PSB/Doctor Who connections
Most of us are aware that the sci-fi series Doctor Who has been, for the better part of more than 40 years, a virtual institution on British television as well a cult success elsewhere, including the States. But how many of us know about the connections—definite or at least possible—between Doctor Who and the Pet Shop Boys?
1. Both Neil and Chris are professed Doctor Who fans
To be sure, this is a trait they share with countless others. But the Boys are in a position to have talked about it to the press on several occasions. (Chris: "I'm a huge Doctor Who fan…." Neil: "I could see me being Doctor Who." ) In fact, they've gone so far as to suggest that they wouldn't be averse to creating special music for Doctor Who if they were ever specifically asked to do so. On the other hand, they don't seem particularly interested in the show's more recent incarnations. In the July 2010 issue of their Fan Club magazine Literally, Neil confessed that he hasn't seen any episodes featuring the current Doctor, Matt Smith, nor had he even seen any starring his "namesake" David Tennant (see #2, just below). By the same token, Chris said that so far he had watched only the first Matt Smith episode.
2. David Tennant
By his own admission, actor, PSB fan, and "Tenth Doctor" David Tennant, born David McDonald, borrowed his "stage surname" of Tennant from Neil because there was another working actor with the same birthname as his. Several years after he left the role of the Doctor, he paid further tribute to the Boys on the October 22, 2015 edition of the Sky 1 TV show Bring the Noise with a comic rendition of "West End Girls."
3. "Radiophonic"
The concept of the Nightlife track "Radiophonic" is based in part on the BBC "Radiophonic Workshop" from the early 1960s, from which the original Doctor Who theme music was developed, not to mention many of the show's sound effects.
4. Ian Levine
DJ/producer/songwriter Ian Levine, who remixed the Boys' "It's a Sin" and "Paninaro," not only is a huge Doctor Who fan but has also written music for several related projects, including the ill-fated 1981 spinoff series K-9 and Company, which never progressed beyond the pilot stage. Levine was also responsible for co-writing the 1985 charity single "Doctor in Distress" when the program faced the threat of cancellation. He also serves as a continuity consultant on the modern incarnation of the show, and he personally saved a number of old episodes from destruction back at a time when the BBC apparently didn't believe such archival material was worth preserving on account of the then-exorbitant cost of videotape. (It was much cheaper to wipe and reuse tape rather than buy it new.)
5. Queen Angvia goes "Shameless"
A 2002 Doctor Who audio drama, "Bang-Bang-A-Boom," is at heart a parody of the Eurovision Song Contest and is liberally peppered with pop-culture references and in-jokes. At one point, one of the contestants, Queen Angvia, all in a panic before going on stage, cries out, "My makeup! My wardrobe! My wig!"—a direct quote from the Pet Shop Boys' "Shameless," which Angvia tips off by adding "The shame…!"
6. The KLF connection
In the guise of "The Timelords," Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty had a 1988-89 hit with "Doctorin' the TARDIS" (remixed as "Gary in the TARDIS"), which mashed the theme music of Doctor Who with (of all things) Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part 2." Shortly thereafter they switched their handle to "The KLF" (for "Kopyright Liberation Front") and, among other acts of musical mayhem, remixed the Pet Shop Boys' "So Hard" and "It Must Be Obvious."
Pop princess Kylie Minogue—to whom the Boys gave their song "Falling" and who duetted with Neil on "In Denial"—had a major guest role on the Christmas 2007 Doctor Who episode "Voyage of the Damned," portraying a waitress on spacecraft named the Titanic. (Now, who in their right mind would christen a spacecraft the Titanic?)
8. The Little Britain connection(s)
Bigtime PSB fans David Walliams and Matt Lucas, better known collectively by the name of their TV comedy show Little Britain, had a central role in the music video for "I'm with Stupid." Back in 1999—before Little Britain—Walliams co-wrote and appeared in a comedy sketch specially created for a BBC2 "Doctor Who Night" in which a pair of rabid fans kidnap "Fifth Doctor" Peter Davison, in that way paralleling the plot of the "I'm with Stupid" video. Meanwhile, each episode of the Little Britain show featured narration by the actor Tom Baker, best known as the fourth and arguably most popular Doctor. But there's more. Walliams has written several BBC Doctor Who parodies and performed in a Doctor Who audio play in 1999. He was also reportedly at one point major contender for the role of the Doctor himself! More recently, Walliams appeared in the Doctor Who episode "The God Complex," which first aired on September 17, 2011, portraying a rather mole-like alien named Gibbis. As for Matt Lucas, he portrayed the android Nardole, an assistant to River Song, in the Who Christmas special titled "The Husbands of River Song," which first aired on Christmas Day 2015. Nardole would later return as a semi-regular for Peter Capaldi's final season as the Doctor in 2017, bowing out in the Christmas special that year. Lucas had also taken part in a Doctor Who audio drama. And, in truly bizarre twist, Lucas and Williams have named a couple of Little Britain characters after actors who have portrayed the Doctor's companions: Michael Craze and Matthew Waterhouse.
