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Electronic Sound magazine celebrates 60 years of Doctor Who with the help of The Radiophonic Workshop

By John Freeman on October 12, 2023 • ( 1 )

Electronic Sound magazine is celebrating 60 years of Doctor Who with the help of The Radiophonic Workshop in their new issue (Number 106, November 2023). A silver vinyl Radiophonic seven-inch also accompanies the magazine as well, the material including two Dalek tracks taken from the first story to feature the pepperpot perils.

The cover story, “The Sound of Doctor Who“, boasts an amazing cast of Radiophonic Workshop members, with Brian Hodgson, Dick Mills, Paddy Kingsland, Roger Limb, Peter Howell and Mark Ayres recalling those halcyon days at the BBC’s famous Maida Vale Studios. There are plenty of Doctor Who anecdotes, of course, but they also talk about some of their other wonderful work for BBC television and radio programmes over the many decades.

The interview feature is a lengthy and highly entertaining read and it begins with a mighty strange tale about “two mad scientists and a moon maiden”. “They certainly broke the mould when they made the Radiophonic folk,” say the Electronic Sound team.

There’s more Radiophonica this issue with a piece on Delia Derbyshire‘s Inventions For Radio, an early 1960s collaboration with UK playwright Barry Bermange. ES speaks to David Butler from the Delia Derbyshire Archive about this unique sound collage, an extract of which appears on the flip side of this month’s seven-inch.

With so much classic Radiophonic goodness on offer, it’s easy to understand why Brian Hodgson claims the legendary BBC sound unit “reprogrammed the hearing of a whole generation”.

This magazine looks like it might be quite a collectable for both Doctor Who and Dalek fans!

Keep turning the pages, too, for interviews with Gazelle Twin, Maria Uzor, James Holden, Jlin, Fantastic Twins, Sextile and Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy.

• Head here to order your Electronic Sound magazine and vinyl bundle

On the disc, on the A-Side: three tracks produced by The Radiophonic Workshop way back in 1963 for the first ‘Doctor Who’ serial about the Daleks – ‘Dalek City Corridor’, ‘Dalek Control Room’ and ‘Explosion, TARDIS Stops’.
On the B-Side: An extract of Delia Derbyshire and Barry Bermange‘s ‘Inventions For Radio – The Dreams’, a pioneering cut-up piece from 1964

As with all Electronic Sound music releases, this record is strictly limited and only available to readers of Electronic Sound, so be sure you get your copy straight away

ELECTRONIC SOUND MERCHANDISE

Electronic Sound Number 106, November 2023 - Cover T-Shirt featuring a Dalek

• The cover of this issue of Electronic Sound was crying out to be made into a T-shirt, and it has.

The design is inspired by the most iconic enemy the Doctor has ever faced, given the Electronic Sound minimalist treatment for a truly eye-catching design. Details here

Electronic Sound Number 106, November 2023 - Cover Poster featuring a Dalek

• This A3 reproduction of the cover of this month’s magazine allows the graphic design that is such an integral part of the Electronic Sound world to take centre stage.

Frame it and admire it in your studio, or use blu-tac to stick it up at a wonky angle in your student bedsit, the choice is yours!

• Check out the special corner in the Electronic Sound shop, where you’ll find a stash of limited edition goodies from The Radiophonic Workshop, including The Sun Makers, pressed on very limited edition orange vinyl (just 250 copies in the UK), which features music by Dudley Simpson from the 1977 series in which Tom Baker and his scarf, together with K9 and Leela exposes the corrupt Company, defeating the Collector and freeing the population from financial misery

• The BBC Radiophonic Workshop: Adventures In Time And Space

Subscribers to Electronic Sound can read the article online

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.