Composer Murray Gold has been one of the very few constants since the return ofDoctor Whoin 2005.
I thought, Well that means a lot of work!
[Laughs] I instantly began to think.
Could we use it for the next one as well?
Are we never going to hearI Am The Doctoragain until the 60th?
[Laughs]
If we dont, then what follows it has to be stronger.
So, I was thinking those thoughts.
[Laughs]
Sad to see him go?
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Yeah, cos hes brilliant.
Hes brilliant regardless of what hes given to do, which is always good.
Matt has a very interesting internal energy, which he allows to show.
Hes a child, hes an old man everybody knows this.
People have had since 2010 to notice this about him.
Hes really so good.
I was working on another show recently, notDoctor Who…
[Mock shock] What!?!?
I know, heresy!
They got it right when they cast him, for sure.
Lets hope they do again.
Have you started thinking about the music for Elevenths regeneration?
Because thats the only part of whatever the Christmas Special will be that weve had music for before.
Ive written music for regeneration sequences.
I still think the regeneration music in episode thirteen, series one [Bad Wolf] istheregeneration music.
NotVale Decem(Tennants regeneration song)?
I dont know what Stevens [Moffat] gonna do.
It just depends how Steven writes it.
Im sure hes aware that theres potential for something musical.
[Laughs]
Have you started to think about the Twelfth Doctor theme tune yet?
Ive thought about it, for sure.
I think it should maybe link to the Eleventh Doctors theme somehow.
If there was a way of doing that, though I just have to wait and see.
Maybe itll be a horse.
Maybe the next Doctor will be an animal of some kind.
A little sideways-moving crab that demands a slightly adventurous foxtrot.
[Laughs]
I dont know if I can topI Am The Doctor.
Maybe it can metamorphose somehow.
I dont know whats out there, imaginatively maybe theres something that will come to mind.
Again, it depends whos cast.
And how the first episode looks.
Do you think the Twelfth Doctor could be female?
If it were a woman that would be really interesting.
Sometimes youre just hard-wired but it doesnt take very long before you get used to something.
Whos to say she wouldnt have a female companion as well?
Theres no story you cant write forDoctor Who.
The shows as imaginable in as many different ways as there are good writers.
Im sure theres a lot of people who would love to do it.
Youre a writer, you could do it!
[Laughs] Im sure I wouldnt do a very good job.
I like making things, I dont like phone calls.
Youre currently working on theDoctor Who50th anniversary special, anything you might share with us?
Theres some really interesting things to say about that but I cant say them.
Its very, very well directed.
Theres a thing theyve done in it, which might be controversial… Its interesting though.
Have you used any old themes in it?
Definitely gonna use some music that is resonant of Davids time.
No, but I really like Geoffrey Burgon.
Thats my favourite time of Doctor Who (not including the time I worked on it).
They do remind me a bit of Hilda Ogden!
You know, like the rollers in her hair.
[Laughs] They always have.
Ive always been a bit confused.
I used to have a Hilda Ogden t-shirt, I was a fan.
I really like that piece of music, theres something lovely about it.
Then it goes back to the riff.
A nice selection of moods in quite a short space of time.
Its celebratory as well.
I was asked if I was pleased to get this good versus evil theme music.
But thats notDoctor Who, thats an American big Hollywood blockbuster.
Thats a Manichaen universe where good and evil are in permanent war.
Most of the time.
Are you involved inDoctor WhoSeries 8?
But whats the point of me not doingDoctor Who?
Theres still nothing better to write for.
Id love to carry on doing it because, honestly, theres nothing better to write for.
The music captures the best parts of the show, in feeling.
We preserve them and there they are.
Ive never not given everything.
Ive never not putDoctor Whofirst.
I havent sold the show short.
What do you think defines the Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat eras?
Russells was the era of stumbling generosity, overreaching generosity.
Stevens is the era of the introspective epic.
So I think theres the external versus the internal in some way.
Stevens plots happen in a place thats not necessarily real.
So, asking if you could see them walking down the street in Britain isnt even the point.
Thats happened with all of his characters, hes questioned their existence as a character.
Are they the character we think they are?Are they that person?
Are they just a character playing a character?
Steven tends to be more claustrophobic, Russell tends to be more airy.
Russell roots things in reality.
Have the notes and directions changed from the different eras?
I have a lot of free rein.
Marcus [Wilson, executive producer] has been at the forefront in the dubs recently.
He looks after the dubs to a certain extent.
A few years back, it would definitely be Russell and Julie [Gardener, former executive producer].
Then it would be Piers [Wenger, former exec prod].
Tell us about your celebration composition for the 50th Anniversary,Song for Fifty.
I stood up in front of the choir last night, and they rehearsed it.
Neither Ben [Foster, conductor] or I had heard it.
I delivered all of the score to Ben a couple of weeks before.
It took me a month to do it.
I never get a month on any piece of music.
I thought, If I were to write a song for the fiftieth anniversary, what would it be?
Seriousness is about the quality of your perception and your feeling.
I kept that recording and over a month I orchestrated it and wrote all of the words.
I took a line fromThe Girl in the Fireplaceabout the slow road.
And theres The Doctor, whizzing around, at his whim and to some extent were condemned.
By the third verse, where the tenor says, So, my dear friend.
The song came together really well.
Im playing the piano, Im going to attempt to.
Its gonna be quite moving, its a very emotional song.
