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IMDbPro

The Alchemists of Sound

  • TV Movie
  • 20032003
  • 58m
IMDb RATING
8.2/10
79
YOUR RATING
Documentary
A documentary about the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, responsible for creating some of the most memorable television and radio music in British popular culture, including "The Hitchhiker's Guide... Read allA documentary about the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, responsible for creating some of the most memorable television and radio music in British popular culture, including "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and Doctor Who (1963).A documentary about the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, responsible for creating some of the most memorable television and radio music in British popular culture, including "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and Doctor Who (1963).
IMDb RATING
8.2/10
79
YOUR RATING
    • Roger Pomphrey
  • Stars
    • Oliver Postgate(voice)
    • Roger Limb
    • Mark Ayres
    • Roger Pomphrey
  • Stars
    • Oliver Postgate(voice)
    • Roger Limb
    • Mark Ayres
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 1User review
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos

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    Top cast

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    Oliver Postgate
    • Self - Narrator
    • (voice)
    Roger Limb
    • Self
    Mark Ayres
    • Self
    • (as Mark Ayers)
    Brian Hodgson
    Brian Hodgson
    • Self
    Desmond Briscoe
    • Self
    Maddalena Fagandini
    • Self
    Dick Mills
    Dick Mills
    • Self
    Adrian Utley
    Adrian Utley
    • Self
    David Cain
    • Self
    Delia Derbyshire
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Malcolm Clarke
    • Self
    Peter Kember
    • Self
    John Baker
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Milton Babbitt
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Huw Wheldon
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Robert Popper
    • Self
    Peter Serafinowicz
    Peter Serafinowicz
    • Self
    Wendy Carlos
    Wendy Carlos
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (as Walter Carlos)
      • Roger Pomphrey
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      In many shots there is a clock which shows the time as 19:58. This represents the year in which the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was founded (1958).
    • Quotes

      [after the Radiophonic Workshop closed, Mark Ayres was made curator of the tapes]

      Oliver Postgate - Narrator: One day, he learned to his horror that all the tapes recorded after 1983 had simply been thrown away.

      Mark Ayres: So I hit the roof, and then spent a couple of weeks opening every door in Maida Vale and saying "Where would these tapes have gone? What was the process by which these tapes were skipped?" And they said "Well, we get a guy in. He'd move the tapes out and then he'd order the skip." "Where would he put the tapes before they were moved out?" "Oh, in an ante-room somewhere." Eventually I found a room which was the Band Store - the BBC Symphony Orchestra Band Store - and there were all these tapes in piles. And it was a brilliant piece of BBC inefficiency because they'd thrown all these tapes out but nobody had ordered the skip.

    • Connections
      Features Quatermass and the Pit (1958)
    • Soundtracks
      Science and Industry
      Composed by Phil Young

    User reviews1

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Helps if you remember the sounds but it is done with sufficient fun to make it an entertaining watch even if you only have a passing awareness of the subject
    In 1958 the BBC set up the Radiophonic Workshop in order to come up with a new type of sound for use in scores and special effects. Between this creation and its gradual death in 1995, the group came up electronic scores and noises that were used in cult classics such as Doctor Who, Blake's Seven, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as well as countless other programmes that have been forgotten with time.

    Executive produced by Victor Lewis-Smith, this documentary was always going to have a sense of humour about it and indeed it does. In some ways it doesn't work (having a bloke hanging around behind every interview didn't work at all) but mostly it is helpful to the material that it isn't too serious or full of itself. This approach makes it easier to swallow as it is much more light entertainment with a documentary edge rather than the other way round. This was useful to me because really I'm only just in the target audience and I only remember a couple of the cult themes and the shows that the music was used on. Thus it didn't totally work for me because if you didn't totally recognise everything then some of it will have no meaning for you.

    The history of people playing with tape and so on is not that fascinating if you think about so to the credit of the film it does do a good job of making it quite interesting and engaging. The contributions and use of archive footage is all good and well put together though. Of course it does help if you remember the sounds and the times because if not the film may be of limited appeal but it is done with sufficient fun to make it an entertaining watch even if you only have a passing awareness of the subject.
    helpful•6
    0
    • bob the moo
    • Feb 24, 2007

    Details

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    • Release date
      • October 19, 2003 (United Kingdom)
      • United Kingdom
      • BBC Four (United Kingdom)
      • English
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 58 minutes
      • Color

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