9. Damaged Goods
An official Doctor Who novel titled Damaged Goods, written by Russell T. Davies and published in 1996, is set primarily in 1987 Britain, during the Pet Shop Boys' "imperial phase" of peak popularity, and contains some explicit PSB references. For instance, at one point it refers quite pointedly to "It's a Sin." It notes that the Doctor himself is completely ignorant of the Pet Shop Boys. And at one point a character specifically describes one of the novel's villains—a nasty medical consultant who tries to kill the Doctor—as looking "like Neil Tennant," which really doesn't mean anything to the Doctor since, after all, he doesn't know who Neil Tennant is.
In connection with "Partners in Crime," the first episode of the 2008 series, the official BBC Doctor Who website has run a video interview with the aforementioned "Tenth Doctor," David Tennant, and Catherine Tate (who portrays Donna Noble, his companion for the 2008 series) in which the two talk about their all-time "favorite partnerships." They cite among them the Pet Shop Boys.
11. The opening to "Pandemonium"
Quite a few fans have noted a strong similarity of this song's opening synth riff with the classic Doctor Who theme music. I can see it, although I personally consider a bit of a stretch. Still, I would be sorely remiss not to acknowledge it here. Besides, if I didn't, I'm sure I would get lots of emails about it.
12. Chris poses in front of his very own TARDIS
A photo posted on the Pet Shop Boys' Twitter page on June 1, 2009 pretty much speaks for itself—especially when you compare it to an official Doctor Who publicity shot. The photo with Chris was, incidentally, taken in West London on the grounds of BBC TV Centre—which were sold in mid-2012 to property developers, with the BBC moving its base of operations to new facilities the following year.
13. Chris's "really good" Doctor Who dream
The book Pet Shop Boys versus America (on page 196) relates the fact that on April 11, 1991, while traveling by train to Boston, Chris mentioned to Neil that he had "a really good dream" the night before. "I was in Dr Who [sic] and the drawings on the carpets were satanic messages. It had chases and everything." (I'm surprised that the Boys' Boswell, Chris Heath, didn't realize that one simply does not use the abbreviated honorific abbreviation with Doctor Who.)
14. A reference in a Doctor Who magazine comic strip
The letters page of the official Doctor Who magazine usually features a short satirical cartoon strip. The strip in the March 2010 issue parodied a portion of the final David Tennant episode in which the Ood alien "sings the Doctor to sleep." The comic, however, has the Doctor decidedly displeased with the singing—to the extent that he interrupts the song with a cry of "Erg! You sure you don't know any Pet Shop Boys?"
15. The Boys decline remixing the Doctor Who theme
Producer John Nathan-Turner reportedly asked the Pet Shop Boys to create a specially remixed version of the Doctor Who theme music for the 1993 Doctor Who special "Dimensions in Time." They declined the offer, citing a lack of sufficient time to do so—they apparently already had other commitments on their plate—but indicated that he could use the Relentless track "Forever in Love" as a template for the theme music instead. This idea, however, was vetoed. Erasure subsequently expressed interest, but the job had already gone to Doctor Who fans Mike Fillis and Adrian Pack.
16. PSB and the Doctor in 3D for charity!
The immediately aforementioned Doctor Who special "Dimensions in Time" was filmed in 3D and broadcast in that format by BBC1 on November 26, 1993 as part of the "Children in Need" charity telethon. The Pet Shop Boys also took part in that same telethon with a special live (and mildly dizzying) 3D-rendered performance of "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing."
17. Courtney Pine
Jazz saxophonist Courtney Pine worked with the Boys on their production of "Nothing Has Been Proved" for Dusty Springfield, and shortly thereafter he served as a support musician on their 1989 tour. The previous year he had appeared as a memberr of a jazz quartet in the first part of the Doctor Who adventure "Silver Nemesis." (The seventh Doctor, portrayed by Sylvester McCoy, claims a great fondness for jazz.)
18. An unusual filming location
Part of that same 1988 episode of Doctor Who, "Silver Nemesis," was filmed in an abandoned hangar of the (now demolished) Greenwich Gas Works. It has been reported that the Pet Shop Boys also filmed one of their music videos there, but I'm not certain at this time which one it might have been.
19. Some actors in common
A number of actors who appeared in the Boys' 1988 feature film It Couldn't Happen Here have also had roles in episodes of Doctor Who. Most notably, Gareth Hunt (the ventriloquist in the film) portrayed Arak in the 1974 Doctor Who adventure "Planet of the Spiders," and Barbara Windsor (Neil's mother in the film) appeared as Peggy Mitchell in the 2006 DW episode "Army of Ghosts." And there's an interesting "near miss" in this category: actor Ron Moody, who had a prominent role in the Boys' "It's a Sin" video, was offered but turned down the role of the "third Doctor" back in 1969.
