"The Stowaway"

"The Stowaway" was a Christmas-themed song performed by an unidentified musical group at a dance on spaceship Titanic before its plunge into Earth's atmosphere. The song conveys a romantic view of Christmas, despite the belief by Mr Copper and others that Christmas was a somewhat sinister event. (TV: Voyage of the Damned)

Behind the scenes

Composed by Murray Gold and recorded by Yamit Mamo, "The Stowaway" was the fourth original song commissioned for the revival of Doctor Who, following songs Gold composed for the two previous Christmas specials and Daleks in Manhattan. Mamo appears on camera performing the song in the episode and Gold appears as one of her musicians. The song was released prior to the episode's broadcast on the Series 3 soundtrack album. Gold provides backing vocals on the album recording.

The song is somewhat unusual in that it is diegetic, or part of the narrative. Like "Abigail's Song" and "My Angel Put the Devil in Me" — but unlike "Song for Ten" or "Vale Decem" — it's heard by the characters in the episode.

Exactly from whose perspective the lyrics are told is a matter of debate. Media coverage suggested the song might be told from the Titanic's captain's point of view, although the Tenth Doctor and he do not meet nor share any sort of romantic interaction. A more likely candidate is Astrid Peth, who greets the Doctor as a stowaway and become attracted to him (though the outcome of the lyrics differs from the outcome of the episode vis a vis Peth's fate). Murray Gold however indicates the song is about Rose Tyler, saying in the DVD audio commentary for Voyage of the Damned, "I'd written this song which comes in just for a little bit, called 'The Stowaway', which was on the album ... so you get a little bit of it, and some of the fans probably had heard it before, 'cause it was out on the CD before, and they were 'What does it mean, that the stowaway is going back to his love? What is that?' and people started to speculate about was there a hidden meaning behind the words — which I think we'll probably discover in the end of Series 4."

A brief instrumental rendition of the theme was included as part of the Voyage of the Damned "Suite" on the Series 4 soundtrack album.