Doctor Who At 60 Review – Radio Celebrations

Welcome to the second part of my trilogy celebrating 60 years of Doctor Who. Having reviewed the specials and the Blu-ray steelbook, I’m now going to talk about the various radio programmes I’ve been listening to on BBC Sounds, which have been a great mixture of documentaries, interviews and music. Then next time I’ll conclude with the various TV shows I’ve been watching in the Whoniverse on iPlayer.

As usual, none of this is sponsored by or affiliated with the BBC or anyone else connected with Doctor Who, and these are just my opinions as a big fan, so I hope you enjoy!

Contents

Doctor Who @ 60: A Musical Celebration

This beautiful concert, showcasing some of the glorious music from the series, is hosted by Jo Whiley at Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff’s Millennium Centre, and features the BBC National Orchestra Of Wales & BBC Singers conducted by Alastair King, plus interviews with the showrunners and composers from the modern era, and a lady who played a big part in the return of Russell T Davies.

The radio broadcast of the concert lasts for 2 hours, and is available on both the Radio 2 and Radio Wales websites. They only keep it online for about a month, but they’ve already repeated it on different days, meaning they also expire at different times. So if it’s not available on one station, it’s worth checking the other page just in case. And if it isn’t on either, it’s bound to reappear eventually, perhaps with the launch of the next series for instance. The TV version, meanwhile, edits the concert down to 90 minutes by cutting out 4 of the tracks and rearranging the rest, which is rather a shame, and will be on iPlayer for most of the year. So you get less, but it’s available for longer.

The full setlist in the radio broadcast is as follows:

  1. I Am The Doctor – The theme for Matt Smith’s 11th Doctor.
  2. All The Strange, Strange Creatures – Most notably used as the trailer music for Series 3, during the 10th Doctor’s reign, but also appeared in several episodes.
  3. Classic Doctor Who Medley – Mark Ayres & Peter Howell from the Radiophonic Workshop join the orchestra to evoke memories of the Sea Devils, Cybermen, City Of Death and The Five Doctors from the Classic era. So they’re compositions I’m not familiar with, but they still sound good. Afterwards Jo chats to them about Delia Derbyshire’s iconic arrangement of the theme tune, the reduced time and budget for music in the old days, and the thrill of hearing their music performed by the orchestra at this concert.
  4. Abigail’s Song (Silence Is All You Know) – Sung by Rebecca Lea, this was originally performed by Katherine Jenkins for the 11th Doctor in the 2010 festive special A Christmas Carol. Afterwards, Jo dedicates the song to Michael Gambon, who was also in the episode and died in September this year. She then talks to former showrunner Steven Moffat about the song, writing for the Doctor and the pressure of producing the 50th anniversary special. We also learn that the 7th Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, is in the audience for this concert.
  5. This Is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home – Another great theme that was used in many episodes from the 10th Doctor’s era and beyond.
  6. The Long Song – From the Series 7 episode The Rings Of Akhaten, again from the 11th Doctor’s era.
  7. Companions Suite – A medley of the themes for Rose, Martha, Donna & Amy. Jo then talks to Emily Cook, who played the alto saxophone (entirely self-taught) in that piece, about the vital part she played in bringing Russell T Davies, David Tennant & Catherine Tate back for the 60th anniversary, as a direct result of the online tweetalongs and singalongs she organised during the Covid lockdowns.
  8. Doomsday – The memorably haunting theme used when Rose is trapped in the parallel world in the closing episode of Series 2.
  9. Vale Decem – The epic choral piece used for the 10th Doctor’s regeneration in The End Of Time.
  10. A Good Man? – The theme for Peter Capaldi’s 12th Doctor.
  11. I Am A Good Man – Taken from the 2017 Christmas special Twice Upon A Time, this music is used when the 1st Doctor regenerates after meeting the 12th Doctor.
  12. The Woman Who Fell To Earth – A new 10-minute suite composed by Segun Akinola exclusively for this concert, including his theme for Jodie Whittaker’s 13th Doctor, and music from the episodes Spyfall and The Power Of The Doctor, along with other elements. Before it starts, Segun joins former showrunner Chris Chibnall to talk to Jo about what it was like for them to take over the series, with the workload and pressure it entailed. Although I’m not a huge fan of Segun’s music in the series overall, this is a collection of his better pieces that sound very majestic with the orchestra playing them.
  13. The Life Of Sunday (Ruby’s Theme) – The official unveiling of the theme for the new companion, which takes the form of a slow piano waltz, with the orchestra joining in partway through. It’s a lovely piece, although it doesn’t yet strike me as being as memorable as those for the companions featured earlier. But I’ve no doubt it will take root in my brain more firmly as it keeps being used during the series. Composer Murray Gold joins Jo on stage afterwards, to talk about his return to the show, his professional relationship with Russell, the writing of character themes, and the next piece that gets performed.
  14. Fifteen – The premiere of the theme for Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor, as the concert was broadcast before his appearance in the show. However, I actually listened to the concert after watching the specials, so I heard it on TV first, and instantly fell in love with it. It’s such an energetic, joyous, powerful theme, so it’s wonderful to hear this full, live version. It’s followed by an interview with Russell T Davies about the music in the show, his return as showrunner (he implies that he’s going to do at least 4 series) and the show’s longevity.
  15. The Shepherd’s Boy – A piece of music used mainly during the 12th Doctor’s era, most memorably at the end of the episode Heaven Sent. It’s a surprising place to slip it in, when you might have expected all the new pieces to be grouped together, but it is a great composition.
  16. Doctor Who Theme – The first public performance of the brilliant new version of the theme tune.

