The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering work in electronic music and music technology, as well as its popular scores for programs such as Doctor Who and Quatermass and the Pit during the 1950s and 1960s.
Daphne Oram was a British composer and electronic musician. She was one of the first British composers to produce electronic sound, and was a pioneer of musique concrète in the UK. As a co-founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, she became a central figure in the evolution of electronic music.
Delia Ann Derbyshire was an English musician and composer of electronic music. She carried out pioneering work with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop during the 1960s, including her electronic arrangement of the theme music to the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. She has been referred to as "the unsung heroine of British electronic music", having influenced musicians including Aphex Twin, the Chemical Brothers and Paul Hartnoll of Orbital.
Paddy Kingsland is a composer of electronic music best known for his incidental music for science fiction series on BBC radio and television whilst working at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Educated at Eggars Grammar School, Alton, in Hampshire, he joined the BBC as a tape editor before moving on to become a studio manager for BBC Radio 1. In 1970 he joined the Radiophonic Workshop where he remained until 1981. His initial work was mostly signature tunes for BBC radio and TV programmes before going on to record incidental music for programmes including The Changes, two versions of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as well as several serials of Doctor Who. His work on the latter series included incidental music for several serials in the early 1980s.
Peter Howell is a musician and composer. He is best known for his work on Doctor Who as a member of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Elizabeth Parker is a British film and television composer who worked at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop from 1978 until the workshop's closure.
BBC Radiophonic Music is the first compilation of music released by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. It featured music by three of the Workshop's most prominent composers, John Baker, David Cain, and Delia Derbyshire. The album was originally released by BBC Radio Enterprises in 1968 to coincide with the Workshop's 10th anniversary and later re-released in 1971 on the BBC Records label.
Fourth Dimension is a 1973 BBC Records release featuring recordings created by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop composer Paddy Kingsland. Although it was credited to "The BBC Radiophonic Workshop" it was the work of Kingsland alone, and was the first album of Workshop music to feature only one artist. It features theme tunes used by BBC radio and television. The music prominently features VCS 3 and "Delaware" Synthi 100 synthesisers, both from Electronic Music Studios (London) Ltd, with a standard rock-based session band providing backing. The track "Reg" featured as the B-side to the 1973 single release of the Doctor Who theme.
The Radiophonic Workshop is a 1975 compilation album by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, similar in concept to the earlier BBC Radiophonic Music of 1968. The album featured a variety of work demonstrating many of the various techniques the Workshop used. Unlike its predecessor though, it was far more synthesiser orientated. The music comes from all types of sources from serious drama and documentary to the "Major Bloodnok's Stomach" sound effect from The Goon Show. As with the 1968 compilation, the album was remastered in 2002 by Mark Ayres and re-released with two bonus tracks from John Baker.
Doctor Who: The Music is a 1983 compilation of music from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop featuring incidental music from the popular science-fiction television series Doctor Who. The album was the first full-length to feature solely music from the programme. The collection was produced by Workshop member and long-time Doctor Who sound-effects creator Dick Mills. It featured the original Delia Derbyshire arrangement of Ron Grainer's theme tune and music by Malcolm Clarke from the 1972 serial "The Sea Devils", which was only the second to have an incidental score provided completely by the Radiophonic Workshop. Most of the music included came from serials from the previous three years to demonstrate the recent composers' works. For the album, each serial's incidental music was reassembled into short "suites" and although most of the music had been recorded in mono it was, for this compilation, remixed into stereo with sound effects added on to some tracks. The album was re-released in 1992 by Silva Screen records as Earthshock - Classic Music From The BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 1, with bonus tracks including "The World of Doctor Who", a track recorded by Mills as a B-side to Dudley Simpson's 1973 "Moonbase 3" single, which featured a mix of music from the serial "The Mind of Evil" with sound effects from "Planet of the Daleks" before finishing with Simpson's "Master's Theme". Selections from both this compilation and its follow-up, Doctor Who - The Music II, were also re-used on the 1994 Silva Screen compilation The Best Of Doctor Who Volume 1 - The Five Doctors.
