A Matter of Time: Rose

ORIGINAL BROADCAST: 26/03/2005

Five years ago today, Doctor Who returned to our screens for the first new series in sixteen years, with the brand new ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston, and his latest companion Rose. This was by far the most significant episode in the history of the Doctor Who, where television viewers would see if a classic series could work for a modern day audience.

Unofficial overnight viewing figures showed that the episode attracted an average of 9.9 million viewers, 43.2% of the total television audience. In some regions, the first few minutes of the original BBC broadcast were spoiled, by the accidental mixing of a few seconds of sound from Graham Norton hosting ‘Strictly Dance Fever’, which had aired previously.

Murray Gold’s new arrangement of the theme contains sounds and elements from the Delia Derbyshire arrangement in 1963, which was replaced in 1980 with an arrangement by Peter Howell. An early version of Gold’s arrangement, which lacks the Derbyshire sound effects, can be heard on the official BBC trailer for the series.

The new series was followed immediately on BBC Three with ‘Doctor Who Confidential’, which showed how the production team managed to bring back one of the greatest shows of all time. This episode also introduced the use of a trailer for the next episode, which had previously not been seen in the original series.

The episode was a huge success, and showed old and new fans alike, that Doctor Who can always work in the past, present and future. Five years on, the idea of this being a cancelled show from the twentieth century seems like a distant memory. With a brand new series about to air in April, fans are eagerly waiting for the next era of Doctor Who to begin, and are praying for another ‘Rose’.

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