Experimental and inventive, Caroline Catz’s film paints a fond, intimate and arty portrait of the influential electronic musician
I hope films like Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes (BBC Four) will still have a home at the
BBC after BBC Four becomes an archive-only channel, as is planned. I cannot imagine anything so wilfully arty sitting on a more mainstream channel. This is a wonderfully inventive piece of storytelling that celebrates the strange brilliance of a mysterious pioneer of electronic
music. Even if it is not likely to bring in record audiences, it would be a crying shame if it were not on television.
Knowing only a little about Derbyshire’s life before, and feeling much more illuminated afterwards, I think it makes sense that her story is told in this experimental style. It was originally a short film, written and directed by Caroline Catz, who has extended it to feature length. The result feels like several ideas spliced together, surprisingly effectively.