The blog.

999: On The Frontline – Series 2

On Sunday 23rd September, 999: On the Front Line returns for a second series of ten episodes following the paramedics of the West Midlands Ambulance Service as they respond to medical emergencies happening simultaneously across the region. It was a pleasure to have composed a selection of music for the series.

Caring for a population of over 5.5 million people spread over 5 thousand square miles, they are the country’s fastest responding ambulance service. Embedded with 9 different ambulance crews spread across three emergency hubs we capture simultaneously every minute of their 12 hour shifts to provide a unique snapshot of life on the front line. Told with a mix of high energy actuality shot on fixed rig, bodycam, roving film crews, and retrospective master interviews, each episode shows the variety of cases the service attends often within the same hour.

During one of the worst winters we have seen, this series we follow the crews as they battle through the snow and react to the highest amount of calls the service has ever dealt with.

Segregated America: A School in the South (BBC 1)

Delighted that after a six week run in the US on National Geographic last year, American High School is returning to BBC 1, every Monday from August 20th under the new title of Segregated America: A School in the South. The series box set is also available to watch now on iPlayer.

Segregated America: A School in the South follows a charismatic principal and his students over the course of one school year and through their eyes we witness life-changing moments. In the US, life chances for students who graduate high school are often starkly different to those who don’t, a disparity even more marked for African-American pupils.

With the odds often stacked against them we follow the class of 2016 over this, their make-or-break year.

We experience their highs and their lows as they prepare for life after high school. We meet Ivy League hopefuls, male cheerleaders and young mothers on a tough journey into adulthood. This is school as you’ve never seen it before and a unique insight into how it really feels to be young and black in America today.

Meanwhile, high-achieving pupil Jalena begins college applications, but with college fees costing more than a house, will she even be able to afford to go? Male cheerleader Vernon, and star football player Kordel, each prepare for the big Friday night football game. Can a win for the school help to get Dr Peters’ ambitions back on track?

 

Original soundtrack available here

 

Producer/Director: Marcus Plowright
Executive Producers: Joe Evans and Neil Crombie
Production Company: Swan Films
Composer: Alexander Parsons

 

TX Date: 18th October 2016
BBC1: February 2017
National Geographic (US): 26th September 2017
BBC1: August 2018

 

“Every participant is treated with careful, considered respect… This is helped by Alexander Parsons’ impressive score, mixing tinges of the music the kids listen to with his own emotive arrangements. Six episodes of hope, just when it’s needed”.

Julia Reside (on American High School), The Guardian, 11th November 2016

The Murder of Stephen Lawrence – A Three-Part Series For BBC 1

I’m honoured to have been asked to compose the score for a new landmark series for BBC 1, focusing on one of the most famous cases of 20th Century Britain – the murder of Stephen Lawrence, in South London. The series is exec-produced by Oscar-winning makers of Amy, Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees, for On the Corner productions and is being directed by James Rogan.

The new series was commissioned by Charlotte Moore and Clare Sillery, head of commissioning for documentaries. The commissioning editor is Danny Horan.

The series is expected to air in April, which will mark 25 years since Stephen’s death. Read more about the upcoming films here.

BAFTA Screening: Working Class White Men

I’m delighted that the first episode of Professor Green: Working Class White Men will be screening in the Princess Anne Theatre at BAFTA, Piccadilly on the 4th January 2018, as a preview to its broadcast on Channel 4. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Professor Green and Christian Collerton, the series director.

Presented by Professor Green the documentary series explores what life is really like for working class white men, why many of them feel abandoned, and what the consequences are for Britain if we continue to look away. Raised by his Nan on a council estate in Hackney, Professor Green is himself from a working class, low income background.

Over a period of six months he follows six working class white men in different parts of the country to understand what life in modern Britain is like for them. He examines the challenges and barriers these men face in education, work, family life and in the way the rest of society regards them.

Composing with Folktek Mescaline

Having always incorporated unusual electronics into my work as a composer, it was a delight to receive Mescaline, the crowdfunded modular synthesiser designed in three parts, by Folktek.

The three boards are fastened to a metal stand and jump leads are used to create circuits, which result in different melodic and rhythmic patterns. I filmed my first experiment with this unusual machine.

Photo Credit Folktek