Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty

I wrote the score of this three-part series for BBC during the Coronavirus lockdown in the first half of 2020. It’s a fascinating portrait of an inscrutable and enigmatic man who has wielded immense power over several decades. From his role in the UK elections of the 1980s and ’90s, to his championing of the Brexit cause and his support for Donald Trump, rarely has an unelected individual had so much influence on the political landscape.

Because of the lockdown, I was working from a small studio from home instead of my normal studio, with my out-of-school kids coming in and out and asking… ‘Who’s that?’. Oh that’s Tony Blair schmoozing with Rupert Murdoch on a yacht! I wasn’t able to have any musicians over to the studio but I called upon the talents of the fantastic Nick Holland who played multiple cellos on many of the tracks, recording from his own home. One of the unexpected highlights of composing during the Coronavirus restrictions was sending Nick pieces of music at 10pm, and receiving five or six layers of beautifully played cello, back at 8am!

It was great to work with the lovely director Jamie Roberts (The Fires that Foretold Grenfell) and 72 Films on the series, which has had a really positive reception since being broadcast on BBC in July 2020. It’s actually my second project with 72 with ‘dynasty’ in the title(!) after our previous collaboration on the four part series, Inside North Korea’s Dynasty.

I’ve put a selection of musical clips from the series here, and may put out a digital soundtrack release if more than a handful of people ask for it!

UPDATE 1/12/20:

To my surprise and delight, more than a handful people of people DID ask for the soundtrack to be released(!). I’m pleased to say that the soundtrack features 21 tracks from the series and is now available in all your digital megastores, such as Spotify, Amazon (UK) and elsewhere. I hope you enjoy it.

A little note on the album cover…

I wasn’t allowed to use any pics from the series for the record cover, so this is a picture of my grandma’s tv. I took the picture shortly after she died on what would have been her 104th birthday. I hope you’ll agree the wallpaper is quite sublime!