Freesound Forums

I'm not a huge Dr. Who fan, by any stretch, but it's still a potentially-insightful discussion of tools, techniques, and the twiddling process in use around the late 70's/1980, not just for the theme music but also for incidentals and other sound work.
Doctor Who theme - Peter Howell's Masterclass (1981)
Maybe someone else here will find it interesting.

Interesting indeed!

We should feel really lucky that today we can achieve the same results with little more than an ordinary computer and proper software, for a fraction of time (and relative dimension in) space, weight, and cost.

Come to think of it: for what they can do, our computers are much bigger on the inside

A brilliant piece of music by a brilliant man, doing it the proper way - i.e. using match strikes instead of making something completely synthesized.
download free ringtone: https://downloadringtonesfree.mobi/

I believe there is information about how the BBC used to make the sound effects for the original Dr Who series and other programs of the same time.
The BBC had a specialist group to create these sound effects (can't remember what they were called, sorry).
But should be possible to search it up and I am sure there will be information about it somewhere on the BBC website. - I remember reading about it... somewhere...

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop

A fascinating story in innovation.