The Royal Albert Hall (or Albert Hall) was a venue for the performing arts located in Kensington, London, (TV: Deep Breath [+]Loading...["Deep Breath (TV story)"]) once dubbed the "finest auditorium in the world" by Maestro. (AUDIO: Pantheon of Discord [+]Loading...["Pantheon of Discord (audio story)"])
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Albert (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
20th century[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Royal Albert Hall was to be the setting for Madame Patti's last concert of the Summer season on the afternoon of Saturday 16 July. An advert for the concert appeared in an 1890s copy of The Times. (TV: Deep Breath [+]Loading...["Deep Breath (TV story)"])
In the 1970s, Black Star planted bombs in Albert Hall. (PROSE: No Future [+]Loading...["No Future (novel)"])
Circa 1990, the Seventh Doctor invited Sarah Jane Smith to a jazz concert at Albert Hall, but they were instead abducted by the Kalik. After defeating them, the Doctor accidentally transmatted the train to the street outside the Hall instead of to the train station, as he didn't realise until it was too late that there wasn't a Royal Albert Hall station. (COMIC: Train-Flight [+]Loading...["Train-Flight (comic story)"])
2008 events[[edit] | [edit source]]
On 27 July 2008, during the BBC Proms, a space portal opened between the Doctor's TARDIS and a point above Albert Hall's orchestra pit. Through that hole, the Tenth Doctor passed sheet music for his new composition, "Ode to the Universe", to the orchestra. He then asked the orchestra to play the song, and for Ben Foster to step down in favour of the Doctor's conduct of the orchestra himself using his sonic screwdriver. A Graske snuck through the portal, armed with the Doctor's water pistol with which he threatened Foster, the orchestra, and the audience. He was pulled back from Albert Hall, into the TARDIS, when the Doctor reversed the polarity of the neutron flow. The audience were told by the Doctor to listen to the music inside of them. (TV: Music of the Spheres [+]Loading...["Music of the Spheres (TV story)"])
As they kept cheering after the portal closed, the Hall was suddenly invaded by Daleks led by Davros, who had travelled back in time to transform the Hall into the imperial palace of a new Dalek Empire. To mark his victory, Davros ordered the orchestra to play Dalek music celebrating destruction. However, before the Daleks could stop them, the musicians began playing an ethereal music which invoked the power of the Bad Wolf entity, banishing the Daleks and Davros back through time in a red glow. (TV: The Daleks & Davros [+]Loading...["The Daleks & Davros (TV story)"])
Second Dalek incursion[[edit] | [edit source]]
Some time later, a different performance where the conductor was again Ben Foster was interrupted by the appearance of an Ironside Dalek who, unaware of its sudden new surroundings, was continuing the charade (TV: Symphony of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Symphony of the Daleks (TV story)"]) devised to entrap the British government during World War II in assisting with the activation of the Progenitor. (TV: Victory of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Victory of the Daleks (TV story)"]) The Supreme Dalek of the "New Master Race" then appeared in a flash of light and smoke, informing the Ironside that it was now "inferior" and must leave and report for extermination. Before leaving, the Supreme Dalek threatened the human conductor and orchestra into playing the Symphony of the Daleks. (TV: Symphony of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Symphony of the Daleks (TV story)"])
The Eleventh Doctor drops in[[edit] | [edit source]]
While attempting to attend a performance of the BBC Proms, which was being presented by Karen Gillan, the Eleventh Doctor instead landed near a fold-back quazar engine which was in the process of overloading, and entangled itself with the TARDIS. Attempting to find a safe place to disarm it, he instead found himself materialising in the Albert Hall itself, where a human boy in the audience proved crucial to helping him disarm the bomb. Since he'd arrived near the end of the performance anyway, the Doctor then departed, though not before glancing at the brochure and remarking on the "dull name" of alleged guest star Matt Smith. (TV: Doctor Who Scene [+]Loading...["Doctor Who Scene (TV story)"])
Clara Oswald, the Doctor, and the Body Swap Tickets[[edit] | [edit source]]
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The Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald once visited the Royal Albert Hall using a Hyperscape Body Swap Ticket. (TV: Doctor Who Proms Film [+]Loading...["Doctor Who Proms Film (TV story)"])
In the Fifteenth Doctor's day[[edit] | [edit source]]
During a later BBC Proms performance, the Fifteenth Doctor's attempt to remotely transmit a message to the audience with the technological aid of the Vlinx was highjacked by Maestro, the Pantheon of Discord's malicious God of Music, who manifested in the Royal Albert Hall. Using their power to command the orchestra to play the "worst song ever", I've Got a Dog, they attempted to "feast" on the unpleasant dissonance the experience created within the minds of the audience. However, the Doctor turned Maestro's own symbolic logic against them, instructing the audience to clap as loudly as they can; as applause only occurs when the music is over, this suddenly drained Maestro's accumulated power away and caused their physical form to explosion, leaving the performance to resume after a brief, inspirational speech from the Doctor. (AUDIO: Pantheon of Discord [+]Loading...["Pantheon of Discord (audio story)"])
The Proms were interrupted a second time when the presenter's place was suddenly commandeered by the mysterious Mrs Flood, (AUDIO: Untitled 2 [+]Loading...["Untitled 2 (Doctor Who at the Proms 2024 audio story)"]) fresh off delivering a cryptic narration on a snowy rooftop concerning the fates of Ruby Sunday and the Fifteenth Doctor. (TV: Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"]) Flood denied being anything more than a friendly old woman, much to the audience's scepticism, and rambled for a few minutes about the Doctor, Ruby, and the stories she sometimes heard on the breeze, before allowing the music to resume. (AUDIO: Untitled 2 [+]Loading...["Untitled 2 (Doctor Who at the Proms 2024 audio story)"])
Later events[[edit] | [edit source]]
By one account, in 2050, Albert Hall was destroyed by a tornado caused by an Aeolian. (TV: Aeolian [+]Loading...["Aeolian (TV story)"])
By an earlier account, however, during the 2150s Dalek invasion of Earth, Barbara Wright and Jenny rolled Dortmun along the side of Albert Hall, hiding from Daleks, during their trek across Westminster to Wembley. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Loading...["The Dalek Invasion of Earth (TV story)"])
Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]
Epsilon Delta programmed a replica of the Royal Albert Hall in his TARDIS. (PROSE: The Dimension Riders [+]Loading...["The Dimension Riders (novel)"])
Fitz Kreiner estimated that the Slaughterhouse was about the size of Albert Hall. (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell [+]Loading...["The Ancestor Cell (novel)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Royal Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria, in honour of her late husband Prince Albert. Both figures play an important role in the Doctor Who universe, being ultimately responsible for the Torchwood Institute.
Doctor Who at the Proms takes place at the Royal Albert Hall, and includes performances for various Doctors, companions and returning monsters, often by actors who've played them on screen. As a result, recorded content often directly involves Albert Hall, including TV: Music of the Spheres and TV: Doctor Who Proms Film, which would be referenced in TV: Dark Water.