Martin Phipps (born 1 August 1968) is a British composer, who has worked on numerous film and television projects.
Life and career
He is the son of Sue Pears and
Jack Phipps
John Richard Noel Phipps (24 December 1925 – 6 August 2010), known as “Jack Phipps”, was a British arts administrator.
Origins and education
Phipps was born at Chipata (then "Fort Jameson") in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), the son of John ...
, an arts administrator who had previously founded a management agency, which acted for many leading musical figures (including
Benjamin Britten, Phipps's godfather).
Having read drama at Manchester University, Phipps enjoyed early critical success with ''
Eureka Street'', and went on to score the BBC period dramas ''
North & South'' and ''
The Virgin Queen'', for which he was recognised with the
Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Score.
Phipps scored ''
Low Winter Sun'' for
Channel 4, starring
Mark Strong and
Brian McCardie and ''
Persuasion
Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for Social influence, influence. Persuasion can influence a person's Belief, beliefs, Attitude (psychology), attitudes, Intention, intentions, Motivation, motivations, or Behavior, behaviours.
...
'', the most recent
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
adaptation of
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
's novel, as well as ''
Grow Your Own
''Grow Your Own'' is a 2007 British comedy film directed by Richard Laxton, and written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Carl Hunter. It stars Benedict Wong, John Henshaw, Eddie Marsan, Pearce Quigley, Omid Djalili, Alan Williams, Philip Jack ...
'', a feature for
Warp Films. He also scored the BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's ''
Sense and Sensibility'', adapted by
Andrew Davies. Phipps was then commissioned to score the BBC's ''
Oliver Twist
''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...
'' adaptation, for which he was recognised with the Ivor Novello Award 2008 for Best Television Soundtrack.
Phipps went on to score the
Rowan Joffé-helmed drama, ''Hurndall'' for Talkback Thames followed by ''
Wallander Wallander may refer to:
TV, film, books
* Kurt Wallander, a fictional Swedish police inspector in novels by Henning Mankell
:* ''Wallander'' (film series), Swedish-language television films of the Wallander stories starring Rolf Lassgård
:* ''Wal ...
'' for Yellow Bird/Left Bank Pictures, starring
Kenneth Branagh, for which he was recognised with the
BAFTA Craft Award 2009 for Best Original TV Score. He then went on to write the music for the feature film ''
Endgame'', starring
William Hurt,
Derek Jacobi,
Mark Strong,
Jonny Lee Miller and
Chiwetel Ejiofor, chronicling the breakdown of S. African apartheid, directed by
Pete Travis. It was entered into competition at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
. He also scored ''
Small Island'' for Ruby Films/BBC, winning the BAFTA Craft Award 2010 for Best Original Television Music. More recently, he completed the score for his first feature film, ''
Brighton Rock'' and composed the music for the newest BBC adaptation of ''
Great Expectations
''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...
''.
In 2005, Phipps wrote the score to the film ''
Pierrepoint''. Other credits include ''
The Wife of Bath
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" ( enm, The Tale of the Wyf of Bathe) is among the best-known of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''. It provides insight into the role of women in the Late Middle Ages and was probably of interest to Chaucer himsel ...
'' from the BBC's contemporary adaptation of the ''
Canterbury Tales'', and the contemporary drama ''
Dirty Filthy Love''. He also scored the British feature film, ''
The Flying Scotsman'', and ''
The Line of Beauty''.
Phipps scored the UK thriller feature ''
Harry Brown'' for Cutting Edge/Marv Films, starring
Michael Caine, as well as Rowan Joffé's feature adaptation of
Graham Greene's ''
Brighton Rock''. Mike Diver described Phipps' score as "rich and sumptuous of tone and depth". He co-wrote the score with
Emily Barker for the BBC drama ''
The Shadow Line
''The Shadow-Line'' is a short novel based at sea by Joseph Conrad; it is one of his later works, being written from February to December 1915. It was first published in 1916 as a serial in New York's ''Metropolitan Magazine'' (September—Oct ...
''. Authored by Hugo Blick for the BBC, it was described by one critic as "a maddening, stylish experiment in doing something completely, admirably different with television". More recent credits include the first series of ''
Peaky Blinders'' on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Craft Award and ''
The Honourable Woman''. His documentary work includes scoring the documentary ''
Britain in a Day
''Britain in a Day'' is a crowdsourced documentary film that consists of a series clips of footage shot by members of the public in Britain on 12 November 2011. ''. More recently he composed the score of the film ''
Woman in Gold'' in collaboration with
Hans Zimmer.
Phipps composed the soundtrack for the 2016 miniseries ''
War & Peace''. Phipps said he "ended up coming onto the project early on", and that he was given room to "run with it... from the very beginning." The soundtrack was released on 13 May 2016.
He also composed the theme to the same year's ''
Victoria'', as well as incidental music of the early episodes. The theme was sung by the
Mediæval Bæbes.
Phipps also composed the soundtrack for season 3, season 4 and season 5 of
The Crown.
Filmography
Films
Television
References
External links
Martin Phipps at COOL Music Ltd*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phipps, Martin
1968 births
Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester
British film score composers
British male film score composers
British television composers
Ivor Novello Award winners
Living people
Male television composers