Doctor Who: The Space Museum (TV Soundtrack)

THE PROGRAMME: At the end of the previous serial, The Crusade, the Doctor and his companions were rendered immobile as the TARDIS hurtled to their next destination: The Space Museum? South African born Gyn Jones was a new writer for Doctor Who. Moving to England, he worked as an actor and 'copy chaser' for The Times, before having his play Early One Morning performed on stage in 1963. This work was seen by David Whitaker, who then encountered Jones at a party the following year and - in his capacity as story editor of Doctor Who - commissioned the writer to develop a four-part serial around October 1964. Jones' story, The Space Museum, was constructed to be a frugal affair, offsetting a lavish series of escapades in space and time which was due to follow it. Pre-filming on the serial was restricted to a single day - 11 March 1965 - at the BBC's Film Studios at Ealing, mainly to cover model shots and Vicki, one of the Doctor's companions, dropping a glass of water. Recording of the four episodes then took place at BBC Television Centre - rather than the usual Riverside Studios - every Friday from 2 April, running three weeks ahead of transmission. The story had also been structured so that the show's star, William Hartnell, would not be required for the recording of its third episode, The Search. As another cost-saving measure, no incidental music was composed for the adventure; instead director Mervyn Pinfield employed pre-existing recordings from library music records. The Musique Electronique works of American electro-acoustic pioneer Eric Siday provided a wide range of cues including Threat Attack, Space Time and Space Agitato, while his Ultra Sonic Perception offered the pieces Ultimate, Moonscape and The Laboratory. Other music included Off Centre, Panic in the Streets, Atoms and Mushrooms, Dark Pursuit and Quicksand by Frank Tailey; Synchro Stings and Mutations by Trevor Duncan (i.e. Leonard Trebilcock); Bathysphere by Erik Nordgren; Dramatic Bridges by Denis Rycoth (i.e. Sidney Torch); Asyndeton by Robert Gerhard; World of Plants by Jack Trombey (i. e. Jan Stoeckhart); Six Short Dramas by Roger Roger; elements of Musique Concrete by Buxton Orr and some Dramatic Brass Chords by Wolf Droyson. Glyn Jones later appeared on screen in the 1975 Doctor Who serial The Sontaran Experiment. Coupled with The Crusade, The Space Museum was released on videotape by BBC Worldwide as part of a special boxed set in July 1999. With a gift from the thankful inhabitants of Xeros loaded aboard, the TARDIS departs for new adventures, its crew unaware that their movements are already being monitored by some old foes in preparation for the next story, The Chase? Programme notes compiled by Andrew Pixley.