Howell's Odyssey (1980 Doctor Who Theme Recreation)

An attempt at recreating the 1980 Doctor Who theme as arranged and performed by Peter Howell of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. All parts were created from scratch, following detailed analysis of the original. Now that the process is over I am even more in awe at Peter Howell's ingenuity and technical ability, as well as his skill at arranging this revamped theme.

The theme was composed by Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire masterminded its original arrangement which was used in various forms for just under 17 years. At the beginning of season 18 (Tom Baker's last), new producer John Nathan Turner decided that the theme music needed a radical refresh and Peter Howell duly obliged. He went back to Ron's original score and produced a faithful re-imagining of the theme, with the aim of equalling Delia's in terms of technical intricacy.

[FilmmakerJ]

Darn near perfect resemblance. Sounds like the same theme if it were simply recorded with modern software.

[jimpoole]

Speaking as a Whovian and a lover of the Peter Howell theme, all I will say is.

You f***ing nailed that..

Bloody well done!

[KingofPotatoPeople]

Splendid recreation of my favourite version of the theme. Send the haters to the Death Zone....

[MaximusNYC]

An amazing recreation of one of the best versions of the theme! I always liked how the full version of Howell's theme added that rising chord sequence at 2:08. I don't think it's in any other version of the theme, before or since.

[iHDFootball]

For me the Peter Howell theme is the best

[DaveG]

Just stumbled across this - stunning recreation, personally I think it sounds better than the original, the sounds are balanced slightly better! I’ve played synths most of my life, so I have some sense of just how hard you’ve worked on this.

[MrJeffreyTibbs]

Wow! This is very well done! You even got the reverse echo in there!

[TransistorBased]

The CS-50 bass, strings, brass, and 'twinkle' sounds are near spot on, and the vocoder and Odyssey lead are pretty close. I'd only recommend a little more delay time on the lead, and a bit more low end on the vocoder. Bravo overall, this is amazing.

[flamerTidk]

It's really hard to get the Peter Howell theme as close as this one is. Lovely. This theme is just splendid.

[MaddoxProductions]

Actually a very close imitation of the original. Well done :)

[iLikeTheUDK]

YouTube This is not the original 1980 Doctor Who theme, it's a recreation of it. Please don't flag it as the former. Thanks.

[keithstuartgoldstraw]

you have given peter's arrangement an awesome 21st century remix i love it!

[Mojen_Marc_Music]

The only thing that would have made this more awesome is to have footage of you playing the various parts edited into a music video \m/

Love it!

[glenrea]

This is one bloody good recreation! And whatever people say about the end boom, listen through headphones

[frankrtwiw]

Kudos! It sounds almost exactly like the original!

[djpookie]

Damn good job my friend.  Always been my favorite version of this song.  Doctor Who fan since 1980.

[marisabattle]

To me it sounds EXACTLY like the original. The details were nailed PERFECTLY and it's like a hearing illusion (if those exist) where to you it sounds the same, even though it isn't! All I gotta say is that you nailed it perfectly and I'm proud of it! Keep up the good work!

[KENNETHUDUT]

It sounds like an alt version done by Howell himself. Bravo! I can hear the differences - and it works beautifully.

[lonophonic]

Howell has definitely made the 80s Doctor Who theme make it may favourite and now you’ve modernised it all I say that it’s fantastic!👍🏻👍🏻

[Magnus-ghgp]

Almost there, good cover I would say 95% accurate!