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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.
- Overview
- Theme format
- Original series
- The wilderness years
- Revived series
- Other televised themes
- Notes
- External links
The Doctor Who theme was composed by Ron Grainer and made its debut with the title sequence of the first episode of the Doctor Who series in 1963. Although it has undergone many rearrangements, this piece of music has remained the sole theme for the series throughout its history, making it one of the most recognisable themes in the history of British television. It is also one of the longest continually-used pieces of theme music in Western entertainment history, surpassed only by the theme from Coronation Street (in use since 1960), and the "James Bond Theme" (in use since 1962).
It has also been used for most licensed works featuring the central Doctor Who characters, with the exception of the two Peter Cushing films of the mid-1960s, spin-off programmes, and the occasional audio production that has not featured any theme music.
The Doctor Who theme consists of several sections which appear variously in the different arrangements, sometimes in different order, and sometimes omitted or modified:
•Introduction section: This consists of the iconic "unnh-ba da-bum, unnh-ba da-bum, unnh-ba-da-da-bum, unnh-ba daa-unh da-danh-ba-da-da-dum..." bassline melody that begins most versions of the theme and carries on underneath.
•Main melody: This is the main tune (ooo-weee-ooooooooo eee-yoo-ooooooooo....) which dominates most arrangements of the theme.
•Middle eight: This is a sweeping phrase of melody that is used to separate repetitions of the main melody. This section of the theme has often been omitted on TV broadcasts, particularly the opening credits, although it became a major part of the opening themes used during the Sylvester McCoy era and the 1996 TV movie.
Origins
Although Ron Grainer has always received sole credit for the theme music, Delia Derbyshire with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was responsible for all the arrangements for Seasons 1 through 17. She was given the composition by Grainer and asked to create the music. The method she chose was to create each sound from scratch using a variety of methods from pure tones to piano strings. Each sound was then changed in pitch and duration using purely analogue equipment. The final arrangement of the theme was made by making a recording of each section (bass line, melody, etc.) and putting them together to form the final mono track. Her first arrangement was released as a single, but never used as the opening title music. It consists of the main theme and the "middle eight" in an ABABA pattern. Two versions of this arrangement exist, one with the TARDIS' dematerialisation sound and one without. In addition, a variant version was used for the unbroadcast pilot episode version, which incorporates the sound of a thunderclap at the beginning.
Seasons 1-4
The studio requested some changes and the second arrangement, used until the middle of Season 4, features some wind/wave effects. The master recording for this arrangement has a section that comes after the second repeat of the main melody (which in turn follows the first instance of the middle eight) where the bassline start a loop of two bars each instead of repeating the main theme or the 'middle eight'. This version was heard through the start of the repeated bass in An Unearthly Child. On subsequent episodes, it just faded out as needed. Grainer attempted to obtain co-writer credit for Derbyshire, but was prevented from doing so by BBC rules. Derbyshire, as a result, never received screen credit for this work, although the BBC Radiophonic Workshop did.
Unused arrangement
In 1972, the BBC played with another arrangement, the first not based on the work done in 1963 (unless stated otherwise), using the Delaware synthesiser that the Radiophonic Workshop had. Brian Hodgson and Paddy Kingsland, with Delia Derbyshire created what has become known as the Delaware Theme. It was not well received and was not used on any BBC Broadcast in the UK. However, it had already been applied to several episodes before being replaced. At least two episodes sent to Australia and broadcast on ABC still had the Delaware Theme; these were Carnival of Monsters, part 2, (a longer edit than the one used for uk broadcast) and Frontier in Space, part 5 (which is a few seconds longer than the uk broadcast). Black and White test footage, made for the original Pertwee titles in 1969, were coupled with this arrangement on the The Pertwee Years VHS release.
