10 Doctor Who Behind The Scenes Secrets You Need To Know
6. The Sounds Of Time And Space
There are just as many legendary sound effects in Doctor Who as there are heroes, villains, and planets. But how do they all get made?
That beautiful wheesh-whoosh that has started so many great adventures over the years – also known as the sound of the TARDIS materialising – was created by scraping a key along a piano wire.
This masterstroke was the idea of Brian Hodgson, who came up with many of the early sound effects for Doctor Who, including the voice of the Daleks.
Hodgson had previously worked on a children's radio show where he'd voiced a robot butler using a ring modulation system. When the time came for the Doctor's greatest enemies to speak, he reused this technique, and instructed voice artist Peter Hawkins to give a monotone delivery. And thus, TV history was made!
Hodgson used all sorts of unusual things to create the Doctor Who soundscape. One rumour goes that he got the roar of a Yeti from a flushing toilet, which may be a myth, but it's a really funny myth.