Doctor Who: A Celebration


Doctor Who: A Celebration was a concert performed for the BBC's annual Children In Need charity appeal at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff on 19 November 2006. It featured suites of incidental music composed by Murray Gold from the first two series of the revived television show Doctor Who, along with the reworked Doctor Who theme music. The suites were accompanied visually by clips from episodes related to the pieces.
The show was hosted by David Tennant and featured the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Ben Foster, with the BBC National Chorus of Wales, Gary Williams and Melanie Pappenheim providing vocal accompaniment. Nicholas Briggs and Barnaby Edwards provided Dalek voices and operation respectively, with Paul Kasey and others appearing on stage and in the auditorium as monsters from the series including Clockwork Droids, Cybermen and Ood. The event also featured an exclusive scene from the upcoming episode "The Runaway Bride", with the score provided live by the orchestra.
The event was broadcast live by BBC Radio Wales, and shown via BBCi interactive services over Christmas 2006 to accompany the broadcast of "The Runaway Bride". The Christmas edition of Doctor Who Confidential focused on the concert.
By the end of the evening, the concert had raised over £52,000 for the appeal, via ticketing and events including an auction of props and memorabilia.
Throughout the Doctor Who Fan base fraternity, Doctor Who: A Celebration is one of the most sought after recordings. Due to the main transmission being via the BBC Red Button Service, many fans did not know the show was being broadcast or did not have access to the Red Button Service. Despite numerous requests to the BBC, the BBC have no plan to show a repeat of this show, nor do they plan to release it on DVD.