"anti-radiation gloves" - A tribute to William Hartnell for #doctorwho60thanniversary
Composed by B Sharp (and featuring the voice of William Hartnell as The Doctor).
Heavily inspired by Steve Reich's 'Different Trains', I decided to compose a tribute to William Hartnell's incarnation as the Doctor. After choosing several recordings of dialogue, the music (melodies and chords) in each phrase is built out of the musical tones from Hartnell's performance.
When deciding upon which snippets of dialogue to use, I was drawn to Hartnell's many 'fluffs'. Back in the days of recording television, it wasn't an easy task to rerecord or edit out wrong dialogue (it was usually treated the same as live theatre), so any errors were just left in the final cut. This was made more difficult for Hartnell as he suffered from undiagnosed arteriosclerosis - making it difficult for him to remember his lines and caused lapses in concentration.
What I admire is how the Doctor Who fandom have incorporated these fluffs as part of the characterisation of the Doctor. My favourite in particular is due to the first incarnation wearing out his body too much, caused more severely by the time destructor (see The Daleks' Master Plan).
Hence, not only is this piece a tribute to my love of the show, but also to the actor William Hartnell, who, despite his failing health, became one of the most important components to the show. He helped establish the first principles, fluffs and all, to a character that is universally beloved.
The quotes have come from the following episodes: "The Daleks", "The Edge of Destruction", "The Keys of Marinus", "The Sensorites", "The Web Planet", "The Chase", "The War Machines" and "The Three Doctors".
This work is the property of Barnabas Sharp. Doctor Who is the property of the BBC. This work was composed at the time as non-profitable.