The 90-minute TV edit rearranges the setlist as follows:

  1. I Am The Doctor
  2. Companions Suite – Without the Emily Cook interview afterwards, sadly.
  3. Classic Medley – Including the interview with Mark Ayres & Peter Howell.
  4. Abigail’s Song – Including the interview with Steven Moffat.
  5. The Long Song
  6. Vale Decem
  7. A Good Man?
  8. I Am A Good Man
  9. The Woman Who Fell To Earth – Including the interview with Segun Akinola & Chris Chibnall.
  10. The Life Of Sunday – Including the interview with Murray Gold.
  11. Fifteen – Including the interview with Russell T Davies.
  12. Doctor Who Theme

It therefore omits All The Strange, Strange Creatures, This Is Gallifrey, Doomsday & The Shepherd’s Boy, which is rather a shame, as they’re some of my absolute favourite compositions. But it would be a tough decision to cut any of the tracks out to be fair!

There’s also a bonus 4-minute video on the Doctor Who Youtube channel, where the three showrunners meet backstage to discuss why music is so important in the series, their favourite performances in the concert, the iconic theme tune, the 13th Doctor’s theme and working with the orchestra.

In terms of other concerts, the three Proms from 2008-2013 are also available on iPlayer, and are well worth a watch. I’ve already written about the 2008 Prom in my post about the 2008-10 specials, and I’ll mention the others when I continue working through my series reviews. I also wrote about the 2006 Celebration concert in my Series 2 review, but sadly that’s not on iPlayer at the moment.

Documentaries

Who Are We: Classic Years & Modern Era

This is a pair of excellent hour-long documentaries presented by Jo Whiley as part of Radio 2’s celebrations, giving a thorough overview of the show’s history, including its successes and struggles, and its impact on the cultural landscape. They feature a wide range of interview clips with former Doctors, other actors who appeared in the show, people who worked on it behind the scenes, and others who have had strong opinions on it, so we get a very well-rounded picture of its progression over the years. There are some nice music choices that underscore it, and a few little rarities thrown in for good measure.

For the Classic period, as well as the various iterations of the Doctor, the major topics covered include the show’s launch, Delia Derbyshire’s creation of the theme tune, the design and immense popularity of the Daleks, the concept of regenerations, the Master, how the stories occasionally reflected the political climate and tackled big issues like racism, the sometimes controversial portrayal of women in the show, the impact of strike action and schedule changes, the strong opinions against the show by Mary Whitehouse and Michael Grade, and the programme being put on long-term hiatus.

There are also some musical oddities thrown in, as we hear extracts from I’m Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek by The Go-Go’s (a weird track to cash in on Dalekmania), Who Is The Doctor by Jon Pertwee (where he speaks as the Doctor over the theme tune), and the awful Band Aid style single Doctor In Distress (the fans’ response to Michael Grade’s postponement of the show, involving stars of the programme and Hans Zimmer). They’re all rather cheesy and firmly of their time, so it’s no surprise they’ve become rare since then, although the Jon Pertwee track is better than the other two. And the clip of John Cleese & Eleanor Bron’s cameo appearance in the show is also included.

The second episode then takes us through the modern era. Jo starts by talking about how the fans kept the show alive during the ‘Wilderness Years’ (which has a separate documentary of its own), including campaigns, audio productions, fan fiction, etc. And she mentions the re-appearances of Doctor Who in the TV charity specials and the 1996 TV movie that got fans excited over the show’s possible return, only to have their hopes repeatedly dashed.

