Remixing The Dr Who Theme

US Inside the BBC radiophonic workshop 03/03/22

The Doctor Who theme is one of the most instantly recognisable and iconic synth tracks (possibly) ever created. It was originally composed by Ron Grainer and was realised to supreme effect by Delia Derbyshire and Dick Mills in the 1960s. In the above video, we see it remixed in the 1980s, with Peter Howell of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop at the helm - employing the use of some wonderful synths:

He uses modern polyphonic analogue synthesisers like the Yamaha CS-80, an ARP Odyssey Mk3 and a Roland Jupiter-4, a vocoder and an old, malfunctioning phase shifter unit he found in the back of the Workshop. Gent that he is, he then pops over to the Music Arcade studio to demonstrate the extraordinary new Fairlight CMI Series II synthesiser to the some kids from St Mary's Balham Primary School and hosts Tim Whitnall and Lucie Skeaping.

The clip is taken from 'The Music Arcade: Electricity in Music' and was originally broadcast on the 2nd of February, 1982. Here is the version he was updating from 1963:

Orbital brought the track up to date on their 'The Altogether' album with their track entitled 'Doctor?'

About the author [midierror]: midierror makes nifty Max For Live devices, innovative music hardware, award winning sample packs and hosts a podcast speaking to people in the music world.