Doctor Who at the Proms (2013)

The 2013 Doctor Who at the Proms was the third performance of Doctor Who at the Proms, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.

It was broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall on BBC Radio 3 on 13 July 2013 with commentary by Louise Fryer. It was hosted by Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, Neve McIntosh (in Silurian prosthetics as Madame Vastra), Dan Starkey (in Sontaran prosthetics as Strax), Peter Davison, the Daleks and Carole Ann Ford. During the twenty-minute interval, Radio 3 broadcast the documentary, The Soundworld of Doctor Who, where Matthew Sweet interviewed the sound designers of Doctor Who and the voice of the Daleks and Ice Warriors, Nicholas Briggs.

The 13 July performance was the world première of Murray Gold's celebration of Doctor Who, "Song for Fifty".

Shortly before the performance of "Cyber Shard", Strax held a Strax Field Report: T135/2, where Strax reported to Sontar he was in a large room full of "human scum" celebrating the Doctor and that he received intel that the Doctor's enemies are about to attack.

Synopsis
Doctor Who returns to the Proms to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the popular BBC series. As well as showcasing Murray Gold's music from the past eight years, the concert also journeys back to the early days of Doctor Who and the ground-breaking work of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Featuring special guests from the series, big screens and a host of monsters ready to invade the Royal Albert Hall, this is not the year to be exterminated!

Act 1

 * "The Mad Man With a Box" - Murray Gold
 * "I Am the Doctor" - Murray Gold

Skit
In a filmed segment, the Doctor and Clara hatch a plan to infiltrate the concert using "bodyswap" tickets with which they can replace two members of the audience. The plan goes awry when they end up appearing on stage in place of two of the musicians (with Smith and Coleman now performing in character live on stage), and with the Doctor also discovering he's lost most of his hair (which he blames on his buying the bodyswap ticket from a man from "Space Vegas"). The Doctor gives conductor Ben Foster a sonic baton to conduct the orchestra with, which he later uses to torment the Daleks. The Doctor attempts to conduct, with Clara (who has found herself in the double bass section) reminding him that the audience is waiting for the actual concert to continue. After the Doctor reminds Clara that the last time the next piece of music in the program was heard, she was turned into a Dalek, the two make a hasty exit from the stage. Unlike past Prom "minisodes" such as TV: Music of the Spheres, this skit has no official title. Although the skit falls outside canon due to its real world nature, the Bodyswap ticket does exist in some form in official continuity as Clara is seen to possess one in TV: Dark Water.

Act 1 continues

 * "Habañera" from Carmen -
 * "Companions Suite" - Murray Gold
 * "Cyber Shard" - Murray Gold
 * "Toccata" from Toccata and Fugue in D minor - Johann Sebastian Bach, arr. Leopold Stokowski
 * "The Final Chapter of Amelia Pond" - Murray Gold
 * "The Rings of Akhaten" - Murray Gold

Act 2

 * "All the Strange, Strange Creatures" - Murray Gold
 * "The Impossible Girl" - Murray Gold
 * "The Girl With the Flaxen Hair" - Claude Debussy
 * "Classic Medley" - Tristram Cary, Martin Slavin, Malcolm Clarke, Dudley Simpson, Paddy Kingsland, Peter Howell, Mark Ayres
 * "You're going to have to take those clothes off" - Gabe Stone and Matthew Owen
 * "I never know why, I only know who" - William Davenport and Jordan Picken
 * "First There Were Daleks" - Murray Gold
 * "The Name of the Doctor" - Murray Gold
 * "Song for Fifty" - Murray Gold
 * "Vale Decem" - Murray Gold
 * Doctor Who theme - Ron Grainer arr. Murray Gold

Cast

 * The Eleventh Doctor, himself - Matt Smith
 * Clara Oswald, herself - Jenna Coleman
 * Madame Vastra - Neve McIntosh
 * Strax - Dan Starkey
 * The Queen of Years - Kerry Ingram
 * Himself - Peter Davison
 * Herself - Carole Ann Ford
 * Dalek and Cyberman voices - Nicholas Briggs

Music cast

 * Conductors:
 * Ben Foster
 * Vocalists:
 * Elin Manahan Thomas - Soprano
 * Allan Clayton - Tenor
 * Kerry Ingram - Treble
 * Choir:
 * The London Philharmonic Choir
 * Orchestra:
 * The BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Ratings
to be added

Production errors

 * At one point, Neve McIntosh, playing Madame Vastra, mispronounces the name of Leopold Stokowski, though she catches herself and tries again.
 * Reportedly the synthesiser used during the performance of the Doctor Who Theme malfunctioned, resulting in it sounding slightly out of tune. As a result, the televised version of the Prom that aired on BBC One on 26 August 2013 used a different performance of the theme.

DVD and Blu-Ray release
The 2013 Doctor Who proms was released in both DVD and Blu-ray formats as part of the 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition box set.