Then we learn how Russell T Davies was chosen for the reboot, including how the launch party of comedy drama Linda Green played a pivotal role by introducing him to Jane Tranter. From there, the team were under a lot of pressure to make it work, but getting a big star in the form of Christopher Eccleston enabled them to tell ambitious stories and attract other acting veterans with ease.

So there’s quite rightly a lot of praise for Eccleston’s work in making the relaunch of the show such a success, but there’s also acknowledgement of his falling out with the production team and the BBC over the way they unfairly treated him. And just recently he made it bluntly clear at a convention that he would only return if certain people, including Russell, were sacked. So there’s no chance he’ll come back during the current era anyway. But at least he’s been reprising the role with Big Finish for their audio adventures.

The programme then moves on to talk about the subsequent Doctors and companions, and the ongoing success of the show, although they can’t discuss everyone in detail, naturally, as there just isn’t time. And finally there’s also a little look to the future, with Ncuti Gatwa’s arrival.

So altogether, both episodes of this documentary give a wonderful overview of how the series has developed over the years, and I did learn a few things I hadn’t known before. There’s so much more they could have covered, of course, but they squeezed a lot into just two hours, dealing with a lot of the most important points. And it was very well edited, with lots of contributors, some memorable clips and a few rare surprises.

The Reunion

This episode of The Reunion on BBC Radio 4, presented by Sue MacGregor and originally broadcast 10 years ago for the 50th anniversary, looks back at the original creation and early days of Doctor Who. It centres around a group discussion featuring three actors who played companions of the Doctor – Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman), William Russell (Ian Chesterton) and Peter Purves (Steven Taylor) – along with Jeremy Young (the first enemy, Caveman Kal) and Waris Hussein (the first director). So it’s very interesting to hear their recollections about their experiences and the challenges involved, and their perspectives on how the show has developed since then, including in the modern era.

The Wilderness Years

This entertaining half-hour show on BBC Radio 4, presented by Matthew Sweet, pays tribute to the fans who took it upon themselves to be the creative custodians of Doctor Who during its extended absence from TV between 1989 and 2005. Their unwavering determination kept the show alive and unforgotten, and attracted new devotees as well. Some of the most ardent fans during that period even went on to work on the modern series of Doctor Who itself, because their efforts, talents and love for the show had been noticed. So, as is remarked in the documentary, calling it the Wilderness Years is somewhat misleading, as they were actually very fruitful.

During the documentary we first hear about the show’s struggle to survive in the late 1980s, including an interview with Michael Grade about the 18-month hiatus he imposed in 1985, and then Sylvester McCoy & Sophie Aldred reflect on how they learned the show was ending in 1989.

Attention then turns to the work of the fans, from their organised siege against the BBC switchboard, to the development of novels, audiobooks, straight-to-video dramas, and so on, sometimes involving stars of the show. We also hear about the occasional glimpses of the Doctor on TV, courtesy of Dimensions In Time for Children In Need, and the 1996 film that failed as a backdoor pilot. And along the way we hear from people like Mark Gatiss, Paul McGann, Paul Cornell, Nicholas Briggs, and prominent members of the fanbase who were involved with publications, societies and conventions.

So I really enjoyed listening to this. I had some awareness of Doctor Who during this period while I was growing up of course, but I only properly got into the show from the 2005 reboot, and it was only some time after that when I started to learn what went on during the show’s absence. So it’s great to get this insight into some of the key things that happened in that period.

Surviving Doctor Who: An A-Z

In this amusing half-hour programme from Radio 4 Extra, split into two parts, comedian Toby Hadoke takes a look at what it means to be an obsessive fan, with a list of topics that includes:

  • Anticipointment (a love for the show coupled with dread that what’s next might not be so good)
  • Broken (the Tardis)
  • Cliffhangers
  • Diddly-dum (the theme tune)
  • Exterminate (the Daleks)
  • Facts
  • Grotesque 7 (the font used for the original closing credits)
  • Hanky Panky (originally disallowed in the show and how the rule has been somewhat relaxed since)
  • “I think you’ll find” (the pedantic fans)
  • Jokes
  • Kennedy (JFK’s assassination was the day before the first episode)
  • Lists
  • Missing Episodes
  • Nightmare Child (references in the show to off-screen events that add mystery and inspire the creativity of fans)
  • Old (referring to past Doctors and series)
  • P45 Return Route (how the show reflects politics of the time)
  • Quiz Of Rassilon (a quiz attended by fans)
  • Reith, Lord (how the show was originally designed to educate kids with historical stories)
  • Sofa (the scares of Doctor Who)
  • Target novelisations
  • Underpants (the varieties of merchandise)
  • Vipers, Nest of (the internet)
  • Wobbly Sets (the go-to reason some use to criticise the old series)
  • Xenophobia (fear of foreigners or the unknown)
  • Yeti (a lyric from the Doctor In Distress single).
  • Zabi (creatures from The Web Planet) & Zagreus (Big Finish reference)

