Biography

Dudley Simpson

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Dudley Simpson was one of Australia's most accomplished musical exports. He learned piano as a child before serving in the Second World War in New Guinea. He then studied orchestration and composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He became an assistant conductor and pianist at the Borovansky Ballet, later becoming its musical director. In this capacity he met Margot Fonteyn when she visited Australia. He moved to England and became guest conductor for a season at Covent Garden. He progressed to become Principal Conductor of the Royal Opera House Orchestra, accompanying the touring section of the Royal Ballet with Fonteyn as principal ballerina.

Simpson moved into composing music for television, which brought his name to its widest audience. He composed incidental music for BBC television's Doctor Who (1963) in the 1960s and became the series' regular composer throughout the 1970s, when the series was at the height of its popularity. He also composed the theme tunes for other popular science-fiction series The Tomorrow People (1973) and Blake's 7 (1978). Simpson left Doctor Who (1963) in 1980 when the new producer, John Nathan-Turner, decided he wanted to use electronic composers for the series. Simpson continued to work in British television in the 1980s before moving back to Australia for his retirement.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous

Before becoming famous for his work in British television, Simpson was Margot Fonteyn's musical director.
His distinctive music for television was often created using an ensemble of just a couple of horns, clarinet and bass clarinet, percussion and electric organ.
He graduated in Composition and Pianoforte from Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He was also qualified in Orchestration.
His contribution to British television led director Michael Hayes to describe him as "the UK's answer to Bernard Herrmann".
He was the first choice to compose incidental music for Doctor Who (1963) under three successive producers of the series: Barry Letts, Philip Hinchcliffe and Graham Williams.

Composing for films requires a certain degree of adaptability. For example, I might be writing music to accompany the Ken Dodd show one minute and switch to something classical the next.

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