Peter Howell is a television composer who is best known for his work on Doctor Who. Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known only as The Doctor. It is also the title of a 1996 television movie featuring the same character. ...

Although he became the writer for incidental music on Doctor Who in 1980, he had done a couple of episodes in the mid 70's. When John Nathan Turner became the producer of Doctor Who, he wanted to modernise the show. He thought that the stories on the show had become too silly, so he thought of ways to try and modernise the show. One of the things on his agenda was music, he thought that the titles were a bit dated and it was strange to see a younger Tom Baker in the titles and then go to an older Tom Baker in the show, so he wanted new titles. He decided upon the concept of traveling through space instead of time with the titles and decided upon zooming through the stars ( interestingly enough, no CGI was used for the titles but it looks so good that you think that some sort of computer imagery was used ), to go with the new titles he decided upon a new theme, Peter Howell then volunteered to make the new theme as well as writing the incidental music. He didn't rewrite the theme, he just recreated it. But his verion of the theme was very different to the original Delia Derbyshire and Ron Grainer theme, as this time he used a synthesiser. In a documentary he mentioned the theme being recreated before but was unsuccessful (this theme was the Delaware theme which was also realised by Delia Derbyshire), and said that when he considered it he said that if he were to do it he would take it from the bottom up and start from the very beginning with the theme, this was a wise choice. Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, from The Masque of Mandragora Thomas Stewart Baker (born January 20, 1934) is a British actor. ... Delia Derbyshire (May 5, 1937 - July 3, 2001) was a pioneer of electronic music. ... Ron Grainer (August 11, 1922 in Atherton, Queensland - February 21, 1981), Australian born composer who worked for most of his professional career in the United Kingdom. ...

Peter Howell slightly altered his version of the Doctor Who theme for Big Finish audio productions. His version of the theme was first heard in the story The Leisure Hive starring Tom Baker as the Doctor. Baker only had a year with this theme as he left in 1981, from here Peter Davison took on the role of the Doctor. Even though there was a big change there the theme remained the same except some minor alterations in the pitch. When Peter Davison, Colin Baker took the role of the Doctor, once again, the theme remained unchanged until his final story The Trial of a Time Lord where Dominic Glynn did a new version of the theme. Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces audio plays based on British cult science fiction properties. ... The Leisure Hive is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from August 30 to September 20, 1980. ... Peter Davison (born April 13, 1951) is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan to Robert Hardys Siegfried in All Creatures Great and Small and as the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1981 to 1984. ... Colin Baker (born June 8, 1943) is a British actor who is best known for playing the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... The Trial of a Time Lord is the name used on screen for all fourteen episodes comprising the 23rd season (1986) of the original Doctor Who series. ... I dont know much about Dominic Glynn so I will tell you about his connection to the hit Sci-Fi show Doctor Who. ...

So, Peter Howells version of the theme was used for three Doctors . A lot of fans still define this as one of the definitive Doctor Who themes. Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known only as The Doctor. It is also the title of a 1996 television movie featuring the same character. ...

External links

• Howell's Doctor Who theme