Small screen BIG music

Television drama is getting ever more sophisticated, but why has it become such a draw for Hollywood composers?

- Michael Beek grabs the remote...

Big orchestral flourishes, memorable themes, expansive action set pieces. .. These were once a staple of film music, but these days you are perhaps even more likely to hear such things coming from your TV. True, the 'small' screen is not as small as it once was – many homes have at least one big, flat screen on the wall, and some will even have an immersive sound system attached. And they are being filled with increasingly impressive sights and sounds, especially where genre television, like sci-fi, fantasy and horror, is concerned.

The latest 'must-see' show is the BBC and Disney's The War Between the Land and the Sea, a grownup spin-off of sci-fi mainstay Doctor Who, which sees Earth in crisis as an ancient underwater species rises from the oceans to reveal itself to humanity. It is an emotion-fuelled thrill ride typical of its writer/producer Russell T Davies, and the music, by Scottish composer Lorne Balfe, matches it every step of the way.

It marks Balfe's first foray into the 'Whoniverse', and while the composer of blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning is firmly established on the big screen, he is more than happy to take on TV. Indeed, he composed the music for the BBC's His Dark Materials and Amazon's The Wheel of Time. So, what's the attraction of the small screen?

'It's about the people,' explains Balfe. 'You look at a project and you think, "I've got great memories of the films or shows that they've made". As to whether there's a difference between TV and film in terms of the process as a composer, there's not. For TV there's more music, but the process of writing it is identical; you're telling a story.'