The first Doctor Who Prom of 2010 took place today, Saturday, hosted by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan.

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, who record the soundtrack for the series, presented a selection of intergalactic music, including Murray Gold’s music from the TV show, plus a selection of classical favourites including Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, Mars from Holst's The Planets and Orff's Carmina Burnana.

Before the concert, Matt Smith said of the Doctor Who Prom:
The concert programme can be viewed on the Proms website, providing full details of the concert, the performers' biographies and an interview with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan.

The programme is now available for seven days on the BBC iPlayer.

Doctor Who Prom - Part One

• Murray Gold - The Mad Man with a Box
• Murray Gold - An Untimely Arrival
• John Adams - Short Ride in a Fast Machine
• Murray Gold - I Am The Doctor
• William Walton - Overture Portsmouth Point
• Gustav Holst - The Planets - Mars
• Murray Gold - Battle in the Skies

Interval Twenty Minutes - Dance of the Daleks
How do you make a sink-plunger seem scary? Matthew Sweet, who spent the Saturday tea-times of his youth peering at the television from behind the sofa, time-travels through Doctor Who's 47-year history to investigate the weird and wonderful soundworld of its incidental music. He talks with some of the composers who have contributed, in very different musical styles, to the enduring success of the programme over the decades.

Doctor Who Prom - Part Two

• Carl Orff - Carmina Burana - O Fortuna
• Murray Gold - Amy
• Murray Gold - Liz, Lizards and Vincenyt
• Richard Wagner - Die Walkure
• Murray Gold - This is Gallifrey / Vale decem
• Murray Gold - Pandorica Suite
• Murray Gold - Song of Freedom
• Ron Grainer - Doctor Who Theme

Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, has spent the last few days filming for an independent feature film, Shadows of a Stranger. The film is described as an original tale that 're-samples' Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol in a dark melange of 'ghostly' visitations, psychic travelling, and the search for one's atrophied humanity. It is being shot entirely on bluescreen.

Doctor Who Composer, Murray Gold has given an interview to The Daily Anthenaeum, in which he talks about his work on the series since its return in 2005 and the pressures of the relentless Doctor Who schedule. "There is never more than two weeks for a complete turnaround," he says. "At one point we dubbed five episodes in five weeks. It was almost impossible. I would start an episode and it would need to be finished four days later."

Writer Neil Gaiman has won the Cilip Carnegie Medal, for his fantasy tale The Graveyard Book. The award for children's fiction is the second major award for the novel, about an orphaned boy brought up by ghosts. The Carnegie Medal is awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding book for children. It was established by in 1936, in memory of the Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie. Gaiman has completed a script for the 2011 series of Doctor Who.

As reported earlier this week BBC Worldwide is to launch a band new Live arena tour of the UK.

Developed in association with Doctor Who’s Executive Producer and show runner, Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Live promises the same excitement, adventure and suspense that viewers have come to expect from the TV programme and will feature specially filmed new video scenes.

Opening in wartime London and concluding in an epic onstage battle, audiences should expect the unexpected as the The Doctor’s arch-enemies the Daleks are joined by some of the best-loved and most terrifying monsters from the TV series including the Cybermen, Weeping Angels, Judoon and Oods to name but a few.

Doctor Who Live will feature special FX, optical illusions and spectacular pyrotechnics building to an epic finale. Specially edited video clips, drawn from the TV Programme will be shown on a massive screen and accompanied by the music of longtime Doctor Who composer Murray Gold. These iconic scores will be brought to life by a 16 piece orchestra live on stage.

NB: Actors from the TV series will NOT be appearing live on stage.


Tickets will go on sale 9am Friday 21st May 2010 and are priced at £38.50, £34.50 and £25.00 subject to booking fees. For the Belfast Odyssey Arena only tickets are priced at £42.50, £37.50 & £27.50 as booking fees and agency commissions are included in the ticket price.

