Transmat:Doctor Who

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
Revision as of 01:15, 21 October 2013 by CzechOut (talk | contribs)

The Doctor Who theme was composed by Ron Grainer and made its debut with the first episode of the Doctor Who series in 1963. Although it has undergone many rearrangements, this piece of music has remained the sole theme for the series throughout its history, making it one of the most recognisable themes in television. It is also one of the longest continually-used pieces of theme music in British entertainment history, surpassed only by the theme from Coronation Street (in use since 1960), and the "James Bond Theme" (in use since 1962).

The women who gave Doctor Who back to us
JaneTranter.jpg
Click for video

Think Doctor Who is just for boys? Don't you believe it. Not only was the show's very first producer a woman, but it would never have come back without the fierce advocacy of Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner. Considering her importance to Doctor Who it's somewhat ironic that Tranter's only on-screen credits are for Torchwood: Miracle Day. But Gardner, her "partner in crime", is tied only with Russell T Davies as the most prolific producer in Doctor Who history.

Industrial action

Paintbox.jpg

Click for a video of a 21st century geek as he takes delivery of one of the two Paintboxes used by the BBC in the 1980s
The Quantel Paintbox was a graphics workstation that allowed Doctor Who to have a primitive form of colour grading in the 1980s. To find out more about the "business of show", go to category:production information, where you can read about colour separation overlay, low loaders, telerecordings, vidFIRE, rostrum cameras, 2" quad tape, Ealing Studios and tons more.
Surprising guest star
Arbitan.jpg
Click to see Coulouris as Thatcher in the scene that explains the Citizen Kane mystery of "Rosebud"
George Coulouris was undoubtedly the most prominent actor to appear in the first season of Doctor Who, yet he only appeared in a single episode, "The Sea of Death". Coulouris was a part of Orson Welles' regular troupe of actors, and took part in both The War of the Worlds' American radio broadcast in 1938 as well as Citizen Kane. Though his career was mostly an American one, he returned to Britain in the 1950s, putting him in position to work on Doctor Who in 1964. Find out more about the thousands of actors who have been on Doctor Who by exploring Doctor Who guest actors.
Ex-Doctors never die, they just make audios

The careers of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors are significantly longer in audio than on television. Check out their latest works at category:2024 audio stories

The relevance of comics

Officially, only The Lodger has been explicitly adapted from a comic strip — also called The Lodger.

However, several stories have clearly taken material from comic strips — often those in Doctor Who Magazine. The Shakespeare Code contains a good amount of material from A Groatsworth of Wit, and the notion of the Doctor absorbing the time vortex in order to spare a companion was explored in both The Parting of the Ways and The Flood.

The first of the "money men"

Donald Baverstock was the BBC executive who set the the wheels in motion that eventually led to the creation of Doctor Who. Essentially the original commissioner of the programme, he hired Sydney Newman and later imposed a sense of financial responsibility upon producer Verity Lambert.

But Baverstock wasn't the only BBC executive to have a profound impact on the development of Doctor Who. Make sure you read about Lorraine Heggessey, Mark Thompson, Danny Cohen, George Entwistle, Tony Hall, Shaun Sutton, Sydney Newman and others.
Things released on 3 November


Did you know…


3 November births and deaths
{{
Production history for 3 November


  1. Exile is (Almost) Here.... Big Finish, via Internet Archive. Retrieved on 14 December 2003.
  2. Doctor Who Guide
  3. People Pill
  4. The Guardian