20. Chapters titled for songs
The Doctor Who novel Set Piece, written by Kate Orman, includes two chapters named for PSB songs: "Rent" and "Yesterday, When I Was Mad." Although one might think the first merely coincidental, that would be a bigger stretch for the second. In fact, Orman, an avowed fan, has confirmed that those chapter titles are indeed intentional homages.
21. A reference in a short story—and a bet at a convention
The Doctor Who short story "Lackaday Express," written by Paul Cornell, includes passing references both to "Domino Dancing" and to the Pet Shop Boys themselves. As a sidenote, Connell once bet a friend that he could slip the title of a PSB song into every panel discussion he participated in during a certain Doctor Who convention—not by referring to the songs per se (that would be too easy, if awkward) but rather by weaving the titles "naturally" into statements that had nothing whatsover to do with the Boys. He won his bet.
22. The History Boys connection
The eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, appeared in a 2005 revival of Alan Bennet's play The History Boys at the U.K. National Theatre's Lyttleton Theatre. That play contains a live performance of PSB's "It's a Sin," although Smith himself wasn't the one who sang it.
23. David Bowie
Neil and Chris have, of course, collaborated with David Bowie on the single version of "Hallo Spaceboy." Bowie has several Doctor Who connections to his credit, including the 2009 "Waters of Mars" episode featuring a facility named "Bowie Base One," formally confirmed by its co-writer as a nod to the star. The Bowie classic "Starman" could be heard in the 2005 episode "Aliens of London." The Thin White Duke also had to deny rumors promulgated in 2007 that he would be appearing on Doctor Who, although on at least one occasion back in the 1980s a director was seriously considering asking him to assume a guest role.
24. Closer to Heaven actors who have also been Doctor Who actors
- Known to PSB fans for originating the role of Billie Trix in Closer to Heaven (not to mention for reprising the character in the CTH spinoff Musik), Frances Barber appears in several episodes of Doctor Who's 2011 series—most notably the one titled "A Good Man Goes to War"—as the villainous Madame Kovarian.
- Like Frances Barber before her, Adèle Anderson has portrayed Billie Trix onstage, in this case the 2019 London revival of Closer to Heaven. And Ms. Anderson has also appeared in several Doctor Who tales, only in her case as a voice artist in audio dramas by Big Finish Productions.
- Paul Keating, who originated the role of "Straight Dave" in the first staging of Closer to Heaven, has also done voice work in at least one Big Finish audio Doctor Who spinoff drama, "The Diary of River Song."
- Ian Hallard, who portrayed Bob Saunders in the 2019 London revival of CTH, has appeared in a number of Doctor Who episodes and spinoffs, such as his role as Alan-a-Dale in the 2014 Doctor Who episode "Robot of Sherwood."
25. Electrospective
A 2012 various-artists CD subtitled "Electronic Music Since 1958" includes both the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's original (but newly remixed) Doctor Who theme music and the Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls." And no one will convince me that the title of the collection wasn't at least partly inspired by our musical heroes' penchant for single words like Introspective.
One of the Doctor's companions in 2012-2015 (plus a cameo in 2017), Clara Oswald, is portrayed by Jenna Coleman. Ms. Coleman happens to have attended and even became Head Girl at Arnold School in Blackpool, the same school that Chris Lowe had attended roughly two decades before.
27. Ian McKellen
Esteemed actor Sir Ian McKellen, who portrayed a Dracula-like vampire in the Boys' "Heart" video back in 1988, provided the voice of "the Great Intelligence" in the 2012 Christmas episode of Doctor Who, "The Snowmen."
28. Chris during the PopArt commentary on "DJ Culture"
On the PopArt DVD, during the commentary for the "DJ Culture" video, Chris mimics the first occurrence of the distorted voice intoning the title during the chorus, and then immediately jokes, "I'm a Dalek" in the same voice. The Daleks, of course, are the most infamous of the Doctor's recurring enemies, having frightened generations of British children with their similarly distorted voices and relentless desire to exterminate all intelligent life aside from their own.
29. BBC Proms
Concerts for the annual BBC Proms—noted as "the world's largest classical musical festival"—sometimes adopt specific unifying concepts or themes. As a longtime centerpiece of modern British popular culture, Doctor Who has been the theme for more than one past Proms performance. In 2014 the music of Tennant-Lowe similarly became the theme for a Proms concert, perhaps a sign of PSB's increasingly acknowledged status as another U.K. national treasure.
