The Wild Story Behind the Original ‘Doctor Who’ Theme – Armessa Movie News

An outlandish beat, a disquieting whistle, the sound of the TARDIS popping in and out of existence lingering in the back… The Doctor Who theme is by far one of the most unique tunes in the history of television. Some would even say it is one of the most unique in the history of music, period. Originally composed by Australian musician Ron Grainer (and Delia Derbyshire, but we’ll get to that), the theme remains pretty much the same since the classic BBC sci-fi series aired its first episode, in 1963, though some alterations have been made by later composers working on the show. One of the first electronic television themes ever created, the Doctor Who intro – originally titled simply “Dr. Who” – has a wild history behind it. In an era in which now run-of-the-mill synthesizers were still far from becoming a thing, the song was put together through the use of hands-on techniques that go from recording jugs of water being poured to simply pressing play on multiple tapes at the same time in order to turn them into a cohesive piece. The result was a distinctive tune that basically introduced the world to a lot of the sounds that we have come to associate with electronic music. Add to that a whole in-house debate about whom the actual composers of the theme are, and you have yourself a story that deserves to be told.

How Was the Original ‘Doctor Who’ Theme Created?

But perhaps we’re getting a little bit ahead of ourselves. Perhaps it’s best to start at the beginning, all the way back in 1963. At the time, the BBC had just created a new science fiction series that few could imagine would become the cultural juggernaut that would still be making waves 60 years in the future. The show in question was, of course, Doctor Who, the now beloved ongoing story about an Earth-obsessed alien that travels through space and time, always with at least one lucky companion tagging along. Things were all set in motion for the show to kick off its very first season, that starred William Hartnell as the first incarnation of the titular Doctor, but among many matters that still needed solving there was the issue of what tune would introduce Britain — and, eventually, the world — to the adventures of the TARDIS crew.

It was then that the BBC commissioned Ron Grainer to write the opening theme to its newest show. The piece would then receive a new treatment by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a sound effects project created in 1958 to produce new sounds for the British broadcasting company’s radio and TV stations. More specifically, the theme was to be reworked by a certain Delia Derbyshire, a name that would go on to become one of the greatest in the history of electronic music, influencing modern acts such as Aphex Twin, Portishead, and The Chemical Brothers. The final result would be something so different and so unique that Grainer himself would have trouble recognizing it as his original composition.

Delia Derbyshire Is Who We Have To Thank for ‘Doctor Who’s Iconic Theme

Okay, but what exactly made Derbyshire’s take on Grainer’s creation so special? Well, Grainer was very much aware that the crew at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop employed some very complicated techniques in their projects. Thus, he delivered them a very simple piece of sheet music, with just a handful of instructions such as “wind bubble” and “clouds.” And, in order to bring Grainer’s vision to life, Derbyshire employed techniques such as filtered white noise, plucking a single string, and hooking up a keyboard to equipment generally used to calibrate recorders.

In the absence of synthesizers and stereo equipment, Derbyshire and her team recorded the sounds in mono, putting them to tape “inch by inch by inch”, in her own words. An entire orchestra was built up from individual notes, as explained by Dick Mills, one of the sound engineers involved in the project. The notes were then cut out and merged together manually, as there was no digital editing software available at the time.

Mills goes on to explain, in an interview with the BBC, that most tunes are divided into three parts: the rhythm, the melody, and the “twiddly bits on top”. Thus, Derbyshire’s team recorded their sound into three separate tapes that were then loaded into three different machines. In order to put these sounds together, the crew had to press play on the three devices at the same time. In case you’re a music buff and want to go into the specifics of how it all works, there’s a whole website devoted to breaking down the tune. It might sound simple enough, but only in theory: can you even begin to imagine how in sync they had to be for it all to work out in the end? Besides, this early form of multitracking was pretty much unheard of at the time in which Derbyshire and her team employed it for the first time.

The ‘Doctor Who’ Theme Became a Classic, But Derbyshire Was Never Properly Credited for Her Work

The final result of this excruciating work went on to become the theme of Doctor Who for the next seventeen years. Though some changes were made over the course of the series to match the new title sequences, it wasn’t until 1980 that the intro theme received whole new arrangements by Peter Howell, who used analog synthesizers to give the theme a new feel. From then on, composers like Murray Gold and Segun Akinola have also tried their hand at reworking Grainer and Derbyshire’s original composition. However, even if the Doctor Who theme remains a remarkable piece of music, capable of infusing the hearts of fans all around the globe with a sense of adventure, it is still hard to match the haunting melody of the original score.

But despite having been instrumental to the creation of the theme as we eventually came to know it, Delia Derbyshire was never properly credited for her work. Grainer tried to reason with the BBC to get her name recognized on the piece, but, to this day, he remains the only one credited as a writer for the tune. The story goes that this decision was made due to matters of anonymity: the BBC didn’t want the public getting acquainted with the members of the Radiophonic Workshop, wishing to keep it known simply as an ensemble. Nowadays, however, most dedicated fans of the show, at least, recognize Derbyshire’s essential role in the making of the series’ theme.

Delia Derbyshire Never Got To See the Revival of ‘Doctor Who’

Still, it is sad to realize the BBC doesn’t extend the same kindness to Derbyshire as Whovians, especially considering how hard of a time she had before getting into the Workshop. Derbyshire once said that her love for abstract music came from the sounds of the air raid sirens during World War II, and graduated from Cambridge with a BA in both Math and Music. In one of her first attempts to get a job at the recording industry, she was turned down by Decca because the company did not hire women. In 1960, however, she got a job as a trainee at the BBC, and, in 1962, one year before her work on the Doctor Who theme, she was transferred to the Radiophonic Workshop. Throughout her career, she collaborated with names such as Yoko Ono and The Royal Shakespeare Company. She eventually began getting credit for her BBC work, but only after the Doctor Who theme hit television sets.

Derbyshire left the BBC in 1973, feeling out of place in an environment that she perceived as more and more corporate and unfriendly towards creative work. Though she continued to work as a musician in private, she all but disappeared from the public eye. She died in 2001, at the relatively young age of 64, four years before her most famous creation made its way back to public, introducing Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor.

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