Doctor Who Live Info

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Ben Foster arranger and musical director

So are you feverishly working on Doctor Who Live at the moment?

“God yeah. It’s full on. It’s pretty much got to be done in the next couple of weeks. It’s going well. The number of Post-It notes on my wall is increasing. There are quite a lot of separate music numbers, so it’s tough to kind of get through them all. But it’s good. It’s going to be great, I think.”

How important a part is the music in Doctor Who Live?

“I think it was the crux of it from early on. I think there it was the success of those concerts we did… The one in Cardiff that we did first up, that was really successful and so led to the Proms. So that was always in people’s minds, that this was a good way to present Doctor Who in a live environment. But then, of course, it grew into the idea that you could combine that with fantastic re-enactments of battles and scenes, you could involve Matt Smith on film with actors on stage and all the famous monsters. It’s a real one-off, never-before-seen Doctor Who spectacle which I think is great. But the heart of it is the band on the stage, and the music forms a huge part of underscoring the drama and filling the arena with as much sound as possible.”

How big is the band? Or is it an orchestra?

“Well, we’re calling it a band. It’s 16 people. It’s big enough. What you can do with 86 people is one thing. But what you can do with 16 people, when you’ve got two guitars, the bass, percussion, drums, trumpets and all sorts of stuff is different; you have to think it very differently. Also, because it’s an arena you have to take that into account. And also, because it’s not a concert, you fully expect the kids – high on swizzle sticks and lollies – to just be screaming their heads off when the Cybermen come through the auditorium or the Daleks come on stage. So we’ve got to really crank up the sound. It’s a very different musical experience.

“And obviously the limitations of a smaller band lead you to make decisions which change the sound. So I’m taking the Dalek fight sequence from the last series and instead of it being John Williams – which was the way I arranged it for the show – it’s more like John Williams versus Brian May. So it’s tremendous fun. It’s just adding a new spirit to the music, just skewing it and taking it into more of a rock environment. But we’ve got to fill the place and you’ve got to make the sound of a rock band, so that’s kind of where we’ve taken it. But there’s lots of orchestral instruments blended in as well, but they’re kind of big, brave solo parts. But we’ve got a big band together so it’ll sound like a big rock orchestra gig. Kind of prog rock. There’s a lot of Slash in it.

“I’m just doing an arrangement of ‘All The Strange Creatures’ at the moment, which is getting really heavy. It’s really good. And it kind of makes me smile, because you’re taking these things that are big and orchestral, and you’re just taking them into another zone.”

Will these new arrangements get a CD release?

“You know what, it would be great. There was chat about it, but I don’t know where that’s got to. I honestly think it would be worth doing, because they’re going to be significantly different. And it’s an interesting angle. So I can’t say for definite, but there was talk. But you know with these things, sometimes they just fall under the carpet. I’m sure they’ll turn up on YouTube with 1,000 children shouting on top of them. But that’s okay. And there’s enough Doctor Who material coming out in the next few months, to be honest – the Specials CD and the series five CD, so that’ll keep people in iPod heaven for a while.”

Presumably you have to be there every night of the tour?

“Well, I don’t have to. I’m doing all the arrangements but I wasn’t necessarily going to conduct it all. But I couldn’t resist really. Because there’s a seven-year-old version of me inside that goes, ‘Do you want to spend every night of the week with Daleks and Cybermen?’ and, of course, the answer is yes.

“But it’s a tremendous slog. There are about 36 dates inside just about a month. But one of the things that really led me to think this would be great is, I’ve got a barrage of synthesisers including  the ARP Odyssey Mark II, as used by Peter Howell in 1980, so that’s going to make my day every time I turn that on.

The ARP Odyssey Mark II, out of the mothballs

“We’ve got a lovely selection of hand-picked musicians, who are great. And as a Doctor Who fan, it will be really, really good fun for me.”

Are you using unusual instruments?

“There’s talk of bits and bobs. To be honest, it’s still early days. There might be some stuff that develops in rehearsals. But everybody in the band will be doubling up on instruments, so that means that trumpet will play a flugelhorn, and the saxophone will play lots of flutes. We’ve got recorders in because of the bit from the scarecrow episode where we used recorders. We’re going to get a toy piano, like a kids’ piano. There are a few things that I’m looking into getting. Something I saw the other day on the internet which is like that thing that Rolf Harris has…”

A didgeridoo?

“No! Hah! A Stylophone. So there might be bits and bobs like that. It’s just finding a good reason to use stuff. I don’t want to do silly things just for the sake of it. I was toying with the idea of a theramin, but I’ll don’t think I’ll get my theramin skill up to scratch in time. But there are lots of interesting percussion instruments; bits of metal hanging over the drums that we can hit for the Cybermen.”

Any new cues?

“For legal reasons, it’s exclusively music that has already been broadcast on the show. Which is great because many people know the themes. We’re doing some of the favourites, but we’re also doing some stuff from series five, because that’s becoming very popular too. Especially the Eleventh Doctor theme that we did at the Prom.

“But there are a few interesting and surprising things. You know the hymn from ‘The End Of Time’ that they sing when Wilf goes into the church? We took that, and we’ve played with it and given it a new twist. There’s a very cool version of ‘The Mad Man With The Box’ which is like a huge Bond rock version.”

A lot of people may not realise quite how much input you have into the actual series,…

“They put my name on the credits when they have space sometimes. If there’s a quick roller, I’m not up there.”

You actually do all the arrangements for Murray Gold’s music. Don’t you ever wish you had his job?

“Well, that’s clearly a no-brainer, but there’s no aggressive takeover bid planned. My aspirations as a composer are clear. I composed the majority of the music for Torchwood series two and three, so that’s where my heart is really. But it’s difficult with Doctor Who. It’s such a great show to work on I’m quite happy to take a secondary role. But, as you kindly say, it’s quite an involved role, and it’s nice to able to get the chance to take the music somewhere different with Live.”

Ans will you be composing for Torchwood series four?

“Yeah, so there we go… I’d love to be able to say yes, but I can’t really. I’ve read good things about it and it seems like it’s going to be fantastic and obviously I would be delighted to be asked. I should probably just leave it there. The honest answer is I don’t know, but I would love to be asked. I think it’s a fantastic show, and it’s where a big part of my heart is.”

Doctor Who Live is on tour across the UK from Friday 8 October.

For ticket information, visit www.doctorwholive.com

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