Doctor Who: The Music II is a 1985 BBC Records album which is a sequel to Doctor Who: The Music released in 1983. Once again, it featured a selection of BBC Radiophonic Workshop music from the popular series. The compilation was made up of material recorded since its predecessor, including music from Workshop newcomer Jonathan Gibbs. As with the first album, the music was reassembled into short suites and remixed into stereo with added sound effects. It was re-released in 1992 on Silva Screen, with bonus tracks, as The Five Doctors - Classic Music From The BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 2. Selections from both Doctor Who - The Music albums were also re-used on the 1994 Silva Screen compilation The Best Of Doctor Who Volume 1 - The Five Doctors.
Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 1: The Early Years 1963–1969 is the first in a series of compilations of Doctor Who material recorded by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Compiled and remastered by Mark Ayres, the album features mostly sound effects and atmospheres from the first six years of the programme. Although some incidental music tracks do appear, most of the album's content is by original Doctor Who sound effects creator Brian Hodgson. The compilation also features three Radiophonic Workshop realisations of early Doctor Who composer Dudley Simpson's work.
Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 2: New Beginnings 1970–1980 is the second in a series of compilations of BBC Radiophonic Workshop music from Doctor Who. The album collected various incidental music from the 1970s including, for the first time, the complete Malcolm Clarke score for the 1972 serial The Sea Devils, only the second scored completely by the Radiophonic Workshop. The compilation also featured a few of Dudley Simpson's compositions as realised by Brian Hodgson, some Delia Derbyshire music as featured in Inferno, two Peter Howell demos from 1979 and a selection of Dick Mills' sound effects from the era.
Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 3: The Leisure Hive is the third in a series of compilations showcasing the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's work on the science-fiction programme Doctor Who. The album focused mainly on the Peter Howell synthesiser score for the 1980 serial The Leisure Hive, which received its first full release here. The compilation also collected some Dick Mills sound effects from the story as well as some effects from other 1980 serials Meglos and Full Circle, whose music would be the subject of the fourth volume in the series. The final track was a new remix of the original Delia Derbyshire version of the show's theme tune by series compiler Mark Ayres.
Maddalena Fagandini was an English electronic musician and television producer. She was employed by the BBC in the early 1950s, as part of their Italian Service, before becoming part of the pioneering BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1959. Her work with the Radiophonic Workshop involved creating jingles and interval signals, using musique concrète techniques, for BBC radio and television. She had an important role to play in the coverage of the 1960 Olympics in Rome, due to her bilingual fluency in English and Italian. In 1962, one of her interval signals was re-worked by future Beatles producer George Martin and released, under the pseudonym "Ray Cathode", as "Time Beat".
Harry Desmond Briscoe was an English composer, sound engineer and studio manager. He was the co-founder and original manager of the pioneering BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
David Cain was a composer and technician for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. He was educated at Imperial College London, where he earned a degree in mathematics. In 1963, he joined the BBC as a studio manager, specialising in radio drama. He transferred to the Radiophonic Workshop in 1967 where he composed various jingles and signature tunes as well as the complete incidental music for the BBC's radio productions of The War of the Worlds in 1967, and The Hobbit in 1968. He also produced the Workshop's 1973 adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. He remained with the Radiophonic Workshop until 1973. His 30-second composition "Crossbeat" was used as the original theme for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's morning radio current affairs program AM, which premiered in 1967.
Radiophonic Workshop is a 2014 album of recordings created by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. It was only available through the Bowers and Wilkins's Society of Sound music subscription service.
The Vendetta Tapes is a 2015 album of incidental music from the 1960s BBC television series Vendetta. It also includes other pieces from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop library that would not fit on The John Baker Tapes. It was mastered by Mark Ayres.
Sound Effects No. 13 – Death & Horror is an album produced by Mike Harding of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and released in 1977 by BBC Records & Tapes. It is the thirteenth instalment in the label's Sound Effects series and contains over 80 sound effects related to horror and death, so that producers may use them in amateur film and stage productions. Mike Harding and label staff man Ian Richardson picked numerous "classics" from the BBC Effects Library and from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, but also created many new sound effects for the album themselves, many of which were created by "mistreating large white cabbages." The effects are arranged throughout the album into six distinct themed sections.
