Doctor Who theme music
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The Doctor Who theme music is a piece of music written by Australian composer Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Created in 1963, it was the first electronic music signature tune for television. It is used as the theme for the science fiction programme Doctor Who, and has been adapted and covered many times.
Although numerous arrangements of the theme have been used on television, the main melody has remained the same. The theme was originally written and arranged in the key of E minor. Most versions of the theme – including the current arrangement by Murray Gold – have retained the use of the original key, with exceptions being Peter Howell (F♯ minor) and Keff McCulloch's (A minor) arrangements.
Although widely listed in reference works, and many series soundtrack albums, under the title "Doctor Who Theme", its official title is "Doctor Who", although its initial sheet music release used the now-deprecated form "Dr. Who".
History
1960s
The original 1963 recording of the Doctor Who theme music is widely regarded as a significant and innovative piece of electronic music, recorded well before the availability of commercial synthesisers.
Once each sound had been created, it was modified. Some sounds were created at all the required pitches direct from the oscillators, others had to be repitched later by adjusting the tape playback speed and re-recording the sound onto another tape player. This process continued until every sound was available at all the required pitches. To create dynamics, the notes were re-recorded at largely different levels.
Each individual note was then trimmed to length by cutting the tape, and stuck together in the right order. This was done for each "line" in the music – the main plucked bass, the bass slides (an organ-like tone emphasising the grace notes), the hisses, the swoops, the melody, a second melody line (a high organ-like tone used for emphasis), and the bubbles and clouds. Most of these individual bits of tape making up lines of music, complete with edits every inch, still survive.
This done, the music had to be "mixed". There were no multitrack tape machines, so rudimentary multitrack techniques were invented: each length of tape was placed on a separate tape machine and all the machines were started simultaneously and the outputs mixed together. If the machines fell out of sync, they started again, maybe cutting tapes slightly here and there to help. In fact, a number of "submixes" were made to ease the process – a combined bass track, combined melody track, bubble track, and hisses.
Grainer was amazed at the resulting piece of music and when he heard it, famously asked, "Did I write that?" Derbyshire modestly replied, "Most of it." However the BBC, who wanted to keep members of the Workshop anonymous, prevented Grainer from getting Derbyshire a co-composer credit and a share of the royalties.[citation needed]
The theme can be divided into several distinctive parts. A rhythmic bassline opens and underlies the theme throughout, followed by a rising and falling set of notes that forms the main melody which is repeated several times. The
The theme is written in the E minor phrygian mode.
The theme has been often called both memorable and 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.
Derbyshire created two arrangements in 1963: the first was rejected by the producers, but was released as a single. The second arrangement, a slightly modified version of the first, was used on the first episode of the programme. The two 1963 arrangements served, with only minor edits and additions requested by the producers, as the theme tune up to 1980 and the end of
1970s
During the
In 1972, there was an attempt by
The first single arising from the show to make the UK Singles Chart was "Dr. Who" by
1980s
For
The Howell theme was eventually replaced by a new arrangement by
The Glynn arrangement was itself replaced by a new arrangement by
1996
The 1996
2000s
When
In 2005, the television series was revived. Murray Gold's theme arrangement featured samples from the 1963 original with further elements added: an orchestral sound of low horns, strings and percussion and part of the Dalek ray-gun and TARDIS materialisation sound effects. Rapidly rising and falling strings were added to create a counter-melody alongside the main motif.
The sting once again served as the lead-in to the theme, but Gold omitted the "middle eight" from both the opening and closing credits. Gold has said that his interpretation was driven by the title visual sequence he was given to work around. Gold created a variation on his arrangement for the closing credits of "
In November 2007, following the BBC's announcement that it was requiring all series to implement a shorter closing credits sequence,[10] Murray Gold produced a third version featuring additional drums, piano and bass guitar and a variation of the string counter-melody while retaining the original Derbyshire electronic melody line, used from the Christmas 2007 episode. The 2008 series featured a modified arrangement of this version.