Full details on www.doctorwholive.com

The Scotsman is reporting that a new Doctor Who Stage Show will tour the UK later this year.

The BBC Worldwide show, titled Doctor Who: Here Come The Monsters will be in a similar format to the the successful Walking with Dinosaurs Arena tour last year.

The show will take place in a large staged area on the Arena floor and will feature special effects, and video scenes shot with Matt Smith. It will include stage battles between the Daleks and the Cybermen and be accompanied a live orchestra playing music by composer Murray Gold who said "The live element always adds something extra, but these will also be brand new arrangements for a new band of very talented musicians. It's very exciting."

Nine venues are to be included on the tour including the Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow. The show has been developed in association with executive producer Steven Moffat, who said: "This is everything I ever wanted since I was 11. A live show, with all the coolest Doctor Who monsters, a proper story, and brand new screen material.

More details should be available shortly and tickets are expected to go on sale in the next month.

The Doctor Who Theme has been voted the third most recognisable theme tune on British television.

The Doctor Who theme was composed in 1963 by Ron Grainer and was one of the first electronic music signature tunes for television. It was originally realised by Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Since the 1960's there have been several versions of the theme with the latest, arranged by Murray Gold, accompanying the 2010 series.

The poll was conducted by the Performing Rights Society and named the Match of the Day theme as the most recognisable followed by the theme to EastEnders.

Two Doctor Who Proms have been announced by the BBC and will take place over the weekend of 24th/25th July 2010.

This will be the second time music from Doctor Who has been featured at the Proms. Founded in 1895, the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts are an eight-week summer season of orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington. Since 1927 they have been run by the BBC. In 2008 a Doctor Who Prom showcased the work of Murray Gold, who has composed the incidental music for Doctor Who since its return in 2005 along with other space related pieces of classical music.

The 2010 season will follow the same format comprising a mix of traditional and modern music. The two proms will have the same running order and both will be hosted by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan and feature the London Philharmonic Choir and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

A number of Who related events have been organised over the weekend.

Tickets will go on sale, online, by telephone and in person on Tuesday 4 May at 8.00am.


SATURDAY 24 JULY 2010

SUNDAY 25 JULY 2010

The soundtrack website Music From The Movies has a new interview with Doctor Who composer Murray Gold, in which Gold confirms that he will be staying on to compose the music for the 2010 series of Doctor Who.

In the interview, Gold discusses composing and recording the scores for "The End of Time" and the other 2009 specials. He also mentions that he has already begun work on a new version of the Doctor Who theme for 2010, and that the forthcoming series will feature scripts by Mark Gatiss and Gareth Roberts.

Posted By John Bowman

Silva Screen Records is to release music from Series Four of Doctor Who in mid-November.

A news item on its website says the tracks, composed by Murray Gold, will include Song Of Freedom - the choral piece that marked the Daleks' defeat in Journey's End. The Doctor's Theme is another of the tracks, but no other titles are known yet.

The exact date of the CD's release has still to be announced.

Posted By John Bowman

The original soundtrack album to Torchwood is now available to download from theSilva Screen Records website.

It features Series One and Two music composed by Ben Foster and Murray Gold and performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and a studio orchestra.

The 32 tracks can be downloaded individually or as a full album.

The CD will be released on September 22.

(With thanks to Ben Dawson and Pierre Schramm.)

The Doctor Who Prom takes place this Sunday, 27th July at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The BBC Proms, also known as The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, take place every summer in London and have been running since 1895, with the BBC taking charge in 1927. Most famous for the Last Night of the Proms, which features patriotic music, the series takes place over an eight week period and features over 70 concerts.

The Doctor Who Prom takes place at 11am UK time and runs for about two hours. It can be heard on BBC Radio Three via FM Radio in the UK or via theBBC Website.

The concert will be hosted by Freema Agyeman and features a specially written scene starring David Tennant.

Full details of the music will be on the proms website about 1 hour before broadcast and the concert will be available on the BBC iPlayer for 7 days after broadcast.