Boe Selector

Doctor Who: Musical Interlude #4

I love soundtrack albums. The very first album I ever bought was John Williams' OST to Empire, the second was his soundtrack for Jaws. While my friends were pestering their parents for the new single by Madness, Ian Dury or Abba I was lusting after a gatefold sleeve featuring Darth Vader. It's a bug that has never gone away and today some of my all-time favourite albums are soundtracks: Thunderball, OHMSS, Magnolia, A Beautiful Mind (a terrible movie but you can't have everything), Blade Runner, The Hulk, Firestarter, to name just a few.

But when it comes to Doctor Who, apart from paradoxically sporting the best title music in any TV show, ever, its original soundtracks are, on the whole, pants.

Sure, there are some great, isolated moments of genius - Delia's 'Blue Veils and Golden Sands' that features prominently in Inferno is sublime - but aside from Dudley in Paris, Malcolm Clarke's clanging kazoos and Keff McCulloch's incessant hand-clapping, most of Doctor Who's music is totally forgettable. Some of it is completely atonal. Sometimes it's both. The really good stuff has been lifted wholesale from the music library (cf. Inferno) and the reign of Dudley is a rich, brown sludge of farting organs. Say what you will about the 1996 TV movie but at least you can tap your feet to it.

Which brings me to my choice for the best use of music in Doctor Who:

Murray Gold: Original Music from Season 3: Track 6: Boe

Hit play now...

Now I can't even remember where in the episode this music is played, and I can't be bothered to find out (I assume it's somewhere in Gridlock but I'm sure it features in the finale too). But who cares? All I know is that I simply adore this piece of music. Maybe I'm completely missing the point, and I should be waxing lyrical about how the music enhances the story or the visuals of a particular episode, but for me this track manages to transcend anything it was initially designed to support. Plus, I'm a sucker for aching strings and 3 minutes and 19 seconds in, Murray actually makes my heart sing.

I'm sorry, I'm no music critic (some would say I'm no TV critic either) and this is difficult for me to put into words, but what it really boils down to is this: when I'm walking the dog with my trusty iPod shuffle in my pocket and this track comes along, I've suddenly got a spring in my step and a smile on my face.

Sometimes Murray gets lost in the mix; sometimes he's too loud; sometimes he's fighting against the nonsensical plot and pseudo-religious imagery, but when he's freed from the pictures and listened to in isolation, he shines. And how can you not admire the way in which he manages to compose 13 original scores in the same amount of time it takes John Williams to rehash his back catalogue for the new Indiana Jones movie. Now show me a kid pining for that album...

I can't believe that Murray is getting his arse kicked by Deadly Dudley on the poll right now. Dudley, while certainly iconic, was bone idle too. While his generic droning might evoke pleasantly nostalgic feelings in the pit of your stomach, he can't complete with Murray for sheer inventiveness, talent and melody. Try humming the theme to The Horror of Fang Rock. See! I rest my case. Now do yourself a favour and bung on some Gold, preferably out of context, whilst walking a pet of your choice, as the sun sets behind a small hillock.

And sing.