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Who fan exterminates boyhood fear and composes himself for the Doc

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LIKE many children, the young Murray Gold was scared witless by the eerie electronic theme music to Doctor Who.

Growing up in the 1970s in Portsmouth, England, Gold would jam his fingers in his ears whenever the music -- courtesy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop -- was on television.

More recently, the award-winning composer has written music for the cult sci-fi series.

On Saturday he will play piano with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as part of the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular.

The concert is inspired by the BBC Doctor Who Proms at Royal Albert Hall in London in 2010.

It will include appearances by Daleks, Cybermen, Judoon, Clockwork Robots and one of the doctor's latest monstrous opponents, The Silence.

Gold has written soundtracks for the past two series of Doctor Who, and his music will be included in the concert.

He says the modern scripts and dialogue for recent series of Doctor Who have allowed for more musically dynamic scores.

The series became more emotionally charged from 2005 under executive producer Russell T. Davies.

"I never planned to write motifs for each of the characters, it just worked out that way," Gold says. "But we were definitely trying to make people cry."

Gold grew up with Tom Baker as the time-travelling doctor.

"It was that and Monty Python," he says of his viewing habits. "It's kind of like that's all there was."

He did not study composition but began writing music when studying history at Cambridge University.

"I wrote all the music for theatre shows while I was there," he says. "Since then I've kept expanding and learned by doing it."

He has also composed scores for Queer as Folk, Shameless, Clocking Off, Casanova and Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. His feature film credits include Mojo, Heavenly Creatures and Death at a Funeral, but he says that writing for movies is more challenging than TV.

"It's difficult to say why," he says. "I guess it's that you've got just 90 minutes to say what you have to say, deliver your first and last notes that you will ever say about these characters."

He prefers to work in isolation, rather than in studios with television and film production staff.

"I've seen film composers in recording studios who have been chewed up and spat out," Gold says. "I don't speak to anyone at all when I'm writing. I prefer just to work in (my own) environment and be as creative as possible."

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  • APA 6th ed.: Don, Sallie (2012-02-02). Who fan exterminates boyhood fear and composes himself for the Doc. The Australian p. 3.
  • MLA 7th ed.: Don, Sallie. "Who fan exterminates boyhood fear and composes himself for the Doc." The Australian [add city] 2012-02-02, 3. Print.
  • Chicago 15th ed.: Don, Sallie. "Who fan exterminates boyhood fear and composes himself for the Doc." The Australian, edition, sec., 2012-02-02
  • Turabian: Don, Sallie. "Who fan exterminates boyhood fear and composes himself for the Doc." The Australian, 2012-02-02, section, 3 edition.
  • Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Who fan exterminates boyhood fear and composes himself for the Doc | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Who_fan_exterminates_boyhood_fear_and_composes_himself_for_the_Doc | work=The Australian | pages=3 | date=2012-02-02 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=19 March 2024 }}</ref>
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