Doctor Who Stock Music

The Space Adventure Releases

De-Bunking Archive & Liner Notes

A great source of information on the BBC stock library music used in Doctor Who is of course Andrew Pixley's Archive articles in Doctor Who Magazine. However, I would strongly caution all fans not to regard these as definitive holy truths about which music was actually used on the program, but merely as investigative leads. The production notes that the Archive articles are based on may not always reflect last minute changes or things that don't go according to plan in the mayhem of time-pressured studio video-taping.

The Youngbeat Factor

Perhaps the most famous example of stock music misinformation is the listing of Jack Trombey's "Youngbeat" as the music heard coming from Bob Hall's radio in episode one of "The Evil of the Daleks". After this was included on Julian Knott's "Space Adventures" CD release as a bonus track, it became obvious that it was something completely different to what was actually used in the program, and Andrew Pixley eventually printed a formal retraction in the DWM Archive update in "The Troughton Years" special edition.

Unfortunately, this is almost certainly not the only example of this kind of thing happening....

The Ochre Records release of "Dr. Who - Music from the Tenth Planet" in 2000, coupled with the release of the reconstructed story on BBC video, offers us a unique chance to examine the accuracy of DWM Archive notes. The audio CD presents every track listed in DWM, nothing more, and nothing less:

  1. Blast Off! (Roger Roger) 2:24
  2. Music For Technology (Walter Stott) 1:35
  3. Power Drill (Douglas Gamley) 1:16
  4. Space Adventure Part 1 (Martin Slavin) 0:41
  5. Space Adventure Part 2 (Martin Slavin) 1:25
  6. Space Adventure Part 3 (Martin Slavin) 0:18
  7. Drama in Miniature Part 1 (Dennis Farnon) 1:32
  8. Drama in Miniature Part 2 (Dennis Farnon) 1:10
  9. Machine Room (Douglas Gamley) 3:02
  10. Drumdramatics 7 (Robert Farnon) 2:33
  11. Drumdramatics 10 (Robert Farnon) 3:09
Total Time: 19:07

This CD is unique among those that release Martin Slavin's Cybermen anthem "Space Adventure", in that the three parts are split into three separate tracks. I haven't been able to find any example of the first part being used in any Doctor Who story, although it is still nice to have it included, as part two features so prominantly in early cybermen tales, and part three often manages an appearance as well, most notably closing off "The Tomb of the Cybermen".

Likewise, only part one of "Drama in Miniature" features in the televised story, but the inclusion of part two on the CD is actually a nice feature.

The "Music for Technology" heard on this CD is identical to the one on "Space Adventures", although on that CD it is listed as "Music for Technology - Part One".

The most bizarre gaffe seems to be the inclusion of Roger Roger's "Blast Off!" I've heard some fans go on and on about what a great piece this is, and perhaps they're right. But does it actually ever appear in "The Tenth Planet", or any other Doctor Who story for that matter? If anyone has actually heard it in the program, please email me (izsakm@vianet.on.ca) and let me know precisely where it features, because after several viewings of "The Tenth Planet" in which I've listened carefully to the soundtrack of the video and made notes, I am unable to find it. I suspect the production team planned to use it, but for some reason further along the production process, the grams operator never played it on the day of studio video-taping.

The first 4-second "stab" of Drumdramatics 7 adds punctuation to Polly's distress in the cybermen's saucer in episode four, but although Cutler's attack on Ben in episode three also sounds like a Drumdramatics cue, it is not to be found on either of the Drumdramatics tracks included on the CD. Thus Drumdramatics 10 is also without an appearance in Doctor Who. Since the CD has only 19:07 total duration, it is a great shame that we didn't get at least enough of the rest of the Drumdramatics suite to identify this cue.

Apart from Cutler's attack on Ben, all the music in "The Tenth Planet" appears to be included on this CD (as long as tracks like "Machinery in TARDIS Goes Wild" are relegated to the sound effects department). However, most of these tracks also appear on Julian Knott's "Space Adventures" CD, where they are presented with greater use of dynamic range, and less hiss and crackle from the transfer from vinyl discs. I strongly favour the "Space Adventure" versions of these tracks.

Only "Drama in Miniature Part One" and Drumdramatics 7 are unique to this CD.

Julian Knott's "Space Adventures" was first released as an audio cassette in September 1987, and re-issued in March 1988. It is the March 1988 version from which I have drawn all my information on the cassette.

The material was then later re-recorded and re-mastered as an audio CD in 1998 with many bonus tracks added. The first 21 tracks of the CD represent what was on the original cassette with one minor difference: the cassette features only part 2 of Martin Slavin's "Space Adventure", while the CD version presents all 3 parts combined into one track.

