Timelords.

Related Topics:
1970s - Jon Pertwee - Third Doctor - Colin Baker - Nicola Bryant - Nicholas Courtney - The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu - The KLF - The Timelords

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Many bands have cover or reinterpreted the Doctor Who theme, including Orbital and the Australian string ensemble Fourplay. The Pogues used a bass line in their song "Wild Cats of Kilkenny" (from Rum, Sodomy & the Lash) that is similar to the Doctor Who theme, as did Pink Floyd in "One of These Days" (from Meddle). The comedian Bill Bailey produced a humorous interpretation, "Dr. Qui", in the style of 'Belgian jazz'.

Related Topics:
Orbital - Fourplay - The Pogues - Pink Floyd - Meddle - Bill Bailey

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The theme tune has also appeared on many compilation CDs and has even made its way to the world of mobile phone ring tones.

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