back to article Doctor Who theme added to national sound archive to honor innovation, longevity

The theme music to iconic British sci-fi TV show Doctor Who has been immortalized by Australia's National Film and Sound Archive. Wait? What? Why is music from the UK's most substantial contribution to broadcast sci-fi worthy of inclusion in an Australian archive? Because, as explained by the Archive (NFSA), it was written by …

  1. Bebu sa Ware
    Coat

    "once hit on the head by a grand piano lid"

    Don't suppose anyone would want to repeat the experience.

    I imagine many Brits would have been tempted if they were fortunate to be holding a piano lid when confronted by the hordes of brash young Aussies that infested post war London.

    1. keithpeter Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: "once hit on the head by a grand piano lid"

      We could do with some more brash young Aussies at the mo I think.

      Although sadly the London such people would find has much less in the way of opportunity or cheap and interesting neighbourhoods to build a life in for a few years.

      (Daphne Oram would be worth researching for those interested in electronic music, she wrote the actual book. Not to detract from DD and the other Radiophonic Workshop inmates).

      1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

        Re: "once hit on the head by a grand piano lid"

        The science museum in London had an interesting gallery on Oramics about 10 years ago, and still has her equipment in storage. Maybe it's time to bring it out again.

        1. TRT

          Re: "once hit on the head by a grand piano lid"

          I quite like FC Judd at the moment.

    2. david 12 Silver badge

      Re: "once hit on the head by a grand piano lid"

      -- every night for the 12 month tour with comedy act "The Allen Brothers and June."

    3. Andrew Scott Bronze badge

      Re: "once hit on the head by a grand piano lid"

      That was a period when the writer Nevil Shute was recommending people leave GB and move to Australia. Guess someone decided to go the other way.

      1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

        Re: "once hit on the head by a grand piano lid"

        I think he wrote a book about that, didn't he? Something about a beach.

  2. Bebu sa Ware
    Windows

    Prisoner Theme

    In spite of it's snarkish nature the Vulture can be quite educational. I didn't know that Grainger was responsible for the 1967 Prisoner Theme.

    Listening to the music again it seems it shares some similarity with the music used in the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson productions but I imagine it was a small musical world and also reflected the spirit of the time.

    Curiously the only DVDs I now possess are the Prisoner (1967) and Life on Mars (2006) (but no DVD player. ;)

    1. Roj Blake Silver badge

      Re: Prisoner Theme

      The Life on Mars DVD will prove to be useful if you ever get run over by a car and find yourself 30 years in the past.

      1. ThomH Silver badge

        Re: Prisoner Theme

        "Am I mad, in a coma, back in time... or in a retro-themed Youtuber's basement?"

    2. Captain Hogwash Silver badge

      Re: Gerry and Sylvia Anderson productions

      That would be the late, great Barry Gray.

    3. Philo T Farnsworth Silver badge

      Re: Prisoner Theme

      I shall be forever amazed that Patrick McGoohan was able to drive an open cockpit Lotus Super Seven at high speed without getting a hair on his head mussed.

      A true talent, that.

      1. that one in the corner Silver badge

        Re: Prisoner Theme

        Undercranking the camera. He was really going no faster than you can in today's London traffic.

  3. gv
    Happy

    Man in a Suitcase

    My favourite Ron Grainer theme, which I have as my phone ringtone.

    1. abend0c4 Silver badge

      Re: Man in a Suitcase

      I think my favourite is "Maigret" - it perfectly encapsulated the style of the production. And while "Tales of the Unexpected" was rather insistent, it was unmistakable from the first note.

      It's interesting how tastes (and technology) have changed. The early versions of the Doctor Who theme are quite spare. Since the reboot, the sound density (and volume) seems to have risen to sense-bludgeoning levels. I blame the youngsters and their popular beat combos.

      1. Francis Boyle

        Have to agree M'lud

        Lush orchestration never manages to improve on the stark beauty of the original.

        1. Dave559

          Re: Have to agree M'lud

          That's exactly it: the first few incarnations of the theme sound nothing less than completely out of this world and otherworldly (which is precisely what the theme for this programme should be), and are absolute perfection (Brava, Delia!), along with the equally otherworldly opening credits special effects which were often literally not much more than smoke and mirrors, and oil droplets and kaleidoscopes, and careful camera and lighting effects, but also look awesomely alien.

          I hadn't realised that the theme had been changed quite so many times, but, as the video compilation shows, by the time we had reached the 1980s it had been regenerated degenerated too many times that "conventional" electronic music had kind of caught up with it and sort of converged to the extent that it had completely lost its essential otherworldliness. Some of the versions from that period even sound like they could be Jean-Michel Jarre compositions (and I love Jarre, but the Doctor Who theme isn't exactly his style), and the more recent bombastic efforts could be from just any old straight-to-video action movie, sadly…

          The only others who have come close to capturing the essence are Orbital! 8-)

          1. that one in the corner Silver badge

            Re: Have to agree M'lud

            > I hadn't realised that the theme had been changed quite so many times

            And I bet you are not even counting the four versions that were released on the square CD during the dark ages after "Survival".