In 2005, a new orchestral arrangement by
2010s
From "The Eleventh Hour" the theme received a complete reworking to tie in with the new cast, production design and title sequence design. Arranged by Murray Gold, this theme, while still retaining Gold's counter-melody, has the bassline and electronic melody redone by Gold on a synthesizer. The reworking was something of a departure from all previous arrangements, with a prominent new melodic fanfare theme playing in the opening bars, and a percussion sound accenting each quaver of the rhythm. The end credits featured only a short arrangement with introductory fanfare and the final notes of the main theme. The only exception to this was at the end of "The Beast Below", where the full theme tune begins under the trailer for "Victory of the Daleks". This is the only episode with this arrangement to feature the 'middle eight'.
A leaked playlist for the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony suggested that the theme would be performed,[13] but this did not occur.[14]
The theme and title sequence was revised yet again for the 2012 christmas special, "The Snowmen", to coincide with a change of companion. This new piece retains the melodic fanfare of the opening bars, as well as Gold's bassline and lead – albeit with all of them modified (with the latter two's timbre modified – especially the bassline, and the lead dipping largely downwards during the first high B note) and lacking both the heavy use of percussion from the previous arrangement, and removing the counter-melody that featured in all previous Gold arrangements. However, for the end credits of this episode, the previous arrangement was still used. This arrangement was revised further for "The Bells of Saint John", featuring a more prominent bassline and removing the electronic beeps during the opening fanfare. The end credits were updated to use this version of the theme, now featuring the main melody repeated twice, in place of the fanfare. The ending of the opening theme was altered to incorporate some orchestral elements from the 2010–2012 version, along with some other major changes. The 'sting' is unusually quiet in this closing arrangement, often being drowned by the last seconds of the 'next time' trailer and the start of the actual theme.
A further revision of the arrangement was made for the 50th Anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor". The fanfare over the opening bars was absent for the first time since 2010, and more of the electronic elements were removed or replaced (but the percussion and bassline were made more prominent, and the bass slides were re-instated as well) . The 'middle eight' section was also reinstated, for the first time since 2010's "The Beast Below".
For the 2013 Christmas special, "The Time of the Doctor", the theme used throughout Series 7 Part 2 was reinstated until the new theme arranged in 2014.
The arrangement of the theme was once again revised in 2014 to mark the introduction of
As of the third episode of Capaldi's debut season, "Robot of Sherwood", the new 2014 theme was suddenly polished further, blending in the introduction transition sound and bass elements of the 2008 version.
In the
The theme music received another revision in 2018 for Jodie Whittaker's first series as the Doctor, this time by new composer Segun Akinola. Akinola's version of the theme incorporates several elements of previous versions of the theme, including the melody line from the original 1963 version and cliffhanger "sting" introduced in 1970, remixed with newly synthesised elements and a drum-based bassline rhythm.
For the end credits of Series 11 Episode 6, "Demons of the Punjab," Akinola created a vocal arrangement of the theme performed by singer Shahid Abbas Khan.[15]
2020s
The theme was updated largely, with less emphasis on the melody, and added more bass to the bassline. The middle 8 was once again added to the end credits, but for Ascension of the Cybermen only.
In 2021, the theme was once again updated, this time with a mix of both the Series 11 & 12 theme tunes. For Village of the Angels, the end credits dropped the bassline, to make the theme sound more eerie than usual.
For 2023, the theme was revitalised again by returning composer, Murray Gold. This rendition of the theme music returns to an orchestral sound, reminiscent of the themes from both 2005-2007 and 2007-2010. The current theme also has electronic and piano elements intertwined with the original Derbyshire theme music.
Remixes and remakes
- "Embryo" was the first Pink Floyd song to contain an excerpt of the theme, appearing in live performances in 1971, although in "Embryo" only the first two bars of the theme would play, as opposed to a much longer segment in "Cymbaline". Oddly, these two songs were often performed at the same concerts. "One of These Days", the opening track of Pink Floyd's 1971 album Meddle, echoes the theme about 3 minutes into the track. The reference was made more explicit in live performances.[16] In addition, their song "Sheep" has a bassline very similar to the theme song's bassline and the opening 3 notes of the main theme are played at 06.47, whilst live performances featured a much longer excerpt of the theme.