Remixes and variants
After the original series ended, a number of wildly variant renditions of the Doctor Who theme were recorded. An EP release, Doctor Who - Variations on a Theme (released in vinyl, standard CD, and an unusual square-shaped CD variant) featured new arrangements of the theme by Mark Ayres, Glynn and McCulloch. One of these, a Latin-based arrangement, was adopted by BBC Video and used as the theme for its series of "Years" retrospective Doctor Who videos (i.e., The Hartnell Years, etc.). Another CD release, The Worlds of Doctor Who, included several more arrangements, including a dance mix that featured Sylvester McCoy playing the spoons! Ayres also recorded a unique arrangement of the theme to lead off the soundtrack album for the music he composed for The Curse of Fenric. In 1988, a dancehall group called The Timelords had a hit single with "Doctorin' the TARDIS", which melded together a pop arrangement of the Doctor Who theme with "Rock n' Roll Part 2" by Gary Glitter. Back on the BBC itself, a very brief new arrangement was used for the 1993 charity Doctor Who mini-episode Dimensions in Time which was created by Cybertech. According to The Television Companion by Howe & Walker, this was Mike Fillis (who appeared as a Sea Devil in the special) and Adrian Pack, and was chosen by John Nathan-Turner during filming of the special after the Pet Shop Boys and Erasure had declined invitations to create their own arrangements. In the early 2000s, the electronica group Orbital recorded a new version of the theme that proved popular with audiences. Orbital's theme would be reused by US talk show host Craig Ferguson for his lyrical version of the theme (see below), and during his time as the Doctor, Matt Smith helped the group perform the theme at the Glastonbury Festival.
The TV movie
For the made-for-TV movie in 1996, composer John Debney did the incidental music and arranged Ron Grainer's theme. Unlike all other versions, Debney's arrangement begins with a building introduction (to coincide with the on-screen narration setting up the tale), before opening with the Middle 8 (in similar fashion to the Delaware theme). The familiar bassline was somewhat muted in its melody and did not drive the theme the way it did in previous arrangements. The closing theme is a similar but different arrangement. Again, no extended version was created. Two different accounts are circulating regarding the disposition of the theme in the TV movie, with some accounts suggesting that Debney wanted to replace the Grainer composition with one of his own, but was overridden by the producers and the BBC, and others claiming that licensing costs for the theme were considered too high and a replacement was considered before it was decided to go with the original. Grainer did not receive screen credit for composing the theme, leading to some reference works -- as well as reviews of the film -- erroneously crediting Debney with composing the theme. This theme was published on CD as part of a promotional CD featuring all the incidental music from the TV movie, and was later included, including the rest of the movie's score, as part of the 11-disc version of Doctor Who - The 50th Anniversary Collection.
Big Finish
Most Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories which feature television-original incarnations of the Doctor and are set among particular eras of televised Doctor Who use a version of the theme from the appropriate era's TV stories, though early releases in the company's Main Range all used the original Delia Derbyshire arrangement regardless of era or Doctor. When stories and series take place outside the general flow of television seasons, Big Finish Productions have developed their own versions of the theme.
Preliminary themes
The return of Doctor Who to television required a new arrangement of the theme. An advance version of the series 1 debut episode, Rose, not intended for broadcast, used a version of the original 1963 Delia Derbyshire arrangement, which had been recreated by Mark Ayres in 2002. Ultimately, BBC Wales commissioned Murray Gold to create a new theme arrangement. A trial arrangement, bass-dominated and bearing little resemblance to what came later, appeared on TV commercials promoting the series (and can be heard on the "Series 1" DVD release of these trailers), most notably the "Trip of a lifetime" trailer. It's yet unclear whether this version was ever actually intended for use on the series proper.
Series 4-2009 specials
For TV: Voyage of the Damned and series 4, Gold created a second theme arrangement (although if one counts the unused trial version, it was actually his third), referred to by some fans as the "Riverdance Theme" due to its pacier sound and heavier emphasis on strings. It still features the original electronic Derbyshire melody, but the strings are different and drums and piano have been added to dramatically change the feel. A new ending arrangement, with "middle eight" intact, was also composed and again recorded along with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Reflecting new closing-credits standards introduced by the BBC in 2008, this new arrangement is also considerably shorter than that used previously, and is more directly linked with the "Next Time" trailers at the end of most episodes; in most cases the closing theme "plays under" the sound of the trailer, and comes to the front with the "middle eight" as the credit scroll begins. For the 2008 mini-episode, Music of the Spheres, while Gold's current theme arrangement was used in the opening credits, for the closing credits the original 1963 Delia Derbyshire/BBC Radiophonic Workshop version was played (the DVD version of the concert, however, strips away the two credit sequences). The mini-episode was created for the 2008 Doctor Who Proms concert, which concluded with yet another new arrangement of the theme by Gold (his fourth major new arrangement); this version incorporated the "bridge" section which existed in the original Derbyshire, Howell and Glynn arrangements though it was never heard on TV. Unusually, the bridge in the Proms arrangement was placed between the first "verse" and the "middle eight" (in most other arrangements the bridge occurs sometime after the first appearance of the "middle eight"). The series 4 arrangement was subsequently used for 2009-10 specials, appearing for the final time in The End of Time. It was also used on promotions for series 5 until the newest version of the theme was unveiled on 3 April 2010.