Both cassette and CD came with notes indicating which episodes each track supposedly featured in. Careful listening to the television stories indicates that these notes deserve to be updated.

Title Composer Length Appearances
Cassette Side One
1. Three Guitars Mood 2 Nelson / Raymond 2:04 An Unearthly Child - episode 1 and unaired pilot
2. Machine Room Douglas Gamley 3:02 The Tenth Planet - Episode Two
(The cassette notes are in agreement with the video on this, the CD notes erroneously credit this piece to episode one only.)
3. Illustrations #4
- Little Prelude		 Pierre Arvay 1:28 The Massacre - Episode 4
4. Asyndeton Robert Gerhard 0:29 Credited only to "The Space Museum" episode 1. Other appearances include: "The Moonbase" 1 & 3, and "The War Machines" episode 3
5. Illustrations #4
- Hunted Man		 Pierre Arvay 2:58 The Massacre - Episodes 1-4
(episode titles)
6. Palpitations J. Scott 0:37 The Tomb of the Cybermen 1
The Web of Fear 1
7. Telergic Robert Gerhard 0:46 The Tomb of the Cybermen 4
8. Lunar People - Andromeda F. Bayle 2:42 The Web of Fear 1-6
9. Music For Technology - Part One Walter Stott 1:36 The Tenth Planet 1
10. Electronic Music - Bathysphere E. Nordgren 3:02 This is supposed to be in The Space Museum 1.
If anyone can actually hear it, please tell me exactly where. I suspect it was never used.
11. Spine Chillers Edwin Braden 1:25 The Web of Fear 2 & 4
12. Space Adventure
[parts 1-3]		 Martin Slavin 2:17 The Tenth Planet 1-4
The Moonbase 1-4
The Tomb of the Cybermen 1,2 & 4
The Web of Fear 4
The last note also underwent additional sound processing before being used as a sting in "The Tomb of the Cybermen 3"
Cassette Side Two
13. Power Drill Douglas Gamley 1:16 The Tenth Planet 1-3
14. Universe Sideral Paul Bonneau 2:28 The Tomb of the Cybermen 1 & 4
"Sideral" is French for "sidereal", a style of measuring the stars' movement across the heavens which lends itself to telling time.
15. Illustrations #4
- Frightened Man		 Pierre Arvay 4:45 The Massacre - episodes 2 & 3
16. Electronic Music - Meteoroids Robert Gerhard 1:26 The Time Meddler 4 - Checkmate
17. Space Time Music - Part One W. Josephs 1:25 The Tomb of the Cybermen 3
This piece does not appear in "The Web of Fear" as listed.
18. Space Time Music - Part Two W. Josephs 1:22 The Web of Fear 1, 2, 4, & 6
This piece does not appear in "The Tomb of the Cybermen" as listed.
19. Musique Concrete II Buxton Orr 2:23 The Edge of Destruction 2
The Space Museum 2 & 3
(The CD had not listed this track for Space Museum 3)
20. Impending Danger Syd Dale 2:13 The Web of Fear 2 & 4
21. World of Plants Jack Trombey 2:33 The Space Museum 1
CD only Bonus Tracks
22. Desert Storm H. Feischner 1:54 The Tomb of the Cybermen 1-4
Although this piece gets its longest and most definitive airing during the cybermat attack near the end of episode 3, its opening is used as a tension builder in all 4 episodes. The CD only credits it for eps 1-3.
23. Musique Concrete Buxton Orr 0:57 Although credited to The Space Museum 3, careful listening reveals that the actual piece used was Musique Concrete II as in the previous episode and Edge of Destruction 2. This companion piece was probably never used in Doctor Who.
24. Blast Off! Roger Roger 2:24 Here we go again. Though I don't believe the piece actually appears, it is credited to "The Tenth Planet 1". The inner liner notes also state that it was used on Patrick McGoohan's tv series "The Prisoner", and does feature in "The Girl Who Was Death" several times, occasionally with heavy editing.
25. Astronautics Suite E. Sendel 2:40 This track is apparently only the first of the 7-part "Astronautics Theme" collection of simplistic organ music (see below for more). Although credited to The Space Museum 1 and 3 and The Tomb of the Cybermen 1, it is far more accurate to say it only appears in The Space Museum 1 and 2 and The Tomb of the Cybermen 4. Other parts of the Astronautics Theme, not included on this CD, appear in other episodes of those stories.
26. Youngbeat Jack Trombey 2:55 Does not appear in The Evil of the Daleks 1 as it is credited to have done.
27. Spotlight Sequins No. 1 Keith Papworth 1:59 Terror of the Autons 2
28. Mutations Trevor Duncan 0:44 This is not credited to Doctor Who at all, but rather to the title theme from the 1958 BBC serial "Quatermass and the Pit"
Total Time: 55:52

Via Satellite's 1997 release of "Music from the Tomb of the Cybermen" predates both of the above CD's (but not the cassette version of "Space Adventures").