- In 1986, Daleks as well as other Doctor Who villains. This release was also issued as a cassette maxi-singlefeaturing the same tracklist, and in virtually the same 12" hologram sleeve except for a die-cut section featuring a clear plastic blister to house the cassette case.
- In 1988, UK Singles Chart on 12 June, and also charted highly in Australia and New Zealand.[17] A latter USA release of the CD single by TVT Records featured an extended tracklist; including an instrumental version that was commonly played during PBS pledge drive breaks during their broadcasts of the series in the USA. Unlike the UK or European releases, this remained in print for some time after the popularity of the single among sci-fi retailers. The song, along with "Rock and Roll (Part 2)", was combined with Green Day's "Holiday" for "Dr. Who on Holiday", a track on the mash up album American Edit.
- In 1998, the Australian band FourPlay String Quartet performed a string quartet arrangement of the song to open their debut album Catgut Ya' Tongue? credited as "Theme from Dr Who".
- In 2001, English electronica duo Orbital covered the song for their sixth album The Altogether. Their cover has gone on to become regular part of their live shows and is heard as background music in the comedy film Haggard.
- In 2014 Dominic Glynn revisited his 1986 arrangement, releasing a digital four-track mini-album of remixes entitled "The Gallifrey Remixes".
- In 2017 British musician Hank Marvin, previously lead guitarist in The Shadows, recorded a cover version of the theme for his solo album Without a Word.
- In 2018 Filipino indie electro-rock band Stereodeal released their own cover version of the tune,[18] which they also played live occasionally.
- Also in 2018, British comedian Matt Berry recorded a version of the music for his album of retro TV theme covers, Television Themes.
- There is an EP by Giuseppe Ottaviani called Doctor Who.
See also
- List of Doctor Who music releases
- "Doctor in Distress"
- List of Doctor Who composers
- "Uprising" (Muse song)
References
- ^ "A History of the Doctor Who Theme". Archived from the original on 7 January 2010.
- ^ Mulkern, Patrick (28 September 2009). "Doctor Who: The Ambassadors of Death". Radio Times. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
- ^ "Singles Chart For 23 December 1978". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
- ^ Ayres, Mark. "A History of the Doctor Who Theme". Archived from the original on 7 January 2010.
- ^ Related by BBC Radiophonic Workshop composer Mark Ayres on BBC DVD of Survival.
- ^ "Silva Screen Records News". Archived from the original on 12 December 2006.
- ^ "BBC – Doctor Who – News – Soundtrack details". BBC. 6 November 2006. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2006.
- ^ An edited version of this broadcast, entitled Music and Monsters, is included as a bonus feature in the Series 3 DVD set.
- ^ "Soundtrack Vol 2 Release Date". Gallifrey One. 30 September 2007. Archived from the original on 8 November 2007. Retrieved 2 October 2007.
- ^ "BBC – Commissioning – Programme and Credits Durations". BBC. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
- ^ Joanna Morehead (26 July 2005). "BBCPO/Lai". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 September 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
- ^ "Friday Night is Music Night". BBC. 20 October 2009. Archived from the original on 3 November 2009.
- ^ "Olympic ceremony playlist leaked". Digital Spy. 18 June 2012. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012.
- ^ "Something 'Doctor Who' at Olympic opening ceremony" Archived 28 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Potts, Lianne (12 November 2018). "VIDEO: Doctor Who - 'Demons of the Punjab' - End Credits Theme". Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ William Weir (27 April 2011). "How the (Original) 'Doctor Who' Theme Changed Music". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
- ^ Peel, Ian (7 July 2008). "Doctor Who: a musical force?". The Guardian. UK: blog. Archived from the original on 10 July 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2008.
- ^ "Doctor Who theme cover by Stereodeal". YouTube. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021.