  4. DaemonProcess

    wup wa wop, wup wa wop

    It does have some didgeridoo undertones going on, I will admit.

    1. DaemonProcess

      Re: wup wa wop, wup wa wop

      Maybe that should be wop wop wop waaaa, wup wup wup waaa .. you know how it goes.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: wup wa wop, wup wa wop

        It's all wuppy-woppy notey wotey

  5. blu3b3rry
    Alien

    Always interesting to see how it evolved over the years. The original theme must have seemed very out of this world back in the 60s....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNszKKAtEwU

    1. myhandler

      It did. I heard it the second week and yes, halfway through the programme I hid behind the sofa.

      Black and white was much more scary.

      I read that Ron was astonished by what Delia had done and thought she should have half the writing credit.

  6. tiggity Silver badge

    Modernized

    "the first piece of electronic music used as a TV theme – and remains in use to this day, albeit modernized"

    I must say I do prefer the original version (find it quite ironic they keep tweaking the music when its a series where main protagonist can travel through time so no need for the music to be modernized)

    1. rg287 Silver badge

      Re: Modernized

      (find it quite ironic they keep tweaking the music when its a series where main protagonist can travel through time so no need for the music to be modernized)

      Each iteration of the protagonist brings something new to the character, so just as the TARDIS console changes, it's not ridiculous that the theme gets a facelift for... the new face. Each Bond film gets it's own theme reflecting both the film and the Bond, even if they all keep Monty Norman's basic riff threaded through it.

      Nor am I against episodic rearrangements for specific purposes. Capaldi's Rock theme was quite cool (and as much as I wasn't overly taken by the writing for Capaldi, I did respect the attempt to cast his iteration as basically struggling with PTSD in the aftermath of the Time War. He wasn't going to be able to carry on Smith's "Space Imp". Each Doctor has to carve their own path).

      Not that you'd want them habitually fiddling with the theme per episode, but Murray Gold's lush orchestral arrangements - whilst losing much of the creepy vibe of Derbyshire's original arrangement - do carry a sense of pace and urgency that the original lacked. They do also - as has been mentioned - bludgeon you a bit. Listening to a compilation of all the versions back-to-back, it does sound a bit like hearing the loudness wars on fast-forward, and there are moments of "just because you could, doesn't mean you should". But they all have their place, although I'd hazard that Gold and Akinola's versions really did go a bit too "family-friendly jaunty-adventure" for my tastes and a lurch back towards something a bit slower, creepier and stripped back would not go amiss. I'm sure it'll happen eventually - everything old becomes new again.

      1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
        Pirate

        Re: Modernized

        Monty Normans earlier work “Good Sign, Bad Sign” might sound a little familiar.

        https://youtu.be/g6EuzGhIyRQ

  7. Benegesserict Cumbersomberbatch Silver badge

    We don't honor anyone

    We honour them.

    1. Ali Dodd

      Re: We don't honor anyone

      oh u!

  8. that one in the corner Silver badge

    Ron knew more than he was telling

    We are told in the revived Dr Who that the da-da-da-dum is the sound of a Time Lord's heartbeat.

    It wasn't until let in TOS that we learnt Time Lord's have two hearts (Pertwee, IIRC).

    So clearly Mr Grainger was the right sort of person to write the theme on day one. Hmm, maybe getting clonked on the bonce was him trying to get into the wrong piano: his was larger on the inside.

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: Ron knew more than he was telling

      YMMEV: Liam Gallagher credited being hit on the hammer with unleashing his musical genius…

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Ron knew more than he was telling

        If I avoid hitting him with another hammer, would he please stop?

    2. sedregj Bronze badge
      Mushroom

      Re: Ron knew more than he was telling

      "that we learnt Time Lord's have two hearts"

      You probably avoided the books, judging from your comment.

      We'll need a proper Who nerd to determine whether the books informed the telly or vice versa 8)

      1. that one in the corner Silver badge

        Re: Ron knew more than he was telling

        The only Dr Who books that I recall seeing, in the period up to Pertwee in "Spearhead from space" (which I think is the story that introduced the idea), were the novelisations of the original TV episodes. Which I did indeed read: by the mid '70's there was a long row of Target books with the distinctive white covers. The earliest of those did take liberties, compared to the broadcast material (e.g. characters - but only the men - actually taking showers and sleeping in the first Daleks story, or climbing on a ladder to reach the lantern on top of the TARDIS, as that was so much quicker than climbing up the inside!).

        The real glory years of the Dr Who novels came after "Survival", of course, when we were flooded with New Adventures, Missing Adventures - I'll admit that got a bit much to keep up with: I still haven't finished reading the Timewyrm series! Some of those were meant to be canon, others (hopefully - the planet of the pink poodles?!) not.

        There were comic strips, which introduced new story lines and odd facts (e.g. the 1960's - '67, I think, Daleks Album, which gave us Daleks on flying discs - and that Daleks can not see red, so they were in danger of banging into pillar boxes!). Plus stories clearly written for one Doctor then printed with a later Doctor's face drawn in, sometimes even with the costume changed as well!

