Doctor Who - the seminal (and now voted best ever Sci-Fi) television theme, composed by Ron Grainer and (originally) realised by Delia Derbyshire in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (1962-3).

The original theme was generated by hand (by Delia) using reel-to-reel tape machines, recording the sound of a plucked bass string and manipulating that recording (by speeding up, slowing down, reversing etc) to create the well-known bass-line track and using test oscillators - again recorded to tape - to generate the swooping and whooshing sounds. The notes were individually recorded or manufactured, then cut to length (the longer the note, the longer the piece of tape) and then subsequently joined (spliced) together with sticky tape to create a tape loop, or tape reel. These loops (or reels) were then played on several tape recorders at the same time - in synchronisation - and recorded to yet another tape recorder. Thus the layers of sounds (now we call them tracks!) were built up to produce the finished mono master tape. Any changes that needed to be made after the master tape was recorded (for example the "sparklies" of the Troughton era) were then constructed on a reel or loop of tape and then played in sequence with the master track, therefore effectively re-recording the master again, but with the extra effects. All of this was done in mono, using one or two track tapes and all timed completely by ear (and hand) as there were no computers or auto-timers in those days!

The Original Doctor Who Theme - as broadcast 23rd November 1963

Although the theme was added to and revamped many times over the first few years that Doctor Who aired (1963 to 1980), the theme was essentially the same (give or take) master tapes put together by Delia in 1963. A few "bits and bobs" were added - noteably the "sparklies" at the beginning of the Patrick Troughton era (1966-ish) - however, the theme stayed basically the same through the Pertwee and Baker eras.

Doctor Who Theme - "Sparklies" - 1967

Doctor Who Theme - "Stutter Start" - 1970

Doctor Who Theme - Stereo - 1972

In 1970, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop took delivery of one of it's early analogue synthesizers. This machine was manufactured by EMS and was called the "Synthi 100" or, as it came to be known - The Delaware - named after the road outside the Workshop. The synthesiser was the biggest voltage controlled synthesizer in the world and had 16 oscillators and even incorporated its own oscilloscope and frequency counter. The machine was used to create the normal in-program incidental music, however the BBC commissioned a remake of the Doctor Who Theme in 1972, utilising the Delaware. The theme was made and recorded by Brian Hodgson and Paddy Kingsland (with Delia as producer), however the new arrangement was not well received by BBC Executives and abandoned. You can make up your own mind on this one!

Doctor Who Theme - Delaware - 1972

In 1980, the then producer of Doctor Who (one John Nathan-Turner) ordered that the theme be revamped completely to bring it up to a modern sound. He commissioned the BBC Radiophonic Workshop for the work and the task fell to Peter Howell. Howell took the music (but that was all) and completely re-recorded the theme from scratch using "modern" analogue synthesisers and the judicious use of the Roland SVC-350 Vocoder (a new acquisition at the time) to generate the "modern" theme.

Doctor Who Theme - Peter Howell - 1980

That version then stayed as the theme tune for a few years until more updates were ordered. This time, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop did not get the commission and it then began to fall into the hands of people outside the workshop. That continued through to the "Classic" show's end in 1989.

Doctor Who Theme - Dominic Glynn - 1985

Doctor Who Theme - Keff McCulloch - 1987

2005 saw Doctor Who back on the screens again, and although the show was new (re-invented in American terms), fortunately the familiar theme tune was kept. However, by that time, the Radiphonic Workshop was no more and so it fell to Murray Gold - employed by the new Doctor Who production team - to realise the theme once again. Gold has continued to update the theme periodically, gradually moving towards a more orchestral line for the theme. Some of Delia's original track lines were incorporated into the Murray Gold versions.

Doctor Who Theme - Murray Gold - 2005

Doctor Who Theme - Murray Gold - 2008

Doctor Who Theme - Murray Gold - 2010

Download here as an iPhone ringtone.

"We got a phone call from Verity Lambert, the first Doctor Who producer," says Dick Mills. "She said she had a little sci-fi series that would only run to six episodes, but she'd like some special electronic effects. So me and Delia went along to Ealing for a meeting with her, and we said we could do the effects, but we could probably help out with a signature tune as well, as we'd just been working with Ron Grainer — a composer who was coming quite into vogue. So Ron was hired to write the sig, and us to record it. Ron had originally come to us first, so we were returning the favour. We'd done a TV show called Giants of Steam and Ron had got us to make loops of train effects and process them to different tempos for his musicians to play along to. He had great confidence in us — for Doctor Who, he just handed Delia one foolscap sheet of manuscript paper and said off you go! Then he cleared off to Portugal for a fortnight — he said it was for the sake of his health"

So how was the theme recorded? "Well, we started with the bass line. You know those 19-inch jack-bay panels? You could get blank panels too, to fill in between them. They were slightly flexible, so Delia found one that made a good musical twang, and played it with her thumb. We recorded it then vari-speeded up and down to different pitches, copied them across to another tape recorder, then made hundreds of measured tape edits to give it the rhythm."

And what was the main tune played on? Was it some early synthesizer? "No," says Dick, "it was just a load of oscillators — signal generators — that someone had connected to a little keyboard, one for each note. Again, we had to make lots of tape edits."

But what about that distinctive portamento? How could you bend the notes like that without a synth? Dick sighs: "Well you just twiddled the frequency knob, of course — how else? It was all done with actual knob-twiddling then — there was no other way! We did it in lots of little pieces, then joined all the bits of tape together."