So it’s a good bit of fun, and I did actually learn a few things from it.

Desert Island Discs

The BBC repeated some old episodes from this Radio 4 interview programme on Radio 4 Extra, under the banner Desert Island Discs Revisited, but they only kept them online for a limited period. However, the episodes are still available in the original archive of the series as well, so I’ve linked to those below. The original and revisited edits do sometimes differ in length, but usually the episodes are around 45 minutes each.

Each edition features a different guest being interviewed about their life and career, and along the way they choose 8 of their favourite tracks that they find particularly meaningful or enjoyable. These are usually songs and pieces of music, but occasionally they choose spoken word tracks as well. The premise is that they’re imagining being sent to a desert island on their own, so they get to take those 8 tracks (nominating one as their absolute favourite), along with any choice of book (alongside Shakespeare’s complete works and the Bible) and a luxury item (excluding anything that would help them escape from the island) to keep them company. So it’s quite different to many interview shows and thus gives a unique perspective on the person being interviewed, drawing out details that they don’t often discuss.

The relevant Doctor Who episodes repeated for the 60th anniversary were therefore as follows, and were all very interesting to listen to.

Russell T Davies

Here Russell is interviewed by Lauren Laverne in November 2019. He’s his typical chatty and cheerful self, which always makes him a delight to listen to. Given the date of the recording, the initial focus is naturally on his recent works at the time – A Very English Scandal and Years And Years. We’re then taken back to his childhood living with his parents in Swansea, who were both teachers, and how they all loved books and TV. And we learn about how he developed a love of theatre at school, studied English at Oxford, and then got his TV break working on Why Don’t You? at the BBC, before moving on to make hit shows like Queer As Folk and other dramas that celebrate gay people.

One of his songs that I like from this earlier portion of the episode is Three Wheels On My Wagon by The New Christy Minstrels, the first record that Russell ever owned. It’s a silly song that I remember me and my friends singing in a school play once, and it often gets played on Junior Choice on Radio 2 at Christmas. So it does take me back to my childhood, even though the song is much older than me.

Then they briefly discuss Doctor Who, of which he’s been a huge fan since he was a kid, so he talks about why he brought it back, and how much it took over his life when he was making the show and all of its spin-offs. And he chooses Murray Gold’s wonderful Song For Ten, sung by Neil Hannon, to illustrate it.

They then talk about Russell having to give up a lot of his time and energy for 8 years to care for his partner Andrew after he developed a brain tumour. It’s a very frank, sweet and moving discussion, because he obviously misses him very dearly, and speaks with great pride about their time together. He accompanies this segment with my other favourite of his song choices – Mr Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra – which was played at their wedding.

His other tracks during the episode don’t hugely appeal to me though. Sugar Mountain from Rock Follies isn’t anything amazing but is somewhat catchy, Hora Staccato by Jascha Heifetz & Emanuel Bay is an odd little instrumental, Leonard Bernstein’s Gloria In Excelsis isn’t my type of music, Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush is one I always skip as I’m not a fan of her voice (controversial to some, I know), and Hold That Sucker Down by The OT Quartet is a 90’s club track that I’ve never heard before as I was never the clubbing type. Meanwhile his book choice is an Asterix story and his luxury item is a Pentel pen.

David Tennant

David was interviewed by Kirsty Wark in December 2009, suitably timed to coincide with his departure from Doctor Who. So naturally they spend some time on that, with David talking about being a fan of the show since childhood, meeting young fans since becoming the Doctor himself, how he was cast in the role after working with Russell T Davies on Casanova and pleading with him for any kind of involvement in the revival, and reflecting on his departure from the series.

But the interview covers lots of other topics as well, including his parents, his childhood, how he got into acting, playing a transsexual in Rab C Nesbitt, being naked in What The Butler Saw on stage, playing Hamlet, and the criticisms that some have made of celebrity casting in West End shows. He’s always fascinating to listen to and so I learnt quite a bit about him from this.

