Hear the Christmas Song

Listen to Murray Gold's Christmas special.

"What was that lovely song at the end of The Christmas Invasion?" many of you have asked.

Listen to an extract

We spoke to composer Murray Gold, who told us all about its origins.

So, what's the tune really called then?

It's called 'Song for Ten' in honour of David Tennant being Doctor Ten.

Why was an original composition used, rather than an actual old pop tune?

Do you want the romantic answer or the pragmatic one? Heck, you're right, never mind pragmatic... James Hawes mentioned in passing, while I was writing the score for TCI that he might need a song or two. I sang Jingle Bells and made my voice sound weird then performed the backing vocals on Song for Ten.

I watched through the sequence lots of times and tried to find the sentiment that was true to the moment and express it lyrically. I wanted to hit that lovely moment when the Doctor and Rose smile at each other, and the lyric: "You followed your star, cause that's what you are..." just leapt out.

How do you go about creating that old-fashioned 'Phil Spector' sound?

Well, if you think it does have a Phil Spector way about it, I'm happy, because I adore him, and also the songs of Holland Dozier Holland who are the Lennon and McCartney of Motown. Phil Spector's often described as creating a 'Wall of Sound.' Big production, lots of timpani and strings and multi-tracked vocals. It's basically fantastic pop music. You just need lots of spare tracks.

Who sung and played on it?

It was sung by Tim Phillips. He's a real upcoming talent. I wanted to nab him to sing a song in case next time he's too big. He's got an album out soon which he partly mixed in my studio. As I said, he and I performed backing vocals. I played the instruments.

Will it ever be released on CD?

If there's ever an album of Doctor Who music from the series, I'm sure it would be on that.

You can find out more about Murray, his music, and now, his orchestra on Blue Peter this Wednesday from 5pm on BBC1.