The Doctor Down Under

My daughter and I are both gleeful geeks about the long-running British TV series Doctor Who. When we moved to Canberra, we discovered that the Doctor has more connections to Australia than we imagined. Here are the top five:

1. Connections to Canberra include a TARDIS (utility box) and a local chapter of the Doctor Who Club of Australia that meets in Dickson.
   
2. The composer of the original theme music, Ron Grainer, was born in Queensland. Known for his scores for British television and film, Grainer composed the famous opening. Delia Darbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop then did the electronic arrangement of the piece.
   
3. In 1979, Fourth Doctor Tom Baker appeared in a TV campaign called Keep Australia Beautiful.
   
4. Doctor Who had its first and only Australian companion in the 1980s: Tegan Jovanka. The character was a flight attendant for Air Australia. The actress who played her, Janet Fielding, was born in Brisbane.
   
5. BBC published a novel by Gary Russell called Doctor Who: Big Bang Generation that is set in Sydney 2015.
   

Composer Ron Grainer

Fourth Doctor Tom Baker

Tegan, played by Janet Fielding

Novel set in Sydney

And for fans who want to know more, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) produced a segment that describes other connections between Doctor Who and Australia.  

My daughter and I are waiting eagerly for the next series of Doctor Who to air. We’re hoping the Thirteenth Doctor will travel to Australia in one of her adventures.