RUSSELL TOVEY - No.274

Two Oz Doctor Who connections...

Click play on the following video to hear the theme from Doctor Who as re-designed and sampled by The KLF - stills are Russell Tovey (of course), Kylie Minogue, David Tennant and more.

When Russell Tovey and companions did their Voyage Of The Damned commentary for the season four box set of Dr Who, they paused to reflect on the music used in the previous series and for Voyage Of The Damned. They got sidetracked for a moment wondering about Ron Grainer, the original composer of the Dr. Who theme. They didn't really know much about him. Here in Oz, his homeland, he is also pretty much unknown and unappreciated.

Ron Grainer was born 11 August 1922 Atherton Queensland Australia and died 21 February 1981 Cuckfield Sussex England. He was an Australian born composer who worked for most of his professional career in the UK. He is mostly remembered for his film and television music. His most known track of course is the theme track for Doctor Who.

Notable television credits

Danger Man

Doctor Who

Maigret

Steptoe and Son

Tales of the Unexpected

The Prisoner

Shelley

That Was The Week That Was

Paul Temple

Man in a Suitcase (also used on TFI Friday)

Notable film credits

A Kind of Loving (1962)

The Mouse on the Moon (1963)

The Home Made Car (1963)

Night Must Fall (1964)

To Sir, with Love (1967)

Only When I Larf (1968)

Hoffman (1970)

The Omega Man (1971)

Mutiny on the Buses (1972)

One Away (1976)

Another interesting connection is that Dudley Simpson who used to write the incidental music for Doctor Who, Blake's 7, Supergran, Sense & Sensibility and others was born in Melbourne Australia in 1922 and when retired lived 30 mins south of my hometown.

We visited Dudley a couple of times at Doctor Who conventions in Newcastle NSW. Dudley composed incidental music for Doctor Who between 1964 and 1979. He even got to play a band leader in one episode at the end of the 1970s. Dudley was still working up until 2004 when he scored his last major show.

Here is a link to a site with bio and free music samples for Dudley Simpson:

http://www.dudleysimpson.com/music_samples.htm

Here is a link to Dudley's significant collection of work:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0800981/