Series 5-7 Part 1
Gold composed yet another new version of the title music for the new title sequence used from The Eleventh Hour to The Angels Take Manhattan. This version of the theme is noticeably more electronic than his previous themes, yet with the opening bass line lowered in volume in favour of a new counter-melody. This element is reminiscent of the Debney arrangement from the 1996 movie, while the main melody line is reminiscent of the Glynn "Trial" arrangement, with the added element of the melody being partially rendered by a vocal choir. As broadcast, the theme is punctuated by lightning-strike sound effects, but the version released on the BBC's website and the series 5 soundtrack album does not have this effect. This version, promoted as being "full length", runs exactly one minute in duration and is by far the shortest official rendition of the theme yet released. And the closing theme on nearly all episodes (except for The Beast Below) has the entire interlude from the full and opening themes, but cuts right away to the closing bars instead of featuring much of the main melody. The brevity of this arrangement is due to recent changes in the BBC's policy on closing credits. This arrangement was performed (with large modifications) at the 2010 Doctor Who at the Proms concert in July 2010 and again in Doctor Who: The Monsters Are Coming! (also with large modifications). This theme had a hostile reception from many viewers, at least at first. The opening credits for A Good Man Goes to War features a unique variant of the theme that incorporates TARDIS sound effects.
Since 2005 at least four different theme arrangements have been used for subsidiary programs produced by the BBC. These include the 2009 three-episode retrospective, Doctor Who Greatest Moments, as well as the behind-the-scenes series Totally Doctor Who and Doctor Who Confidential, which has featured two arrangements of the theme to date. All four arrangements are faster in tempo and more "techno" than the versions used in the series proper.
Although otherwise a completely different piece of music to the Doctor Who theme, Gold's theme for the spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures incorporates some sound effects originating from the Doctor Who theme.
A unique version of the theme was intended to be used to open the 16 November 2010 edition of the American talk show The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, on which Matt Smith was to appear. Series host Craig Ferguson - an avowed fan who kept a toy TARDIS on his desk on the show - put together a production number incorporating the Orbital version of the theme, with newly written lyrics explaining what the show was about. The production number was pre-recorded and intended to be shown at the start of the episode but, minutes before taping of the episode proper was to begin, Ferguson learned CBS had been unable to obtain clearance for the use of the theme, and the production number was cut (with a visibly annoyed Ferguson explaining the situation to the audience in lieu of the originally planned opening). A video of the number was leaked to YouTube, and while Ferguson acknowledged the upload's existence on a later episode of his show he remained silent as to whether its "leak" was intentional or not. On 6th January 2011 the production number was finally broadcast on Ferguson's show prior to his interview with another Doctor Who guest star, Alex Kingston, all necessary clearances having been finally obtained.
On 19 October 2013, the BBC launched a 50th anniversary-themed trailer as a teaser for the then upcoming The Day of the Doctor. The trailer features an arrangement of the theme that is unique to this trailer. This version was arranged by Mike Bamford and Will Cohen from String and Tins, a company specialized in trailer music.
•Whenever the title card for Doctor Who appeared on screen the rhythm of the theme would almost always match the three syllables of the title.
•Most televised versions of the theme were included in LEGO Dimensions, played when piloting the TARDIS as the corresponding incarnation of the Doctor. The Eighth and War Doctors used the 2005 version of the theme. (The theme from the TV movie was included, but only accessible via a glitch. Presumably it was programmed in, but the licence to use it was never obtained.)
•Whomix - a popular fan site of remixes and recreations of the Doctor Who theme
•BBC.co.uk Doctor Who theme sampler and constructor
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Nov 21, 2023 · Doctor Who has one of the most recognisable theme tunes in the history of television and is loved and feared in equal measure. The iconic electronic tones herald the start of each strange and...
Nov 20, 2018 · The Doctor Who theme music was composed in 1963 by Ron Grainer – and the new Doctor Who theme, by Segun Akinola, pays tribute to the iconic original - here's everything you need to know about the iconic music.
Oct 30, 2023 · The Doctor Who theme, composed by Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire, remains one of the most unique tunes in television history and introduced the world to electronic music sounds. Derbyshire used ...
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May 14, 2024 · When Russell T. Davies re-launched the series for a new TV audience in 2005, it fell to composer Murray Gold to reimagine the Doctor Who theme tune. He stuck close to the spirit of the original, but added the sounds of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Nov 1, 2023 · While the theme tune is probably the most recognisable music from Doctor Who, the show has always used soundtracks or incidental music to enhance its storytelling.
