Silva Screen, out now

A generous two-disc collection of Segun Akinola’s Masterful new cues from Jodie Whittaker’s second series as The Doctor.

I said it last time, and I’ll say it again, Segun Akinola is the strongest element in the 13th Doctor’s tenure, and that includes all elements of production. Every episode is approached with a sense of wonder, this year building on the themes established in Series 11, with particular highlights being accompaniments for the Master and the Cybermen.

The Season 11 Opening Titles are followed by The Attacks from Spyfall Part One, featuring a four-note motif for the Master. We don’t know this until the episode’s cliffhanger ending, and it’s gratifying to know that the clues were woven in from the outset. Hold On features a more strident version of the theme, but the score really takes off with Doctor, The Doctor, a ballsy Barryesque Bond theme that dials up the two-parter’s 007 nods. The episode’s closing cue The Spy Master takes everything to the max as the Master is revealed.

Vocalist Hollie Buhagiar returns from Series 11 as vocalist on The Lie, whispering a snippet of 13th’s theme, also adding a layer to the clanks and whirs in industrial cue Praxeus. Orphan 55’s Tranquillity Spa takes 13’s Theme and gives it a chilled out electro massage before suggesting that something is amiss in paradise, and the Doctor’s grandstanding warning at the end of the episode sits at the end of epic seven minute cue One Possible Future.

Game changer episode Fugitive from the Judoon garners a clutch of cues including the stomping militaristic Judoon Warning Transmission and the unexpected return of Captain Jack In You Missed Me, Right? Secrets are revealed in The Lighthouse, building up incrementally in pace until the shocking reveal and the drama of Something Is Coming For Me.

Segun has composed a terrific metallic march for the Cybermen, showcased in Quicksilver and She Was the Universe, the latter concluding with a stellar cello solo. Brendan is an idyllic Irish refrain, providing stark contrast to the interstellar battle, turning darker in companion cue The Fall. The Ascension Shall Begin and Everything Is About To Change are barnstorming pieces taking us to the end of Ascension of the Cybermen, the tone shifting for The Timeless Children’s epic Gallifreyan tale Tecteun and the melancholy of Time Lords.

Love them or hate them, the composer gives the Gallifreyan Cybermen a theme in CyberMasters that ‘upgrades’ his new Time Lord textures with some thrashing metallic cyber enhancements. The exciting two and a half hours conclude with the Ascension of the Cybermen variation of the End Credits.

Verdict: Clearly relishing the addition of the Master, Cybermen and Gallifrey to his musical sandbox, Segun Akinola adds to his already impressive series of themes – it’s some of the best new music being written for TV. 10/10

Nick Joy

Order Season 12 soundtrack from Silva Screen here