Music of the Spheres

Music of the Spheres was a short episode of Doctor Who which first broadcast in audio form on 27 July 2008 as part of the BBC Proms season, during an event known as Doctor Who at the Proms. The Proms concert was initially broadcast on radio, and so the mini-episode was initially only seen by the audience at the Royal Albert Hall. Although it was possible to view the episode online following the radio broadcast, Spheres was the only Doctor Who episode eventually broadcast on BBC One to have actually had its BBC network debut on Radio 3. The Proms concert, and Music of the Spheres, was broadcast on television for the first time on 1 January 2009, some six months after its radio debut.

The short flirted with the notion of breaking the fourth wall in a way never seen before in Doctor Who. In the version available online, the viewer got to see none of the action from the Royal Albert Hall. Thus, David Tennant appeared to be spending great lengths of time looking directly into the camera normally a sure sign that an actor is breaking the fourth wall. Indeed, he did break the fourth wall but only the one separating Tennant from the Royal Albert Hall audience. Other versions of the short, such as the one broadcast by BBC One, captured audience reaction. These shots made it clearer that the Doctor was only interacting with the Albert Hall audience. From the perspective of the home audience, the Albert Hall audience was a part of the narrative, and the fourth wall remained intact if a little battered.

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