Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
I’ve been trying to get back to Dave Dexter, Jr. and the Beatles, but I got distracted by a renewed interest in the fascinating history of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and Ron Grainer’s Doctor Who theme. This is Delia Derbyshire’s stunning, shimmering production, which includes the famous sound effects for the show.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/JUL/DoctorWho1963.mp3]Snippets of sounds and music by Derbyshire and the workshop have been collected by the BBC into a Flash player that you’ll find at this link. It’s all too easy to make the sounds overlap, so be quick with the stop button, and watch out for the clips that loop. Here is Murray Gold’s fantastic, powerful arrangement and orchestration for the new Doctor series in 2005.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/JUL/DoctorWho2005.mp3]If this subject is of any interest I’ll let you find the same sites I’ve been looking at, but one favor I should do for you is assemble the pieces of a 2003 BBC documentary on the Radiophonic Workshop, called The Alchemists of Sound.
Agreed! We had “Peter Gunn” and other terrific tunes in America, but then the British introduced the James Bond theme for “Doctor No” in 1962, followed by “Doctor Who” in 1963, and the second theme for “The Avengers” in 1965.
No, I haven’t heard Matt Smith’s take on the theme. For that matter, I haven’t seen Smith as the Doctor yet!
I never get tired of that theme! Don’t know if you’ve seen it but I’ll send you a link of Matt Smith PLAYING the Dr. Who theme himself…