30. Elements of a classic storyline in the Electric Tour?
The writer of a letter printed in Issue #476 of the official Doctor Who Magazine suggested that the sci-fi classic—and one notable Tom Baker-era storyline in particular (The Horns of Nimon from December 1979 to January 1980)—may have inspired much of the imagery employed during Electric Tour:
- The show-opening visuals for "Axis" may owe a debt to similar "vortex" imagery long used for the Doctor Who opening sequence.
- Those horned helmets may not have been inspired so much by buffalos or minotaurs as by the similarly horned Nimons.
- Some of the Boys more outré costumes for the show may owe a debt to similar costumes worn by some of the Skonnos (another alien race) during that same Nimon storyline.
It all sounds a bit questionable to me. Only our musical heroes—or at least those of whoever came up with those particular visuals for them—can say for sure where their inspirations may or may not lie. Whatever the case, the resemblances are there, even if not the actual inspirations. Besides, the mere fact that the Pet Shop Boys are mentioned—complete with a photo of Neil in one of those allegedly Who-inspired costumes—in an issue of the Doctor Who Magazine establishes a legitimate "connection."
31. John Barrowman
Actor/singer John Barrowman, probably best known for his recurring role (beginning in 2005) as the immortal (and ambisexual) Captain Jack Harkness on Doctor Who and its spinoff series Torchwood (2006-2011)—in which he was the central character—wrote in his 2010 memoir/biography I Am What I Am that he recorded the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" for his 2008 album Music Music Music because, "like Frankie Valli, the Pet Shop Boys, and Andy Williams, who have all recorded it before me, I just like the song." (To set the record straight, however, Frankie Valli didn't record the song because he "just liked it." It was written specifically for him by his longtime musical collaborators Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe; hence Valli's 1967 rendition is the original. For that matter, Neil and Chris surely had more than "just liking" the song in mind when they recorded it as well.) The same album includes Barrowman's recording of the Broadway song "I Am What I Am," which the Boys have also covered in a one-off live performance.
32. Bonus features on a DVD special edition
Segments of the PSB classics "Domino Dancing" and "Left to My Own Devices" can be heard in some of the trailers and continuity clips included as extras in the special edition of Remembrance of the Daleks released on DVD in 2009. "Why?" you might ask. Because that particular sequence of Doctor Who episodes originally aired in 1988, right around the time Introspective and those singles from the album were released.
33. Father Time
The official Doctor Who novel Father Time by Lance Parkin, published in 2011, lists the Pet Shop Boys, along with their song "Opportunities," at the end as one of the tracks on an imaginary album also titled Father Time. But I don't know enough about the plot of the novel to explain the whys and wherefores of this.
34. Matt Smith, Burberry, and "Always on My Mind"
In late 2017 the British fashion house Burberry unveiled a promo video featuring actor Matt Smith—best known as having been the Eleventh Doctor (2010-2013)—with the Pet Shop Boys' rendition of "Always on My Mind" serving as the background music.
35. The Russell T. Davies connection
Welsh scriptwriter and producer Russell T. Davies, already famed for having helmed Queer as Folk as well as several other U.K. TV series, drove the hugely successful 2005 revival of Doctor Who and its 2007 spinoff Torchwood. His well-publicized 2021 AIDS-focused miniseries It's a Sin, set in the 1980s, obviously borrows its name from the PSB hit. Further, one of the main characters of It's a Sin, portrayed by Olly Alexander (who of course had collaborated with the Pet Shop Boys on the song "Dreamland"), is an actor who appears in a fictive episode of Doctor Who titled "Regression of the Daleks."
Plus two more questionable connections—
36. Chris on a Doctor Who forum?
An online Doctor Who forum asked fans to write of any personal experiences they may have had encountering "on-location" filming of the series. Someone going by the name "Chris Lowe" wrote that he had encountered scene-shooting on a street late at night while returning home from "clubbing." Now we know that "our" Chris Lowe is a Doctor Who fan. And we know he goes clubbing. (Or at least he used to if he doesn't any longer.) But was this really "our" Chris Lowe? Or was it another Chris Lowe? After all, "Chris Lowe" is hardly an uncommon name. Or maybe it was a mutual PSB/Doctor Who fan who decided to usurp the name for purposes of contributing to the forum. Unless "our" Chris addresses this issue publicly, we can only speculate.
37. "Shouting in the Evening"
The title line of this song from Electric has been attributed to a comment by Patrick Troughton, the second actor to portray the Doctor (from 1966 to 1969, with occasional reappearances thereafter). When once asked whether he preferred stage acting to television work, he dismissed the former with the quip, "I don't want to do all that shouting in the evening!" However, the phrase has been attributed to others as well, including actor Michael Gambon—and, in fact, it was Gambon's attribution that served as the direct inspiration for the PSB song title. But Gambon offers his own "Doctor Who connection" in that he had a prominent role in the show's 2010 Christmas special. To make a long story short, this song may provide more than one possible PSB/Doctor Who connection, but they're indirect at best and somewhat questionable.
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