Musical Doctor Who (slight return)
In my last post I suggested that The Devil’s Chord could turn out to be Doctor Who’s first musical episode, as the culmination of what appeared to be a trajectory heading in that direction. But shortly before it was transmitted, Russell T Davies revealed in an intriguing interview with Emily Murray for gamesradar+ that, whilst it did include a musical number, the episode would not be an outright musical.
A collective sigh of relief was heaved from the more (small-c) conservative sections of fandom. I was a bit disappointed: although not particularly interested in musicals, I like to see Doctor Who push at its narrative and formal boundaries.
As it transpired, The Devil’s Chord’s song and dance number was a bit of an odd beast. The song, called ‘There’s Always a Twist at the End’ after its much-repeated main lyric, was certainly impressive visually, if a little less-so musically. It was by far the most elaborate of all Doctor Who’s flirtations with song and dance (see my last post for more on those). But it felt tacked-on to the end of the episode, rather than forming a part of the narrative. It did nothing for the story itself beyond illustrating the return of music to the world, and the joy it brings.
Returning to the Russell T Davies interview, he notes that song suits the series:
"I think it fits Doctor Who. I mean, Doctor Who has so much joy and I think actually my writing has always been heading towards bursting into song. No one who knows me isn’t going to be surprised that this has finally happened in something that I’ve written – I’ve tried it before but never quite got it."
That is how the quote appears but unless I’m misunderstanding Davies’ meaning, I think the ‘isn’t’ is suppose to be ‘is’. But it doesn’t matter. He continues:
"It’s not easy writing a musical, people don’t just burst into song, you have to earn it, you have to place it, you have to time it, you have to feel it. And I’ve tried before on other shows, not just Doctor Who. I’ve literally tried it many, many times and never quite earned it – but finally, I think we are beginning to crack it now so I hope there’s more, that’s all I can say. We’re not planning a full-on musical episode but one day, definitely!"
So whilst none are planned, the potential for a full-on musical within Doctor Who is there, confirmed by the showrunner. I’m intrigued by his references to attempting it on other projects, but that’s by-the-by. More relevant is his acknowledgement that song has to be earned, placed and timed within drama. He’s quite right and this only feeds my surprise at how the musical number in The Devil’s Chord didn’t feel well placed.
But actually, perhaps Davies is being extra clever in that respect. Maybe we’re still to learn just how well placed the song was. I suspect the appearance of ‘Henry Arbinger’ (Kit Rakusen) briefly looking on will prove relevant later and, perhaps more importantly, the song itself hints at things to come. Indeed, it seems to be more than just a hint.
I may be entirely wrong, but I suspect the song signposts a major twist at the end of the series leading into the Christmas special, the gag being that we were overtly told a twist was coming this early on: they literally made a song and dance about it. I assume the repeated appearances of Susan Twist in the credits is another clue to the same. Perhaps this foreshadows the return of Susan Foreman, the Doctor’s grand-daughter – she was also mentioned in The Devil’s Chord, after all. But this is a digression…
What I’m trying to say is that whilst the musical number seemed of little significance and more like an afterthought to the episode itself, we may well view it very differently after a few more episodes. That’s my theory anyway.
Meanwhile, it was pleasing to see that Davies himself appears to have roughly the same feeling about a musical episode as I suggested in my last post – Doctor Who is still on a musical trajectory, we just don’t know when it may reach fruition.
Images © BBC
Sources
Emily Murray’s interview with Russell T Davies for gamesradar+, which you can find here