May 26, 2026
Brian Hodgson, pioneer at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, talks about creating the sound of the TARDIS in the latest Doctor Who Magazine...
It can be argued that almost no other ship in sci-fi has a take-off sound as recognisable as the TARDIS. Whether or not you believe it's due to the Doctor leaving the brakes on, that wheezing and groaning of ancient engines has remained the signature sound of our favourite blue box since the very first episode. But how did the sound originally come to be?
Doctor Who Magazine speaks to Brian Hodgson, the sound designer of BBC's Radiophonic Workshop who originally used piano strings to engineer the TARDIS' iconic dematerialisation, about coming up with the sound of time and space...
Doctor Who Magazine issue 630 is on sale from Thursday 28th May. You can order it here.
Brian Hodgson on creating the sound of the TARDIS:
“Where does a time machine go? I thought long and hard about that. Does it go up or down, or even sideways? I decided it goes both forwards and backwards. I thought, a time machine comes and it goes, so things have to approach and then disappear…”
“I’d used slowed-down piano scrapes for a radio play called The Survivors, about survivors of a shipwreck – the sound of a hull grinding on rocks. That’s where that idea [for the TARDIS materialisation sound] came from.
“I don’t know whether it was Verity [Lambert, producer] or someone else who said it, but that phrase “the rending of the fabric of time and space” was in my mind. So the rending sound, of course, was the piano. There’s a feedback technique: you play a signal into another tape recorder, which repeats it, and so it appears to be going away, and played backwards it appears to be moving towards you. And I put in little bits of white noise, little chiffs of beeps and things coming and going, and put it all together… I got the sound I wanted.”
Read more in issue 630 of Doctor Who Magazine.
In this issue
- BRIAN HODGSON – the legendary Radiophonic Workshop sound designer who created the voice of the Daleks – and the sound of the TARDIS – discusses his Doctor Who work.
- The story of the remarkable recovery of a unique Dalek prop that has survived in a private collection since 1965.
- I was a secret Dalek! NICHOLAS EVANS – Dalek operator and Slyther in The Dalek Invasion of Earth – among other roles – talks to DWM.
- MICKEY LEWIS shares his memories of playing a Dalek – and a Dalek zombie – in 2012’s Asylum of the Daleks.
Plus
- A preview of the new ULTRA HD release of the TV movie starring Eighth Doctor Paul McGann.
- ALAN YENTOB – controller of BBC1 when the TV movie was being made – talks about his role in the return of Doctor Who in an interview conducted shortly before his death.
- RICHARD HUDOLIN – designer on the TV movie – discusses his extraordinary TARDIS sets…
- MARK STRICKSON on his time as shifty Fifth Doctor companion Turlough…
- Scores to settle! Find out all about how the music and sound effects come together in the latest part of our series on Rutans vs Sontarans.
- The truth behind The Lie of the Land. The Fact of Fiction dissects this unsettling Twelfth Doctor story.
- The Fifteenth Doctor faces off against the Daleks in the comic strip.
Regular features
- GALLIFREY GUARDIAN: our monthly round-up of news including the latest on the multi-platform series Circuit Breaker.
- Reviews – including PAUL KIRKLEY on the TV movie.
- Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe.
- Prizes to be won! Including the latest audio dramas featuring the Fourth, Sixth, Eighth and Ninth Doctors.
Doctor Who Magazine issue 630 is on sale from Thursday 28th May. You can order it here.