        But if anyone does know of a book that introduced two hearts before the telly, I'd love to know it's name.

        1. TRT

          Re: Ron knew more than he was telling

          " so they were in danger of banging into pillar boxes!"

          A likely story... you know what the BBC is like for excusing sex pests. "Oops! Silly me. Did not see you. Got my sucker arm caught in your postal slit there." Yeah, as if. Skaro'ed for life!

  9. nobody who matters Silver badge

    <........"the theme is thought to have been the first piece of electronic music used as a TV theme – and remains in use to this day, albeit modernized"........>

    Some might say that 'adulterated' might be a more accurate description of what has been done to it. Others may argue that the best word is mutilated.

    The current version has certainly totally lost the hard other-worldly feel of the original which so gripped those of us who recall seeing the earlier series. Sadly, a similar loss of his other-worldly eccentricity seems to have befallen the character itself.

  10. graeme leggett Silver badge

    A question of arrangement as much as attribution

    What makes the Doctor Who theme so distinctive when it came out is the arrangement by Delia Derbyshire

    By comparison the Radio Free Skaro podcast uses an arrangement as envisaged by Grainer which is much similar to other TV programme themes of the time

    1. Steve Graham

      Re: A question of arrangement as much as attribution

      "arrangement" as in re-composing it from the ground up. It was only attributed to Grainger as a legal piece of ass-covering. (And perhaps because Derbyshire was (gasp!) a woman.)

      1. Mage Silver badge

        Re: A question of arrangement as much as attribution

        The BBC refused to split royalties in those days.

      2. myhandler

        Re: A question of arrangement as much as attribution

        No mate, it's the melody and overall structure that gets the royalty not the arrangement.

        Ron G was very impressed by it.

    2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: A question of arrangement as much as attribution

      graeme leggett,

      Thanks for that post. I'd not heard of Grainer's original version before. It does feel like Derbyshire's changes were so great that she was effectively the co-writer. But I suppose we could think of it as similar to the cover version of a song becoming the definitive version. Something that happened a lot to Bob Dylan, with Nina Simone's 'Just Like a Woman', Hendrix's 'All Along the Watchtower' and a few others.

      But Delia Derbyshire seems to get the last laugh, as hers is the name that people tend to associate with the tune, not Grainer's.

      Seeing as I had to look it up, here's a link to a random episode of that podcast on YouTube beginning with the tune linky linky

      It's also very similar to Monty Norman's original song, 'Bad Sign Good Sign', that was turned into the James Bond theme. He chose it from his failed musical, a House for Mr Biswas, while he was writing the soundtrack for Dr No - it was arrranged by John Barry into one of the most famous film songs ever.

      2nd YouTube linky: And yes it does begin with the line, "I was born with an unlucky sneeze"

      I heard an interview with David Arnold, who was the Bond house composer for a few years - and he said that his most embarrassing purchase was a couple of thousand quid he spent on a guitar to do the (dum-da-da-dum-dum) riff for the Bond theme. He said he'd basically only ever played it about 6 times, when he'd flown somewhere to do some kind of Bond performance with an orchestra. I think he'd used professional musicians and just conducted/produced for the actual film soundtracks.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: A question of arrangement as much as attribution

        "Seeing as I had to look it up, here's a link to a random episode of that podcast on YouTube beginning with the tune linky linky"

        Oh yeah, very 1970's space 1999ish :-)

    3. graeme leggett Silver badge

      Re: A question of arrangement as much as attribution

      So that you don't have to go to the RFS podcast (good as they are), here is a link to the theme as arranged by Grainer in 1980 (which was the first time he did do an arrangement of his tune)

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1SZs4xudf8

  11. Howard Sway Silver badge

    his composing skills, which he used to create the theme for Steptoe and Son

    This was written around the same time as the Who theme, so it's a good job the beeb didn't get the two mixed up, otherwise the rag and bone men might have been introduced by a piece of innovative electronic musique concrete, and The Doctor's travels through time and space might have been accompanied by a plonking banjo and clippety cloppety coconut shells.

    1. myhandler

      Re: his composing skills, which he used to create the theme for Steptoe and Son

      Ah, but the Steptoe and Son tune inspired Syd and the Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive

    2. LessWileyCoyote

      Re: his composing skills, which he used to create the theme for Steptoe and Son

      Especially as both series started in a junkyard.

  12. HaroldHare

    Just to clear things up, Ron Grainer <> Percy Grainger, although it's an understandable confusion since they were both Australian.

    1. Benegesserict Cumbersomberbatch Silver badge

      Easy mistake to make. Don't beat yourself up about it.

    2. TRT

      Now if Percy Thrower had done the theme tune, it could have sounded somewhat different!

  13. Apocalypso - a cheery end to the world
    Happy

    Offbeat

    Just wanted to point out that this story is posted in the "offbeat" section. :-)

  14. TRT

    "The first piece of electronic music used as a TV theme"

    First broadcast April 1963. ITV. Space Patrol. Theme: Fred Judd

    First broadcast November 1963. BBC. Doctor Who. Theme: Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire

    Now I know Dr Who can time travel, but...

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like