"The Doctor's Theme"
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"The Doctor's Theme" is a piece of music composed by Murray Gold for Doctor Who. It served as a main musical motif for the Doctor, originally associated with their "dark and private history". It first appeared in the series 1 episode Rose. In series 3, it was somewhat superseded by "The Doctor Forever", but returned in a new arrangement for series 4. The signature notes from "The Doctor's Theme" are heard as part of "Turn Left" and "Vale Decem" immediately after the Tenth Doctor speaks his final words and begins to regenerate in TV: The End of Time Part 2.
In series 5 it can be heard briefly in The Pandorica Opens as part of the song Words Win Wars during the Eleventh Doctor's speech at Stonehenge, specifically the part where he says, "Now the question of the hour is, who's got the Pandorica? Answer, I do."
In the series 6 episode The Impossible Astronaut, right before the Teselecta is shot again, this theme can be heard as part of the track "1969", which was heard again at the end of the tenth series episode The Pyramid at the End of the World. In the episode A Good Man Goes to War, this theme is played in the background when the Eleventh Doctor and Vastra are discussing how a Time Lord could be used as a weapon.
It is also heard in the Christmas Special, The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe, in the tracks, "You're Fired" and "Flying Home for Christmas"
In The Day of the Doctor it appears when the Moment is talking to the War Doctor about his punishment and a second time when the Doctor reads the Letter from Queen Elizabeth. It is later heard again in The Time of the Doctor, in the section of "Never Tell Me The Rules" while the Doctor is making his speech atop the clock tower.
In series 8 it appeared only once in the episode Into the Dalek, while the Doctor and Clara are arguing about whether a Dalek can be good or not.
Signature notes are spattered throughout Hell Bent, culminating in the full use of the music when a Gallifreyan woman recognises the Doctor as he stands in the old barn from his childhood. Later in series 9 it was used in the episode The Husbands of River Song when photos of all the Doctor's faces were shown.
"The Doctor's Theme" was heard briefly in The Sarah Jane Adventures episodes Revenge of the Slitheen (when Sarah Jane Smith explains to Clyde Langer who the Doctor is), The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (when Sarah Jane Smith mistakes a regular police box for the TARDIS) , The Mad Woman in the Attic (foreshadowing the reappearance of the Doctor in Sarah's life), and The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (when the Doctor confronts the Trickster). It was also quoted in the Torchwood episodes Day One (when Captain Jack picks up the Doctor's hand), Captain Jack Harkness and End of Days (when Captain Jack hears the TARDIS in the Torchwood Hub).
The piece appears in the first Class episode, For Tonight We Might Die, when Quill describes how the Doctor saved her on Rhodia. It later reappears when the Doctor himself arrives near the end of the episode, punctuating his own theme tunes, "A Good Man?"
"The Doctor’s Theme" later reappeared in the 2017 Christmas special Twice Upon a Time, when Bill Potts was questioning the First Doctor on why he originally left Gallifrey. It later reappears shortly following the Twelfth Doctor's regeneration into the Thirteenth Doctor; the theme plays as the Doctor's wedding ring falls to the ground and she discovers her new face.
Several variations of the track appeared in the first 60th Anniversary Special, The Star Beast, when the TARDIS first lands in London. It reappears twice -- once when the Fourteenth Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to analyze The Meep's ship and once when Donna interrogates the Doctor on who he really is.
"The Doctor's Theme" was originally referred to by the production team as "Flavia's Theme", based on the idea that it was the voice of Flavia singing from the Time Vortex.
Episodes used in
Doctor Who
Series 1
Series 2
Series 3
Series 4
- Partners in Crime (new variation used until The End of Time)
- Forest of the Dead
- Turn Left
- The Stolen Earth
- Journey's End
- The Next Doctor
- The Waters of Mars
- The End of Time
Series 5
Series 6
- The Impossible Astronaut
- The Doctor's Wife
- A Good Man Goes to War
- The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
2013 specials
Series 8
Series 9
Series 10
2023 specials
