I watched a fascinating documentary last night, tucked away on BBCs iPlayer, was an earlier edition of the arts programme 'Arena'. This particular episode (see links below) was about the relatively unknown composer of the original Dr Who theme, Delia Derbyshire.
The first black and white episodes of Dr Who literally scared me witless as a child, mostly due to the utterly unearthly sounds and visuals emanating from the tv. I always assumed that the theme was the product of the Radiophonic Workshop under the aegis of Ron Grainer, but as the documentary shows, Derbyshire was the true genius behind the sounds.
Besides the obvious importance of the BBC theme, Delia was instrumental (no pun intended) in the development of sound engineering. Being a mathematician and a musician, she approached the design of sound effects from a completely different direction to her peers.
The docudrama is written and directed by Caroline Catz, who also plays Derbyshire in the programme and shows some of the hurdles Derbyshire had to overcome in the male dominated industry and in the strictured confines of the Radiophonic Workshop, whos working practices, although unconventional, were very rigid.
Derbyshire eventually outgrew the BBC and struck out on her own along with other like minded individuals and brought about the dawn of a new age in music and sound design. The documentary is based upon the discovery of a number of lost reels of audio discovered in the attic of her family home after her death and a number of childhood drawings and letters that were stashed inside the chimney breast of her bedroom.
Below are some choice links t various resources and sites relative to her work, but i would recommend watching the Arena programme first, especially if you are unfamiliar - as I was - with her amazing work.
N.B - theres a fascinating part in the Arena prog about the lost BBC sci-fi series 'Out of the Unknown', for which Derbyshire recorded a robotic 'song' called Ziwzih Ziwzih OO-OO-OO from the episode 'The Prophet'. The robots in question are the White Robots from Dr Who, painted black!
http://www.delia-derbyshire.org/
https://deliaderbyshireday.com/delia-derbyshire-the-myths-and-the-legendary-tapes/
https://www.effectrode.com/knowledge-base/delia-derbyshire-recording-the-future/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH8qvNI06Ws
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p008y2q7
https://www.artofthetitle.com/feature/doctor-who-50-years-of-main-title-design/
Anbother programme where the "music" or at least the strange sound effects scared me was Roberta Leigh's "Space Patrol"!
ReplyDeleteI think Space patrol is both responsible for my spinning top fascination and a deep seated series of b/w nightmares I had as a child!
DeleteThere was a documentary made by BBC 6 Music DJ Stuart McConie about Delia for the Dr Who Experience at Olympia in London in the early 2010s.
ReplyDeleteIt ran on a loop for 15 or 20 minutes, in the exhibition hall, and was very informative.
She was a bit of a loner, who was largely unrecognised by her employer and had a kind of sad end.
What's that? Doc Martin's wife created Dr Who's music theme?
ReplyDeleteI hope PBS brings it to the US.
ha ha - yep Doc Martins missus! I have the dubious priveledge of being in an episode of Doc Martin. We were in Port Isaac when the were filming the episode where she finds out shes pregnant. Caroline Catz ran past me on the lane (and shes even more stunning in person) and when we watched the broadcast of the episode some months later, you can see us in the background walking round the harbour! Famous for 15 seconds!
ReplyDeleteA fabulous article Wote and yeah, who knew about Delia! A fab story. I will have to watch the docudrama. I always associate Dr Who with radiophonics and radio-electronics and link the show to eerie remote antenna stations and radar arrays. The fascination with machinery like this extended into horror too with the Stone Tape and The Legend of Hell House having strange humming devices at their heart.
ReplyDeleteAustralian Ron Grainer, the Who score composer, has got an interesting life story too. Just read it on Wiki.
ReplyDelete