He has an interesting selection of disc choices as well. My favourite song is Oliver’s Army by Elvis Costello, while Dignity by Deacon Blue and Ruby by Kaiser Chiefs are also good, and White Wine In The Sun by Tim Minchin moves deftly from light humour to beautiful family sentiments (and is very apt for Christmas). Naturally he also chooses a Proclaimers song (Over And Done With) as they’re his favourite band, and his most unusual choice is a Star Trek routine by stand-up comic Eddie Izzard, neither of which particularly grab me but I can understand why he chose them. His other song choices are Me And The Farmer by The Housemartins and Greetings To The New Brunette by Billy Bragg, while his book is A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust (as it might finally force him to read it) and a DVD player with the complete set of The West Wing.

Billie Piper

The archived version of this episode is 36 minutes, whereas the Revisited edition I listened to was the full 45 minutes. So I listened to the latter, and I didn’t compare it to the shorter version to see what was cut.

Here Billie is interviewed by Lauren Laverne in May 2021, so it’s surprisingly recent really. She explains how she views her life in two parts, pre-fame and post-fame, and it’s certainly true that she’s been on quite the journey over the years.

Her childhood was very eventful, going to the Sylvia Young Theatre School with other talented peers like Amy Winehouse, getting her own flat at the age of just 15, and becoming the youngest female solo artist to jump straight to the top of the singles chart at that age with Because We Want To (with a music video that sees her beamed down from a spaceship and pulsing out what looks a bit like regeneration energy, as ghost-like figures appear on the street, strangely pre-empting her Doctor Who years a bit).

All of that success may sound good, but the amount of work and the pressures of fame led to her developing an eating disorder. However, she credits DJ Chris Evans, whom she married at the age of 18 at a wedding in Las Vegas, with helping her to feel better about herself and life in general. They got on very well despite the animosity shown towards them by the press and others due to the 17-year age gap. So to her credit she’s quite open about that period of her past.

And since then, she’s become a hugely successful actress. She does of course mention Doctor Who, in which she loved playing Rose, and she talks about the renewed fame that came with it, why she left after 2 series, and how she enjoys meeting fans at conventions. But she also discusses her critically acclaimed performance in a play called Yerma (for which she won all 6 available Best Actress awards at the time), the Rare Beasts film (that she wrote, directed and starred in), and the comedy drama I Hate Suzie (that she co-created with Lucy Prebble, with whom she’d also worked on Secret Diary of a Call Girl and The Effect). I’ve never watched any of those, and don’t have any plans to either. But she deserves all the success she’s getting.

Of her music choices, Pure Imagination by Gene Wilder (from the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) and Sara by Fleetwood Mac are nice songs, while Champagne Supernova by Oasis and This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody) by Talking Heads are ok too. Out Of Space by The Prodigy reminds me of my early 90s youth, though I was never into that rave style of music much, nor am I into the rap, R&B or hip hop genres of her other choices – Turn The Page by The Streets, Halo by Beyoncé and Juicy by The Notorious B.I.G. Her chosen book is The Cost Of Living by Deborah Levy, and her luxury item is her children’s artwork, which is quite sweet.

Matt Smith

Unusually, the archived version of this interview from March 2018 is an extended 55 minutes, so I listened to that one instead of the 45-minute Revisited repeat. And it’s really interesting, as Matt is very open and thoughtful in his answers to Kirsty Young’s questions.

In reflecting on his childhood, we learn about the great admiration he has for his parents, and also his love of football, for which he had hopes of becoming a professional player until the back condition spondylolysis put an end to that dream, which was devastating for him. He was then encouraged to get into acting by his drama teacher and his mother, who had noticed potential that Matt himself wasn’t really aware of at first. And as he began to make strides in his new career, his agent suggested that he could put himself forward for Doctor Who. Remarkably, Matt had never watched the show before, but fell in love with the first script he read for it, and nailed the role when he appeared on TV.

So we get to hear a lot about the secret auditions, how he was offered the role of the Doctor, how he copes with the attention of fans in public and at conventions, what the show taught him about being a leading man, dealing with criticisms, his reaction to Jodie Whittaker’s appointment as the first female Doctor, and the advice he gave her. But he also talks about other roles he’s played as well, most notably Prince Philip in The Crown (which I’ve never watched but probably ought to one day) and Patrick Bateman in the American Psycho musical.

