20 Things Doctor Who Wants You To Forget

9. Name That Tune In One

Ask any non-fan to hum the Doctor Who theme tune and nine times out of ten it would be instantly recognisable. That’s not to say that Delia Derbyshire and Ron Grainger’s haunting original melody hasn’t been through various make overs over the last fifty three years. The first major update came in 1980, complete with a radically new title sequence, but prior to this, in 1972 a monstrous perversion of the classic tune was created. It was all thanks to the latest toy - the Delaware synthesizer, with its characteristic tinny Jew’s harp sound.

The update ought to have worked out, given that Derbyshire was involved, but the result was aptly described by Gavin Fuller in the Telegraph as sounding like ‘martians on drugs’. BBC executives stepped in just in time to stop this version from being broadcast in the UK. However, a couple of episodes were mistakenly sold to Australia still containing the abandoned theme.

Unable to complete erase it from history, BBC worldwide decided they may as well use it as a DVD extra (Carnival of Monsters). Anyone who is still smarting about Murray Gold’s radical change to the theme in 2010 would do well to have a listen to the Delaware tune. Perhaps Gold didn’t do so bad after all.

Contributor
Contributor

Paul Driscoll is a freelance writer and author across a range of subjects from Cult TV to religion and social policy. He is a passionate Doctor Who fan and January 2017 will see the publication of his first extended study of the series (based on Toby Whithouse's series six episode, The God Complex) in the critically acclaimed Black Archive range by Obverse Books. He is a regular writer for the fan site Doctor Who Worldwide and has contributed several essays to Watching Books' You and Who range. Recently he has branched out into fiction writing, with two short stories in the charity Doctor Who anthology Seasons of War (Chinbeard Books). Paul's work will also feature in the forthcoming Iris Wildthyme collection (A Clockwork Iris, Obverse Books) and Chinbeard Books' collection of drabbles, A Time Lord for Change.