Iconic sounds of the TARDIS materializing and dematerializing in the classic British sci-fi series Doctor Who were originally created by scraping a simple house key along the exposed bass strings of a dismantled piano.

A closer look

Iconic sounds of the TARDIS materializing and dematerializing in the classic British sci-fi series Doctor Who were originally created by scraping a simple house key along the exposed bass strings of a dismantled piano. BBC Radiophonic Workshop sound engineer Brian Hodgson was tasked with inventing a noise for a time-traveling police box back in 1963, and he accomplished this legendary feat by practically vandalizing musical instruments. He then applied aggressive echo and reverb effects to make the metallic scratching sound incredibly vast and otherworldly. It is genuinely hilarious to realize that one of the most recognizable and enduring sonic trademarks in global television history was essentially born from a severely underfunded audio technician aggressively keyscratching a piano like a jealous ex-girlfriend!