“Doctor Who”: New Composer is Black and Promises “Fresh Take’ on Theme Song

Segun Akinola

BBC announced that the new composer for the next series of “Doctor Who” is Segun Akinola.

Akinola is replacing Murray Gold who’s been the show’s musical director and composer since 2005.

“Welcome to the Doctor Who family, Segun Akinola!” showrunner Chris Chibnall said in a statement. “We’re over the moon Segun’s agreed to join us, to provide the score for the next phase of the Doctor Who adventure. From our very first conversations, it was obvious Segun was a passionate, collaborative, and delightful human being as well as a fantastic and bold composer. We’re looking forward to introducing the world to his exciting and emotional soundtracks for the Thirteenth Doctor.”

“Doctor Who is woven into the fabric of British culture and recognized globally,” said Akinola. “I am absolutely thrilled to be given the privilege of working on such a beloved series and to bring my musical voice to it.”

Akinola is a graduate of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire whose previous credits include Black and British: A Forgotten History and the film A Moving Image.

The next season of the long-running British sci-fi series will feature the first appearance of Jodie Whittaker as the next Doctor.

Here’s how BBC describes him:

Segun Akinola is a multi-talented composer who has strengthened many projects with his musical acumen. A BAFTA Breakthrough Brit, Segun’s work will be heard in the upcoming series of Doctor Who, which features the first female Doctor, portrayed by Jodie Whittaker.
Segun’s other work includes scoring BBC Two’s landmark four-part series Black and British: A Forgotten History, written and presented by Historian David Olusoga. He also scored Shola Amoo’s debut feature film A Moving Image, which had its world premiere at the 2016 LA Film Festival, won the Special Recognition in Narrative Directing award at BlackStar Film Festival 2016 and had its European premiere at the 60th BFI London Film Festival in 2016. His score for Dear Mr Shakespeare received an Honourable Mention for the 2017 BSO Jerry Goldsmith Award for ‘Best Original Score for a Short Film’. Recently, he completed the scores for the major three-part series The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed and two-part series Expedition Volcano, both for BBC Two and PBS.
Other credits include writing original music for the BBC Panorama special The VIP Paedophile Ring: What’s the Truth?, BHS: How Did It Happen? and the 3D documentary 1 Way Up, produced by Academy Award-winning American producers Shine Global, which aired in the UK and USA. Segun has worked on a number of short films, including scoring Radix Film’s The Trip starring Sope Dirisu and Gillian Saker. His work has screened at acclaimed festivals like Sundance, the London Film Festival, LA Film Festival, BlackStar Film Festival and many others.
After initially learning the piano and drums at a young age, he later turned his attention to composition, graduating from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with first-class honours  and the National Film and Television School with an MA in Composing for Film and Television. He currently resides in London.

Doctor Who has a panel at Comic-Con next month, so we may get our first taste of the new music by  Akinola in a new trailer. We’ll just have to wait and see!

Doctor Who returns to our timelines this fall on BBC and BBC America.

[BBC]

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