This is a list of composers for science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is sortable by a number of different criteria. The list defaults to ascending alphabetical order the composer's last name.
The Doctor Who theme music was composed by Ron Grainer and initially arranged by Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Various composers subsequently arranged it for later versions of the theme.
In the classic series, each serial's director chose the freelance composer for the incidental music in the serial. Some directors chose to use stock music or special soundscapes from the Radiophonic Workshop instead of specially composed music as a cost cutting measure. During the 1970s, the incidental composer primarily associated with the programme was Dudley Simpson, composing most of the decade's music. When John Nathan-Turner became producer of Doctor Who in 1980, he decided that the music needed to be updated, and took Simpson out for a meal telling him how much he appreciated his work on Doctor Who but that it would no longer be required as he intended to have the BBC Radiophonic Workshop provide music from that point. While Simpson was contracted to score Shada, the unfinished nature of that production meant he never started work. As a result, his last broadcast work on Doctor Who was for The Horns of Nimon.[1]
The 1980s saw the music composition brought in house at the BBC by various members of the Radiophonic Workshop, before transitioning back to freelance composers at the end of the original series's run. This decade saw a more heavy use of synthesizers than before.
John Debney was chosen to score the 1996 TV movie, and he achieved this together with his proteges Louis Febre and John Sponsler.
The revived series' scores were entirely composed by Murray Gold for the first ten series. Gold utilised an orchestra score for many episodes, with heavy use of leitmotifs for characters such as the Doctor, the companions and monsters.[2] [3] Gold's music was played at the Proms, such as for the 50th anniversary celebration.[4] Several singers performed in the soundtracks of these series, for instance, Neil Hannon in "Song for Ten".[5] However, the programme had previously had a singers - The Gunfighters featured Lynda Baron singing "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon" composed by Tristram Cary in 1966 and Delta and the Bannermen featured "The Lorells", a fictional group created by the show's incidental music composer Keff McCulloch in 1987.
Segun Akinola replaced Gold for the duration of the Thirteenth Doctor's run. Akinola's scores tended to be more ambient than Gold's, with a great variety of instruments for different episodes.[6]
In April 2023, it was announced that Gold would again join Doctor Who as composer.[7] [8]
| Composer | stories | First date | First story | Last date | Last story | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | 2018 | data-sort-value="Woman Who Fell to Earth" | "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" | 2022 | data-sort-value="Power of the Doctor" | "The Power of the Doctor"[9] | |
| 3 | 1988 | data-sort-value="Greatest Show in the Galaxy" | The Greatest Show in the Galaxy | 1989 | data-sort-value="Curse of Fenric" | The Curse of Fenric | |
| 1 | 1964 | data-sort-value="Aztecs" | The Aztecs | 1964 | data-sort-value="Aztecs" | The Aztecs | |
| 3 | 1970 | Doctor Who and the Silurians | 1975 | Revenge of the Cybermen | |||
| 1 | 1965 | data-sort-value="Time Meddler" | The Time Meddler | 1965 | data-sort-value="Time Meddler" | The Time Meddler | |
| 2 | 1975 | Terror of the Zygons | 1976 | data-sort-value="Seeds of Doom" | The Seeds of Doom | ||
| 8 | 1963 | data-sort-value="Daleks" | The Daleks | 1972 | data-sort-value="Mutants" | The Mutants | |
| 1 | 1964 | data-sort-value="Dalek Invasion of Earth" | The Dalek Invasion of Earth | 1964 | data-sort-value="Dalek Invasion of Earth" | The Dalek Invasion of Earth | |
| 7 | 1972 | data-sort-value="Sea Devils" | The Sea Devils | 1986 | Terror of the Vervoids | ||
| 1 | 1996 | Doctor Who | 1996 | Doctor Who | |||
| 1 | 1996 | Doctor Who | 1996 | Doctor Who | |||
| 4 | 1983 | data-sort-value="King's Demons" | The King's Demons | 1985 | data-sort-value="Mark of the Rani" | The Mark of the Rani | |
| 5 | 1986 | data-sort-value="Mysterious Planet" | The Mysterious Planet | 1989 | Survival | ||
| 2005 | data-sort-value="Rose" | "Rose" | |||||
| 1 | 1968 | data-sort-value="Invasion" | The Invasion | 1968 | data-sort-value="Invasion" | The Invasion | |
| 1 | 1986 | Mindwarp | 1986 | Mindwarp | |||
| 4 | 1968 | data-sort-value="Wheel in Space" | The Wheel in Space | 1969 | data-sort-value="Krotons" | The Krotons | |
| 9 | 1980 | data-sort-value="Leisure Hive" | The Leisure Hive | 1985 | data-sort-value="Two Doctors" | The Two Doctors | |
| 2 | 1965 | data-sort-value="Romans" | The Romans | 1966 | data-sort-value="Savages" | The Savages | |
| 3 | 1963 | data-sort-value="Unearthly Child" | An Unearthly Child | 1964 | data-sort-value="Sensorites" | The Sensorites | |
| 8 | 1980 | Meglos | 1984 | Frontios | |||
| 8 | 1981 | data-sort-value="Keeper of Traken" | The Keeper of Traken | 1985 | Revelation of the Daleks | ||
| 6 | 1987 | Time and the Rani | 1989 | Battlefield | |||
| 1 | 1964 | data-sort-value="Reign of Terror" | The Reign of Terror | 1964 | data-sort-value="Reign of Terror" | The Reign of Terror | |
| 1 | 1985 | Timelash | 1985 | Timelash | |||
| 1 | 1965 | data-sort-value="Myth Makers" | The Myth Makers | 1965 | data-sort-value="Myth Makers" | The Myth Makers | |
| 62 | 1964 | Planet of Giants | 1980 | data-sort-value="Horns of Nimon" | The Horns of Nimon | ||
| 1 | 1996 | Doctor Who | 1996 | Doctor Who | |||
Instead of using specially composed music, some serials were scored completely with pre-recorded stock music. Some of these serials used music by one composer as noted below:
| Composer | Spinoff title(s) |
|---|---|
| Wartime, , P.R.O.B.E. (The Zero Imperative, The Devil of Winterborne, Unnatural Selection, Ghosts of Winterborne) | |
| Mindgame, Mindgame Trilogy | |
| An Adventure in Space and Time | |
| K9 | |
| Torchwood | |
| White Witch of Devil's End | |
| White Witch of Devil's End | |
| The Sarah Jane Adventures (theme tune), Torchwood (theme tune and incidental music) | |
| Dr. Who and the Daleks, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. | |
| K-9 and Company | |
| Downtime | |
| K-9 and Company (theme tune), Downtime | |
| K9 (theme tune) | |
| Auton Trilogy, Dæmos Rising, , Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor | |
| Dr. Who and the Daleks | |
| Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. | |
| Class | |
| Downtime | |
| P.R.O.B.E. (When to Die) | |
| K-9 and Company (theme tune) | |
| The Sarah Jane Adventures | |
| The Sarah Jane Adventures, Tales of the TARDIS | |