10 Behind The Scenes Secrets From Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child
3. THAT Theme Tune And How Delia Derbyshire Got Screwed
When it came to the now-iconic theme tune, Ron Grainer composed the music, but it was Delia Derbyshire who actually assembled it into a track. This would be one of Derbyshire's first works, though it would remain the most well-known of all of her pieces.
At the time, she worked for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which preferred to keep its member anonymous. That meant that, after Grainer heard what she had done with his music, they prevented him from seeking a co-creator credit for her. In fact, she would not receive on-screen credit for the theme until the 50th anniversary special.
The actual process of putting the theme together was laborious, with each note being individually cut, spliced, and mixed together. The Doctor Who theme tune is one of the first pieces of thematic music to be created entirely by digital means. Once this was assembled ahead of An Unearthly Child, Grainer famously asked Derbyshire, "Did I write that?"
She modestly replied, "Most of it".
Derbyshire's work on Doctor Who has been cited as an influence on Aphex Twin, The Chemical Brothers, and Paul Hartnoll of Orbital.