It is with deep sadness that BlogtorWho reports the death of Doctor Who composer Dudley Simpson.
The Australian born composer may well have contributed to more episodes of Doctor Who than any other individual. He provided incidental music to a staggering number of stories from ‘Planet of Giants’ in 1964 to ‘The Horns of the Nimon’ which concluded in 1980. In total he contributed to 62 Doctor Who stories. This included classic stories such as ‘The Ice Warriors’, ‘The Daemons’ and ‘Genesis of the Daleks’. Simpson was also due to provide the incidental music for the abandoned story ‘Shada’. The composer even appeared on screen in Doctor Who as the music hall conductor during ‘The Talons of Weng-Chiang’.
Dudley Simpson’s career also included work on other television shows including ‘The Brothers‘, ‘The Tomorrow People‘ and ‘Moonbase 3′. Simpson also contributed to 50 of the 52 episodes of another BBC sci-fi series ‘Blake’s 7’. Away from television, Dudley Simpson had served in World War II after learning the piano as a child. His early career began as an assistant conductor, pianist and later musical director for the Borovansky Ballet Company. After moving to the UK, he enjoyed a season as guest conductor before becoming Principal Conductor of the Royal Opera House orchestra. However it is his prolific work as composer on Doctor Who for which Dudley Simpson will perhaps be best remembered.