He had a very difficult time narrowing down his song choices, but ultimately he comes up with quite a varied list, of which the first few are my favourites – Roll With It by Oasis (his favourite band), The Great Gig In The Sky by Pink Floyd and Mercy Mercy Me by Marvin Gaye. The remaining tracks don’t particularly excite me though, including For An Angel (E-Werk Club Mix) by Paul van Dyk (a trance track), Keep The Car Running by Arcade Fire (and Matt explains how he got to go on stage with them once), Juicy by The Notorious B.I.G., Nessun Dorma by Luciano Pavarotti and All My Friends by LCD Soundsystem. He also recommends an 8-minute track called Fibi Maybe by German band Super Flu, which is a bit of an oddity that I wouldn’t listen to again, but it does have a nice little rhythm, and is nearly all instrumental apart from one brief vocal section. Finally, his book choice is a poetry collection entitled Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes, and his luxury is an infinite supply of English breakfast tea.

My Life In A Mixtape

In this series of hour-long episodes, celebrities are invited to play some of the most significant and favourite tracks from their lives, explaining the meaning behind each one. So it’s a little bit like Desert Island Discs, but we hear more songs, they’re played in full rather than being cut short, and the guest is running the show by themselves.

Various stars of Doctor Who therefore presented this show for Radio 2’s 60th anniversary celebrations, including a couple of Doctors, a few companions, and others. When introducing each track, the guests either share specific anecdotes, or reflect on particular periods of their life more generally, or they just explain why they love the artist, the song or the style of music. And some go into more detail than others. But in any case, they’re all interesting to listen to in their own way. Even when there are tracks I don’t like, it’s still nice to listen to their rationale for choosing them before I skip the songs themselves.

Peter Davison

The 5th Doctor’s selection is my favourite out of all these episodes, as I like pretty much all of Peter’s choices. And he has a lot of great insights to share too, as he talks about working on pirate station Radio London, how he dismissed popular artists like Queen before learning how good they were later on, attending classical concerts while studying GCE music, and discovering that he liked music from the 1930s, among other things. His choices were:

Sylvester McCoy

The 7th Doctor’s choices are fairly good, although I didn’t know or like as many as Peter’s above. But Sylvester’s led a very interesting life as well, as he talks about training to be a priest, his love of classical music, being a bouncer on stage for the Rolling Stones, how he got his stage name, Doctor Who (obviously), The Hobbit films, train journeys, and being in a panto with Eartha Kitt. He selected the following tracks:

Janet Fielding

Janet played companion Tegan Jovanka alongside the 4th & 5th Doctors, and as well as Doctor Who she talks about growing up in Australia, her first experiences of theatre, being in a touring theatre company, living in Ramsgate, and other work she’s done. I’m only familiar with a few songs in the list, of which there are a couple I particularly like, while most of the other tracks I’m not overly bothered about. Here’s the full list:

Bonnie Langford

Bonnie plays Melanie Bush in Doctor Who, a companion to the 6th & 7th Doctors who has now returned as a member of UNIT, and I also remember her as Violet Elizabeth from the 70s TV adaptation of Just William. Here she mentions her childhood and touring America in Gypsy, but mainly she talks about the artists and why she’s chosen them. And there’s some quite good stuff in her list, I do like most of it:

Sophie Aldred

Sophie played Ace in Doctor Who, a companion to the 7th Doctor, who returned as a guest in last year’s special The Power Of The Doctor. Sophie also presented the educational show Words & Pictures and played a magician in ZZZap!, both of which were shows I saw as a kid in the 90s. During her mixtape she talks about her childhood growing up in Blackheath, the musical influences her boyfriends had on her, teenage heartbreak, Manchester University, her husband and children, her first trip to Glastonbury, and the community of street performers of which her husband is a member. Her list is as follows, about half of which I like:

Nicholas Briggs

Nicholas famously provides the voices for the Daleks, Cybermen and other enemies in Doctor Who. Here he briefly refers to growing up in the 60s & 70s, but mainly he talks about the tracks themselves, his love of listening to and producing electronic music, a few of his favourite theme tunes, and lots of other songs and artists he’s enjoyed over the years. So there’s quite a mixture of styles and artists here, of which I like a fair amount:

Andrew Garfield

Andrew played Frank in the Daleks In Manhattan story from Series 3. For this mixtape, Side 1 relates to his teenage years, including his first public performance, skateboarding and awakenings to girls, while Side 2 focuses on his adult life, including his thoughts on spirituality. He tends to talk about his love of the artists rather than going into detail about his life though, and I’m not into many of these tracks, so it’s the least interesting mixtape for me personally:

