Dudley Simpson
Dudley Simpson (4 October 1922-4 November 2017[1]) composed the incidental music for many Doctor Who stories. He contributed more than any other person to the original series.
In The Talons of Weng-Chiang, he played the conductor of the Palace Theatre. (DOC: The Last Hurrah)
Simpson's time with Doctor Who came to an end when incoming producer John Nathan-Turner invited him out for lunch one day, during which he announced his intention to dispense with Simpson's services and make a fresh start for the 1980s. All incidental music from then on was composed in-house by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Other Notable Works
Dudley also composed the theme tune to Blake's 7.
Legacy
As of 2021, Dudley had worked on more Doctor Who episodes than his fellow composers. Following his death on 4th November 2017, the DVD and Blu-ray release of the part-live action, part-animated version of Shada was dedicated to his memory.
Doctor Who filmography
- Planet of Giants
- The Crusade
- The Chase
- The Celestial Toymaker
- The Underwater Menace
- The Macra Terror
- The Evil of the Daleks
- The Ice Warriors
- Fury from the Deep
- The Seeds of Death
- The Space Pirates
- The War Games
- Spearhead from Space
- The Ambassadors of Death
- Terror of the Autons
- The Mind of Evil
- The Claws of Axos
- Colony in Space
- The Dæmons
- Day of the Daleks
- The Curse of Peladon
- The Time Monster
- The Three Doctors
- Carnival of Monsters
- Frontier in Space
- Planet of the Daleks
- The Green Death
- The Time Warrior
- Invasion of the Dinosaurs
- The Monster of Peladon
- Planet of the Spiders
- Robot
- The Ark in Space
- The Sontaran Experiment
- Genesis of the Daleks
- Planet of Evil
- Pyramids of Mars
- The Android Invasion
- The Brain of Morbius
- The Masque of Mandragora
- The Hand of Fear
- The Deadly Assassin
- The Face of Evil
- The Robots of Death
- The Talons of Weng-Chiang
- Horror of Fang Rock
- The Invisible Enemy
- Image of the Fendahl
- The Sun Makers
- Underworld
- The Invasion of Time
- The Ribos Operation
- The Pirate Planet
- The Stones of Blood
- The Androids of Tara
- The Power of Kroll
- The Armageddon Factor
- Destiny of the Daleks
- City of Death
- The Creature from the Pit
- Nightmare of Eden
- The Horns of Nimon
Simpson was originally booked to compose music for the abandoned Season 17 story Shada. For the VHS release of Shada, incidental music was composed by Keff McCulloch. For the 2017 remaster of Shada the music was composed by Mark Ayres, and the overall release was dedicated to him.
