Teenager composes theme tune and score for police drama

A teenage musician has composed the theme tune and score for the new series of a TV drama.

Patrick Bennett, 19, has provided the musical accompaniment for the second series of Granite Harbour – a police series set in Scotland.

He originally approached LA Productions and they agreed he could create some incidental music.

Hearing my music on speakers in a cinema was really cool. It's really exciting to see the finished product

Patrick Bennett

But, after the team was impressed when he came back with a new theme tune, Mr Bennett was tasked with composing for all three episodes of the series.

The series is due to air on Friday on BBC One but the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) student has already seen the first episode.

He said: “I had the opportunity to go down and watch it in London. Hearing my music on speakers in a cinema was really cool. It’s really exciting to see the finished product.

“My family are all buzzing and we can’t wait to see it on TV.”

Mr Bennett, originally from Ely in Cambridgeshire, said he became interested in music as a child when his father bought him a guitar after failing to get him to take an interest in sport.

Teenage musician Patrick Bennett in Liverpool (Peter Byrne/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Peter Byrne

He said: “I really liked it and I’ve just sat in my room with a guitar for about the last decade!

“Then there was a moment when I was watching the film 1917 and there was a scene in a battered, blown up French town with this music and soundscape which made me go ‘wow’.

“After that I thought I need to look more into this and became more interested in media composition.”

The student said creating the music, a combination of acoustic, orchestral and electric sound, was a process of six to seven months.

He composed the score using a piano and computer, but also plays a whole range of instruments including the guitar, ukulele and drums and is learning to play the bansuri bamboo flute.

The sort of gift Patrick has is normally a product of someone who has a much greater experience and level of maturity

Colin McKeown, Granite Harbour

Executive producer of Granite Harbour Colin McKeown said Mr Bennett’s music created “atmosphere and clarity” to enhance the story.

He said: “It’s extremely unusual to have a teenage composer. The sort of gift Patrick has is normally a product of someone who has a much greater experience and level of maturity.

“Patrick is clearly blessed with a gift and a natural understanding of how to score his music, not to patronise or lead an audience, but to just give them an additional sense of what was present within the scenes.”