Story 306: The Devil's Chord

In which the Doctor brings Ruby to Abbey Road in London, in the year 1963. Its recording studio is famous for hosting the Beatles. However, when they arrive at the building they discover that the music being produced is not what they were expecting...

Some 40 years earlier, a schoolboy named Henry Arbinger is taking a piano lesson when his tutor, Mr Drake, introduces him to the "Devil's Chord". The piano suddenly opens to reveal a flamboyantly dressed figure. They are Maestro, and they thank Drake for releasing them. His pupil is really their Harbinger - the figure who presages their return. Maestro sucks all of the music from Mr Drake, but hungers for more.

When the Doctor and Ruby wander around the famous EMI Recording Studios, they find that the artists recording there - including the Beatles and Cilla Black - are playing simple, childish tunes. There is no sign of the hits which they should be performing. They all appear to be tone-deaf.

In the canteen, the Doctor notices that the newspapers do not match the world events which should be headlining in 1963. Somehow the lack of music is having an effect on history. Speaking to John Lennon and Paul McCartney, they learn that back in the early 20th Century the human race turned its back on music and it is of little interest to anyone. They are annoyed when Ruby talks about how inspirational their music is. Once they have recorded their current song - about McCartney's dog - they are quitting the business.

The Doctor has an upright piano moved up to the roof, where Ruby notes the smog covering London. The Doctor points out that he used to live across the river in Shoreditch with his granddaughter Susan at this time. Ruby begins to play and it has a powerful effect on the neighbours who can hear her. The piano begins to shake and the lid opens, and Maestro emerges.

They flee to the basement, hunted by Maestro who uses sound to track them. The Doctor suspects that they are part of the pantheon of deities of which the Toymaker was one - the God of Music. They absorb music, leaving the population with no talent for it, and attack anyone who shows any interest in it. The Doctor and Ruby take to the TARDIS and travel to 2024, only to find London has been devastated in a nuclear war.

Maestro appears once more and transports them to a darkened chamber. They reveal that they are the Toymaker's child. The Doctor deduces that a specific combination of notes might banish the being, as it was a particular chord which brought them here. Maestro can absorb any sound, however. When they begin playing the piano it affects the TARDIS, so the Doctor and Ruby return to the recording studios in 1963.

The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver and John Lennon's amplifier to try to find the notes which will banish Maestro, whilst they materialise physical musical notes which are used to attack Ruby.

A musical duel takes place between the Doctor and Maestro, employing a variety of instruments.

The Doctor finally manages to find the right sequence of notes but makes a mistake and Maestro is about to win their battle. However, Lennon and McCartney have been inspired by Ruby's talk about their music and they begin playing a nearby piano - hitting the missing note. Maestro is banished, but vows that the Doctor is still to face "The One Who Waits" before disappearing.

Music returns to the world and history is set back on its proper course. The Doctor advises Ruby that there is always a twist in the end, before they join in a musical celebration. They are all being observed by the Harbinger, who still resembles a 1920's schoolboy.

The Doctor and Ruby dance their way back to the TARDIS...

The Devil's Chord was written by Russell T Davies and first broadcast on Saturday 11th May 2024, immediately following Space Babies. For this series, episodes were initially released on the BBC i-player and Disney+ at midnight, with a TV broadcast later that evening. An episode with a musical theme was intended to tie in with that evening's Eurovision Song Contest. A double-header was thought to be a good way to grab viewers for the launch of the new series - and the new Doctor in his first full season.

With the inclusion of the Beatles and Cilla Black, this is the latest in a long line of "celebrity historical" stories, which have been a feature since 1964.

Musical numbers had featured in special episodes, such as the songs and tunes written by Murray Gold (who cameos in this) for the Christmas Specials during RTD2's first tenure in charge. Unless being played by a band on screen, these items were mainly used as incidental music. With The Church on Ruby Road, and Gold's return to the series, songs had been included which characters actually sing - by both the Goblins and the Doctor.

With music being the theme of this whole episode, it ends with a big song and dance number - "There's Always A Twist In The End" - which is performed by Ncuti Gatwa.

This was choreographed by Jack Murphy, who is best known for his work on Bridgerton. And amongst the dancers are Shirley Ballas and Johannes Radebe from Strictly Come Dancing.

