Diegesis (in-universe)

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When orchestral music began playing after the Doctor's TARDIS returned to EMI Recording Studios, the Fifteenth Doctor assumed it was "non-diegetic". However, Ruby Sunday could also hear the music.

Maestro was generating it in order to attack them. (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"])

Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]

As explained on our relevant article: in film theory, diegetic music is that which can be heard by characters within the scene, whereas most incidental music (supplied by the composer in the real world; in this case Murray Gold) is indeed non-diegetic.

Since the Doctor does not explain what he means, there are two possible interpretations:

  1. This is a fourth wall break. There are several others in this episode. (In fact, several DWU stories already show Doctor Who existing in-universe.)
  2. The Doctor hears the same music as the audience, but generally assumes it's entirely in his head.