Twenty Thousand Hertz Doctor Who & The BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Jan 26, 2026
Mark Ayres, composer, sound designer, and archivist who cataloged the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, guides listeners through the studio's wild sonic experiments. He recalls tape tricks, Delia Derbyshire's creation of the Doctor Who theme, iconic TARDIS and Dalek effects, the rise of synthesizers, and the workshop's decline and revival. Short, vivid stories about how those sounds were made and preserved.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
A New Commercial Sound Laboratory
- The BBC Radiophonic Workshop created a new commercial discipline blending engineering and music for broadcasting needs.
- They turned experimental electronic techniques into widely used applied sound design for radio and TV.
Midnight Gear Heists Spark A Studio
- Daphne Oram and Desmond Briscoe secretly borrowed overnight studio gear to experiment and returned it before morning.
- Those late-night sessions proved there was demand and led to dedicated studio rooms at Maida Vale in 1958.
Tape Work Was Sonic Sculpture
- The Workshop used everyday objects plus oscillators then manipulated tape to craft entirely new sonic textures.
- Techniques included speed changes, reversal, looping, micro-splicing, and feedback to sculpt sounds not found in nature.