Segun Akinola

Segun was the composer for the 13th Doctor’s era, but I never warmed to his approach to the music. His version of the theme tune’s alright, and there are a few other good pieces like his theme for the Doctor. But most of it is just atmospheric background music that isn’t memorable or interesting like Murray Gold’s score was. However, credit where it’s due, his mixtape is one of my favourites of this radio series, as he’s chosen a great selection of songs covering a variety of genres, and he has really insightful discussions about each one. His deep passion and knowledge of music comes across really well, as he talks about his musical upbringing, how he fell in love with music in films, and songs that have influenced him in some way. So it’s a very engaging hour in his company, and I like most of his tracks:

Ruth Madeley

Ruth, who has the condition Spina Bifida, has just made her debut as UNIT’s scientific advisor Shirley Bingham in the anniversary specials, and I hope we’ll be seeing more of her in the upcoming series, as she’s great. She mainly talks about her liking of the artists rather than telling stories from her life, beginning with the performers she enjoyed during her childhood and then moving on to her adult favourites. There are a few songs I like, but I’m not into most of the artists on the list to be honest:

My Sounds

These are hour-long music mixes presented by a couple of the show’s most famous faces. Unlike the mixtapes above, they aren’t illustrating the story of their lives, they’ve just compiled a bunch of their favourite tracks for people to enjoy. There’s also much less chat in between the songs, but they do sometimes make comments to explain their choices. I’m not into most of these tracks or artists, but there are a few I like here and there, and I did find that the mixes were nice to listen to when travelling recently.

Russell T Davies

Russell explains that he only listens to music when he’s working, and has a particular passion for Europop. So he does talk enthusiastically about some of his selection here:

Jodie Whittaker

Jodie describes this as her “escape mix”, enabling her to get away from whatever’s going on and just let her hair down. She also talks about working at the 6 Music Festival, and how a couple of the tracks were among the so-called “Friday Bangers” she got into with some of the crew members she befriended on Doctor Who. I only know the first track, which is a cool one to start the mix with, but the others make for a decently upbeat combination.

Interviews, Stories & More

60th Anniversary Collection

This is a specially curated box set of Big Finish audio stories featuring various Doctors and companions, linked by a number of short interviews. I haven’t had time to listen to the adventure stories, but I have listened to the interviews, as they’re only short, lasting roughly 10-15 minutes each.

  • Tom Baker – He talks about growing up in a Catholic family, why he became an actor, being cast as the Doctor, the debates about the level of violence in the show, leaving the role after 7 years, returning for the 50th anniversary special, and how the show has stayed with him for life.
  • Sadie Miller – The daughter of Elisabeth Sladen talks about growing up around Doctor Who and going to conventions with her mother. She also talks about her mother was cast in the role of Sarah Jane, the key traits of that character, how she got on with Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker,, her return for the School Reunion episode, and the spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures. Sadie finishes by talking about playing the role of Sarah Jane herself in the Big Finish audio stories, and her own general acting experience.
  • Mandip Gill – She discusses how she got the role of companion Yasmin Khan, the attention that came with it, having a figurine of herself, the loyalty of the fans, working with Jodie Whittaker, the Doctor & Yaz’s developing relationship, her favourite highlights, working with former companions on The Power Of The Doctor, and being part of the show for life.
  • Jon Culshaw – The impressionist comedian hasn’t appeared in the TV series, but has featured in other Doctor Who productions. Here he talks about the first Doctors he watched, what makes a good story, his favourite stories and most memorable monsters, doing impressions of the Doctors, working on Big Finish audio stories, and why he feels the show has lasted 60 years.

The audio adventures in this collection include:

Zoe Ball & Friends

These are lively and light-hearted interview extracts from The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show, to promote the upcoming specials, lasting about 25 minutes each:

  • Russell T Davies & David Tennant – As well as teasing about the 60th anniversary specials and describing how they got involved with, Russell & David also talk about the first episodes of Doctor Who they ever watched, what it was like being fans when they very young, and what happened when Joan Collins visited the Tardis once. David also mentions the villains he would like to face, his wife Georgia, his appearance in Macbeth, and the Doctor’s shoes. And Russell reveals that they’re already in the process of filming Ncuti Gatwa’s second season given how far they film in advance. There’s also a message from Michael Ball, which is a nice surprise for them.
  • Ncuti Gatwa – The new Doctor talks about what it’s been like for him taking on the role and how it came about, connecting with former Doctors David Tennant and Jodie Whittaker for advice and support, his co-star Millie Gibson (who plays companion Ruby Sunday), his new sonic screwdriver and The Goblin Song. He also discusses how he got into acting, performing in high school and his love of astrology, as well as answering a few questions from listeners.