One obvious curiousity that is immediately apparent to anyone who owns the CD is that although the labels list 11 tracks, the CD itself actually contains 12!

Freedb.org accurately lists the timing of each of the 12 tracks, yet careful listening and comparison to the Julian Knott's "Space Adventures" CD reveals that Freedb.org has also been displaying mislabeled track titles and credits for some time.

After careful listening and comparison with the other CD's listed above,
I am convinced that this is what "Music from the Tomb of the Cybermen" actually contains:

  1. Doctor Who (Ron Grainer) [warbly white noise opening] 2:22
  2. TARDIS interior (Brian Hodgson) [from the unaired pilot] 1:34
  3. TARDIS landing (Brian Hodgson) [60's version - practically the same as take-off] 0:19
  4. TARDIS doors opening (Dick Mills) [from the 80's] 0:10
  5. Space Adventure Parts 1-3 (Martin Slavin) 2:27
  6. Palpitations (J. Scott) 0:41
  7. Astronautics Theme Parts 1-3 (E. Sendel) 4:07
  8. Astronautics Theme Parts 4-7 (E. Sendel) 1:57
  9. Desert Storm (H. Feischner) 1:56
  10. Space Time Music Parts 1-4 (W. Josephs) 5:19
  11. TARDIS Take Off (Brian Hodgson) 1:11
  12. Doctor Who (Ron Grainer) [season 10-17 title version] 0:42
Total Time: 22:47

This CD is most notable for giving us further portions of the Astronautics Theme, including that heard during the titles of Tomb of the Cybermen 1, and the cliffhanger/reprise bridging episodes 2 and 3 of "The Space Museum". It is also unique in offering part 3 of W. Joseph's "Space Time Music", which features in "The Web of Fear".

Unfortunately, all of the products listed on this page have sold out over time, and future editions do not seem likely anytime soon, making them rare collectors items. If you wish to purchase any of these, my best advice is to scan eBay.com and Amazon.com auctions. Be sure to check out both the U.K. and American sites, in addition to your local one if you live outside of those countries. You never know where you might find that Doctor Who fan who has tired of these and is busy with spring cleaning! :-) Good Luck!

The Next "Space Adventures"??
Lyratek Arts currently is in possession of and has access to a LARGE number of further recordings of library music cues that were used in Doctor Who, and we are VERY interested in making one or two new CD collections of these. The project depends upon the co-operation of the various libraries that hold copyright, and sufficient funding.

There are four primary ways that you can help:

  1. Purchase the current music CD from Lyratek Arts: Harmonic Odyssey. These are original pop / new age compositions by Lyratek Arts founder Martin Izsak, played on electronic instruments. Track 15, "Sutekh", was inspired by the Doctor Who story "Pyramids of Mars". www.harmonicodyssey.com has all the details, including streaming audio samples of all tracks, and a free .mp3 of the title track. Be sure to check it out.

  2. Purchase your favourite Doctor Who products through the links on this site. That way, Amazon won't keep all of your money. A portion will go through us towards the creation of another great product for you to enjoy, and you can take pride in knowing you have contributed and are greatly appreciated.
    		3. William Hartnell
    Patrick Troughton
    Jon Pertwee
    Tom Baker
    Peter Davison
    Colin Baker
    Sylvester McCoy & Paul McGann
    Christopher Eccleston & David Tenant

  3. Follow our links to Daz 3D, and become a member of their site. That way, a portion of your first 90 days of Daz 3D purchases will go through us towards the creation of another great product for you to enjoy, and you can take pride in knowing you have contributed and are greatly appreciated.

  4. Direct donations to Lyratek Arts are certainly appreciated as well! ;-)

    Lyratek Arts
    P.O. Box 1049
    Gravenhurst, Ontario
    Canada P1P 1V3

    izsakm@vianet.on.ca

    Contact page

F.A.Q.

Q: Will Lyratek Arts re-release any of the cues from the CD's listed above: "Space Adventures", "Music from the Tenth Planet", "Music from the Tomb of the Cybermen" ?

A: We have no plans for such previously released music at the present time. Our current project is focused on a whole set of completely new tracks. If all copyright holders are willing (some have already agreed, some are resistant), we should have enough material to fill 2 CD's to the brim.