One day he brought home a keyboard and asked if Segun — whose name means “victory” — wanted to learn how to play. “Sure,” the boy said. And that started his musical journey.

He loved the drums, and after church every week he begged his parents to let him play. He might as well have been allowed to hit any old thing, he said with a laugh, “because I had no idea what I was doing at that point.” Music was clearly where his passion lay.


He took piano and drum lessons, played in all the bands and orchestras at school, and soaked up a range of genres. As a teenager trying to decide what to pursue in higher education, he was scanning his options when his sister wrote onup front about one minor detail: He never had watched “Doctor Who.” Chibnall, who was starting with a clean slate, said that wasn’t a problem.


The score has new themes for each of the major characters, including the Doctor’s black and Pakistani companions and the TARDIS, the show’s phone booth time machine. Akinola developed a series sound that features a recurring “band” of cello, French horn and guitar, along with some custom sampled voices like a pad made from a plucked piano string and an electronic synth created from his bongos. For some episodes, there’s enough money in the budget to record a small orchestra at Abbey Road Studios.

Segun Akinola at Abbey Road Studios. (Charlie Clift)

For the main titles he went retro, slightly revamping the throbbing, early electronic theme