Doctor Who Prom

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• Publication: The Times
• Date: 2013-07-15
• Author: Geoff Brown
• Page: Times2, p 10
• Language: English

Prom 2

Albert Hall, SW7

★★★☆☆

You'd hardly confuse this with a regular BBC Prom. A programme booklet shaped like a police phone box; battalions of lights and screens, cybermen prowling the aisles (tripping sometimes on the stairs), daleks barking "Exterminate", and a packed family audience screaming happily, or whooping with joy.

Some of these diversions could be just the thing to enliven the more tedious classical concerts. But I wouldn't wish to import Murray Gold's music—the mainstay of this third Doctor Who Prom, which was chiefly performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the London Philharmonic Choir and the intergalactic soprano Elin Manahan Thomas. Cruelly regarded note by note, Gold's TV scores are triumphs of hot air, only saved from desert-like monotony by Ben Foster's bright orchestrations (he also conducted) and a few melodies denoting heartache. Bizet and Debussy luckily crept in too; and, less luckily, Bach arrangements by Stokowski.

Still, Saturday's show and its Sunday repeat were never about the notes. Jolly cult worship and sensory bombardment: those are what mattered, plus the wheeling presence of Matt Smith, who did nothing to scotch the rumour that he's giving up playing the Time Lord because he looks too much like the tenor Ian Bostridge.

Daleks and a whiff of wizardry from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop aside, this was also a show about the present, not the past; not so good for sad old-timers who watched Doctor Who in the 1960s hiding behind the sofa. Yet the gallimaufry of monsters, recent clips and new footage certainly transfixed the crowd. How could the young winners of the Create a Soundtrack competition make headway alongside this? Or Gold's vacuous birthday present to the series, Song for Fifty? It didn't matter much. The extravaganza was eccentric, good fun, tiresome, very British, and noisily received. Just like the Last Night of the Proms.

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• APA 6th ed.: Brown, Geoff (2013-07-15). Doctor Who Prom. The Times p. Times2, p 10.
• MLA 7th ed.: Brown, Geoff. "Doctor Who Prom." The Times [add city] 2013-07-15, Times2, p 10. Print.
• Chicago 15th ed.: Brown, Geoff. "Doctor Who Prom." The Times, edition, sec., 2013-07-15
• Turabian: Brown, Geoff. "Doctor Who Prom." The Times, 2013-07-15, section, Times2, p 10 edition.
• Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Doctor Who Prom | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who_Prom | work=The Times | pages=Times2, p 10 | date=2013-07-15 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=18 May 2025 }}</ref>
• Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Doctor Who Prom | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who_Prom | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=18 May 2025}}</ref>