Composer Segun Akinola Exiting Doctor Who, Will Murray Gold Return for RTDs Second Era?

Segun Akinola announced earlier today that he is leaving Doctor Who. He confirmed the Centenary Special, airing later this year, will be his final episode.

The composer, who joined the show at the start of the Chibnall era, wrote on Twitter: “Three Series, One Doctor, Four companions. The last few years on Doctor Who have been an amazing experience. I’d planned to stay for as long as Chris & Jodie were staying so the next episode will be my final one.

“There are too many people to thank but here are a few: Chris, Matt, Nikki, Ceres, Howard, Harry, Jodie, Darrell, @ChamberOrch_LDN, Alec Roberts, Goetz Botzenhardt, Olga FitzRoy, I could go on!

“To the fans, thank you for welcoming me so warmly, I’ve always been grateful for that. Can’t wait to see where the story goes next!”

Akinola’s departure naturally leaves a vacancy for Russell T Davies’ second era in 2023. And already there is talk that Murray Gold could return.

Gold, of course, composed the music for the show when it first returned, and he left at the end of the Moffat era.

It certainly wouldn’t be a surprising development if he was to come back, as RTD has reassembled some of his former crew for his new era. RTD has continued to work with Gold on his other TV projects, including 2019’s Years and Years and last year’s It’s A Sin.

Gold also composed the music for the superb Doctor Who mini-episode, The Secret of Novice Hame, during the 2020 lockdown (written by RTD).

With David Tennant and Catherine Tate now returning for the 60th anniversary, it would be odd to not hear some familiar favourites in their episodes too.

As ever, we’ll have to wait and see how this develops, but stranger things have happened…