Ncuti Gatwa Video Interviews

The BBC have posted a video on iPlayer of Radio 1’s movie critic Ali Plumb interviewing Ncuti about becoming the Doctor, along with a shorter edit on Youtube. It’s part of the series Movies With Ali Plumb, where he interviews lots of big stars. Inevitably this chat with Ncuti covers similar ground to Zoe Ball’s interview above, but there’s enough additional material to make it worth listening to both of them, as he talks about getting the role, seeing himself as the Doctor on screen, connecting with former Doctors, the Doctor’s character and personality, his first day of filming, the bi-generation, co-star Millie Gibson, his sonic screwdriver, and how he prepared to say the immortal line “I am the Doctor.”

And from a couple of commercial broadcasters, you can also watch Youtube videos of Ncuti talking about becoming the Doctor on Absolute Radio and Magic Radio. There’s naturally lots of overlap with his BBC interviews, but they’re still nice bits of extra publicity.

TV Soundtracks

This series presents short compilations of music from some of the BBC’s biggest shows, and there’s a 23-minute episode dedicated to Doctor Who – which is incredibly short and under-representative given the plethora of soundtrack material that’s out there, but it gives a little taster for people at least. There’s no presenter to introduce the tracks, but they are interspersed with quotes from some of the Doctors. The mix includes:

Witness History

This is a short 9-minute feature about the early days of Doctor Who, originally broadcast for the 50th anniversary, from a series looking at interesting events from the past. For the first couple of minutes, presenter Lucy Plumb reminds us of the scene where Susan Foreman’s friends discover the Tardis and learn the truth about her life with her grandfather, a man who calls himself the Doctor. We then hear from Carole Ann Ford, who played Susan all those years ago, about the challenges of filming, the wobbly sets, the shock of JFK’s assassination the day before transmission, working with William Hartnell to flesh out the origins of the Doctor and Susan, William muddling his lines, how he treated her like he was her real grandfather, her disappointment in how her part was written, and becoming famous due to the show’s success. So it’s short but interesting.

Chain Reaction

I previously mentioned this in my Series 4 review, but may as well include it here too, as it’s still available on BBC Sounds and is very relevant.

Chain Reaction was a show where the guest from each episode became the interviewer for the guest on the next one. And in this edition from 2008, Catherine Tate gets to interview David Tennant, which is a lot of fun. There’s naturally plenty of chat about Doctor Who, but they also talk about David’s love of theatre, an old play at the Edinburgh Festival that he filmed a cameo for, Shakespeare, meeting famous faces from The West Wing and Star Wars, his disdain for astrology (so that’s one thing he’ll disagree with Ncuti Gatwa on), reading reviews, and guest starring in The Bill.

Catherine hadn’t been interviewed previously, as this was the first episode of a new series, where they always start afresh. But David went on to interview Richard Wilson (also still available online), who had been a guest in the Empty Child 2-part story from the first series of New Who in 2005.

Official Podcast

The Official Doctor Who podcast is available in audio form on BBC Sounds and as videos on Youtube, and features Christel Dee, Tyrell Charles & Juno Dawson providing aftershow analysis, sharing behind the scenes information and speculating as to what’s next. I haven’t listened to it myself, as I don’t feel I really need to, but it’s worth mentioning it for any big podcast fans out there.

Other Adventures

Finally, there are several other audio adventures, in addition to the 60th Anniversary Collection above, featuring various Doctors and companions. I haven’t listened to these, because I haven’t had the time to get into the audio side of the franchise in general yet. I do intend to delve into it one day, but for the time being the TV series is enough to keep me happily occupied! For reference, however, you can listen to:

Conclusion

Considering how heavily the BBC have promoted the Whoniverse on iPlayer – which I’ll be writing about in my next post – I’ve been surprised and impressed by how much they’ve posted on BBC Sounds as well, it’s been quite enjoyable going down that wormhole. So I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about it too, and I’ll see you next time for the final part of my celebratory trilogy!

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Author: Glen

Love London, love a laugh, love life. Visually impaired blogger, culture vulture & accessibility advocate, with aniridia & nystagmus, posting about my experiences & adventures.

2 thoughts on “Doctor Who At 60 Review – Radio Celebrations”

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