Cambridgeshire teen writes music for new series of BBC drama Granite Harbour

A 19-year-old musician has composed the theme tune and score for the new series of a TV police drama - using just a piano and his computer.

Patrick Bennett has spent the last six to seven months writing the musical accompaniment for the second series of Granite Harbour – a police series set in Scotland.

After the production company, LA productions, were impressed with his new theme tune, they asked the teenager to compose the score for all three episodes of the series.

Mr Bennett, originally from Ely in Cambridgeshire, 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.”

When he failed to gain interest in sport, Patrick's father bought him a guitar and soon became fixated by the instrument.

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.”

Despite composing the score using a piano and computer, the musician, who is studying at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, also plays a whole range of instruments including the guitar, ukulele and drums and is learning to play the bansuri bamboo flute.

Executive producer of Granite Harbour Colin McKeown said the 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.”

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