Doctor Who at the Proms

Doctor Who at the Proms was a concert first held on 27th July 2008 at Royal Albert Hall in London, as part of the annual BBC Proms concert series. The concerts, dating back to 1895, focus primarily on classical music. The Doctor Who event featured music from the first four seasons of the revived series, composed by Murray Gold.

The event was hosted by Freema Agyeman with a special appearance by Catherine Tate, and featured appearances by several monsters from the series, including a Sontaran, Davros and Cybus Cybermen.

A highlight of the event was a 7-minute mini-episode entitled DW: Music of the Spheres. Written by Russell T Davies and featuring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, the episode broke the fourth wall by having the Doctor directly address the audience and involve them in an adventure. (During the mini-episode, the Doctor claims to have been a performer in the first Proms in 1895, playing the tuba.)

Tim Phillips also performed a full rendition of "Song for Ten" as part of the concert, which concluded with a performance of the Doctor Who theme, which was the only piece of music in the programme not composed by Gold.

Doctor Who at the Proms was originally aired live on BBC Radio. It was also videotaped for later broadcast and DVD release, and as such it aired on the BBC in early 2009, and was later included as a bonus feature on the DVD release of DW: The Next Doctor. In early 2010 it was also included in the Complete 2009 Specials box set, both in DVD and Blu-Ray formats. The home video release differs from the original broadcast; among other changes, Phillips' performance is not included, and a surprise appearance by Delia Derbyshire's original 1963 arrangement of the Doctor Who theme at the end of Music of the Spheres was likewise removed, along with the opening credits for the mini-episode (which used the then-current opening sequence).

The BBC announced the Proms concert at a press event on 9th April 2008, during which noted violinist Nigel Kennedy, promoting his own appearance at the Proms, played a radically rearranged rendition of the Doctor Who theme.

In April 2010, it was announced that a second Doctor Who at the Proms concert, again featuring the music of Murray Gold, would be performed twice, on 24th and 25th July 2010, both to be aired live on BBC Radio Three and later broadcast (presumably edited together) on BBC Three television. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan have been announced as hosts for both shows.