Eventually, after some pre-mixing, the elements of the entire composition existed on three separate reels of tape, which had to be run somehow together in sync. "Crash-sync'ing the tape recorders was Delia's speciality," says Dick. "We had three big Phillips machines and she could get them all to run exactly together. She'd do: one, two, three, go! — start all three machines, then tweak until they were exactly in sync, just like multitrack. But with Doctor Who we had a bum note somewhere and couldn't find it! It wasn't that a note was out of tune — there was just one little piece of tape too many, and it made the whole thing go out of sync. Eventually, after trying for ages, we completely unwound the three rolls of tape and ran them all side by side for miles — all the way down the big long corridor in Maida Vale. We compared all three, matching the edits, and eventually found the point where one tape got a bit longer. When we took that splice out it was back in sync, so we could mix it all down."

Ron Grainer returned from his holiday and famously asked if it was the same piece of music that he'd written. The theme was an instant success, as was the programme. But success brought its own problems, as Dick remembers. "The trouble was, because it was a hit show, every producer wanted to put their stamp on it, so they'd ask us to record another version. We did loads and no-one ever liked them. One was laboriously done on the Delaware. The sounds were great, but no-one liked it. I remember Delia did one version herself, where there was very heavy tape echo on the rhythm that gave it a new and different groove. The first time it was played in a dub all the technicians complained. 'Oh no — what's wrong with that?' they all said. 'Let's have the old one back!' And we also had to make a 45-second version when the show got popular. Anyone who's worked in TV music knows how difficult it is to turn a 30-second sig tune into a 45 — it's a very unnatural thing to do, musically."

As a footnote, there is still a difference of opinion on how the Doctor Who bass sound was created, 45 years ago. Dick Mills remembers Delia twanging a blanking panel in a rack, while Mark Ayres offered two versions — a plucked string and a rubber band (he heard both from Delia!). Peter Howell, meanwhile, told me: "The bass twang was a plucked bass string on a home-made electric pickup device (a piece of wood with a string on it). That sound appears on several early Workshop recordings."

Inside Out:

The 8'42" documentary below was part of the BBC's "Inside Out" programme, first broadcast on 15th November 2010. Stuart Maconie briefly tells the story of Delia Derbyshire, with some later footage of her at a Doctor Who convention. Mark Ayres (current Radiophonic Workshop Archivist) and Brian Hodgson (former BBCRW Member and head of the BBCRW) feature.

Alchemists of Sound:

This BBC documentary features the work of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop from it's inception in 1959 to it's demise in 1995. The documentary features some of the original members, including Brian Hodgson, Peter Howell, Paddy Kingsland, David Cain and Desmond Briscoe.

Download here.

Creating the Doctor Who Theme:

In this short video clip, BBC Radiophonic Workshop Archivist and musician Mark Ayres demonstrates how the Doctor Who theme would have been made by Delia in the Workshop. This is a clip taken from "Alchemists of Sound" (see above).

The BBC Click programme (the BBC's technology programme and online technology resource) reported on 6th January 2012 about a piece of Radiophonic history that has just gone on display at London's Science museum.

In the video below, LJ Rich explains the "Oramics Machine" - the invention of Daphne Oram, the first director of the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop and a central figure in the evolution of electronic music.

Imagine unearthing a piece of tech history that changed music forever.

Nearly half a century after its invention, the Oramics machine - one of the most significant devices in the history of electronic music - has taken centre stage at the Science Museum for the first time.

The BBC Click article is here

In a short 4 minute clip (found residing on YouTube!) Desmond Briscoe gives us an introduction to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and Delia (Derbyshire) gives us an insight into what went in to creating sounds from scratch.

Some of this video is taken from Alchemists of Sound (see above).

Apologies for the sound quality!

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop produced many albums and many tracks, incidental music pieces for many programmes. These include complete theme tunes, to radio jingles, to whole sections of incidental music. Naturally, they also provided (and invented) the voices of the Daleks, Marvin the Paranoid Android and many, many sound effects from opening doors, to rockets in flight.

Sculptress of Sound:

The BBC Radio 4 programme that focussed on Delia Derbyshire and her lost tapes.

Download the recording here or listen online.

Delia Derbyshire:

The Chromophone Band - a piece of incidental music written by Delia Derbyshire for the Doctor Who story "The Macra Terror"

Happy Birthday

Pot Au Feu

Ziwzih Ziwzih Oo-Oo-Oo

Blue Veils And Golden Sands

David Cain:

Radio Sheffield

Maddalena Fagandini:

Time Beat

C'est lui, dans la nuit- Docteur Qui
Il voyage dans le Tardis. La boite de telephone. Fantastique d'espace!
L'interieur est beaucoup plus grand que l'exterieur
Et ça, c'est le mystere de Docteur Qui

L'enemie, il s'appele Davros, le capitain des Daleks
Il est demi-Dalek et demi-homme- incroyable!

Il veut contrôler le monde, toujours contrôler le monde
Il se leve le matin, il veut contrôler le monde!
Apres le petit-dejeuner, il veut contrôler le monde!
Mais il ne contrôle le monde jamais!
Ce n'est pas tres realistique

Avec les Daleks, le Docteur est superieur.
"Exterminez-vous! Exterminez-vous encore! Ah, zut alors! Nous sommes perdus!"

Le docteur gagne, il rit 'Ha, ha, ha- j'ai gagné parce que je suis Docteur Qui

[Bill Bailey (UK musician, comic and all-round nice guy) performed these lyrics to the Doctor Who theme tune played in the style of 60's Belgian Jazz, as part of his "Bewilderness" Tour of 2001]