Fans had been asking for a musical episode of Doctor Who ever since Buffy The Vampire Slayer staged one, followed by other US genre series. Season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has also mounted a musical episode recently.

It is this musical number, and the casting of drag artiste Jinkx Monsoon, for which the episode is best remembered - by those who loved it and those who hated it.

Monsoon's casting was criticised by some at the time as being in the "stunt" category but she is quite an accomplished actress. Maestro is a larger than life character so the role demands a larger than life performance. I've always felt that she could have overacted even further but gives enough manic energy to be just on the right side of over-doing it. It's close, but she manages it.

I cringed at the song at the time, just as I did with when the Doctor began singing on the Goblin ship, but it's a catchy tune and you can't really help but be drawn in by the sheer joy of it. I found that a rewatch, now that you knew to expect it, worked in its favour, and so I don't mind this sequence at all now. It's a bit of musical fun to conclude a musical episode, and it was announced recently that the sequence was up for an award.

Other cast members are Chris Mason, George Caple, Philip Davies and James Hoyles as, respectively, John, Paul, George and Ringo. Caple had previously appeared in Survivors of the Flux.

Cilla is Josie Sedgwick-Davies.

Jeremy Limb played Mr Drake, and Kit Rakusen the Harbinger.

Susan Twist features once again, this time as an Abbey Road canteen lady.

Overall, the better of the two episodes which launched the new series. It has some lovely period trappings and nods to the origins of the series. It's really down to Monsoon's performance and that musical number whether you like it or not. 

Things you might like to know:

• The Devil's Chord is a tritone - a musical interval of six semitones or three whole tones - which combine to produce a dissonant sound - the sort of thing which Alfred Hitchcock would have been happy to plaster over some his movies. It was so unnerving that the church banned it in medieval times, thinking it the work of the Devil. In more recent times it has been used by Jimi Hendrix and Black Sabbath amongst others, deliberately for its foreboding effect.
• The Beatles have appeared in the series once before, with the real Fab Four featuring on the Time-Space Visualiser in The Chase. It had been hoped to have the boys appear as older versions of themselves but this was vetoed by manager Brian Epstein as they were too busy working on Help!. A clip of the band playing Ticket to Ride, filmed at Riverside Studios for use on Top of the Pops, was used instead.
• No actual Beatles music is heard in this episode as it is prohibitively expensive to clear the rights.
• On the roof of the studios we see a poster advertising Chris Waites and the Carollers. This was the band which the Honourable Aubrey Waites had formed before becoming John Smith and the Common Men, as discussed by Susan and Ian in An Unearthly Child.
• Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman were photographed walking across the famous Abbey Road crossing as publicity for Series 9, accompanied by a couple of Daleks.
• There is a station on London's DLR called Abbey Road, which has to have posters displayed pointing out that this is not where the famous crossing is located. You want St John's Wood Underground to visit the real one.
• The closing dance on the crossing by the Doctor and Ruby was inspired by the classic musical Singin' in the Rain (1952) and by the keyboard dance by Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia in Big (1988). It wasn't intended to be recorded in the rain - the scene was left to the end of the day, with time running out, and it began to rain.
• The Doctor talks to Ruby about his time spent living in the Coal Hill district of London, later identified as being in Shoreditch. He confirms having had children and that Susan was his granddaughter.
• The episode is set in February 1963. In the very first episode Susan talked of "the last five months" being associated with Coal Hill. Depending on whether or not she is referring only to her time at the school, or living in London in general, she and her grandfather may not yet be staying at 76 Totter's Lane at this time (though this is an alternate timeline, of course).
• Singer, actress and comedienne Monsoon - real name Hera Lilith Hoffer - came to fame when she won the fifth series of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2013. Broadway roles have included Little Shop of Horrors and Chicago, and in 2025 she was cast as Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary!.
• Just before the opening titles Maestro starts playing the Doctor Who theme on the piano, and later plays the Harold Saxon Master motif.
• The Doctor believes Maestro to be a member of the Pantheon of Discord, which was first introduced in The Sarah Jane Adventures - the Trickster being a member.
• The old lady attacked by Maestro after listening to Ruby is played by June Hudson, acting under the name Laura June Hudson. She was the costume designer on much of Seasons 17 and 18, creating the look of the Movellans and Skonnons - as well as Tom Baker's final burgundy costume as Doctor.