Oliver Elmes

Who is Oliver Elmes?

Oliver Elmes was a British graphic designer. He designed a number of logos for the BBC, but is probably best known for devising the Doctor Who title sequence and logo used from Time and the Rani until Survival.

Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner commissioned Elmes to design a new opening for the show after the announcement that Colin Baker would not be returning to the series. Elmes worked with a company called CAL Video to produce the new Who logo entirely on computer. The new design featured a Big Bang and a purple spiral cosmos, overlaid first with the TARDIS and then by Sylvester McCoy's face. The opening was accompanied with a new version of the theme by Keff McCulloch. The new sequence cost nearly £20,000 and took 3 months to complete. After the series was canceled, the new logo continued to be used for the Virgin New Adventures until Bad Therapy. It also appeared on some of the final Target Books novelizations, published by Virgin Publishing.

In addition to his work on Doctor Who, Elmes designed title sequences for Elizabeth R, The Goodies, and The Good Life. He has also done book illustrations.

Elmes died in May 2011.