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On Neil Brand's programme about tv music, Bob Stanley mentioned BB , and a couple of snippets of his music were played.

George

But... although the music for "Countdown" was featured, Alan Hawkshaw was (incredibly) not mentioned.

It's one of three episodes...was he mentioned last week? He might get mentioned next week. You'd think any programme about TV music would feature Alan Hawkshaw - on the strength of his Grange Hill theme alone (which, in rearranged form, was also used as the theme to Bernard Cribbins' Star Turn quiz show if memory serves...I'll get me coat!).

He (Alan Hawkshaw) was definitely mentioned last week, when they were talking about the KPM libraries.

This is a real sore point with me.

As you may know, I collaborated in 2012/2013 with a BBC editor/producer on a project about TV and film composers. We interviewed Brian Bennett and Alan Hawkshaw among others (the others, incidentally, included Francis Monkman, Carl Davis, Laurie Johnson, Barrington Pheloung and Lynsey de Paul). We got literally hours of incredible stuff - including footage from Abbey Road as Baz conducted the orchestra on a 'Lewis' recording session - and went quite deeply into the process of writing and recording film and TV music. Then... nothing. The guy in question got sidetracked and went off and spent years making another documentary, which although now complete has not been screened. Our music documentary somehow fell by the wayside. OK, these things happen, but my unhappiness is now compounded by what I consider to be a vastly inferior programme covering much the same ground. I watched episode one, and it seemed more like a inconsequential, self-indulgent ego-trip for the presenter than a serious look into the subject. Suffice to say, I won't be watching the other two episodes.

Moderne wrote:It's one of three episodes...was he mentioned last week? He might get mentioned next week. You'd think any programme about TV music would feature Alan Hawkshaw - on the strength of his Grange Hill theme alone (which, in rearranged form, was also used as the theme to Bernard Cribbins' Star Turn quiz show if memory serves...I'll get me coat!).

It was actually 'Give Us a Clue'. And yes, when I interviewed Alan, we covered that!

George Geddes wrote:On Neil Brand's programme about tv music, Bob Stanley mentioned BB , and a couple of snippets of his music were played.

George

Bob Stanley is a big Shads fan and frequently gives them a mention in his excellent Record Collector column.

Andrew

The Hawk was certainly mentioned in ep.1, and there was footage of Keith Mansfield with the KPM Allstars.

Have to disagree with Chris. I have watched all of Neil Brand's series and found them entertaining and quite informative.

George

George Geddes wrote:The Hawk was certainly mentioned in ep.1, and there was footage of Keith Mansfield with the KPM Allstars.

Have to disagree with Chris. I have watched all of Neil Brand's series and found them entertaining and quite informative.

George

Yes the programme was fine... if you want something superficial and popularist. But if you want something that digs a little deeper and goes into the mechanics of it and the whys and the wherefores, then this is not that programme. A shame, as I thought BBC Four generally catered for those who wanted the latter.

Time to revisit a classic video.

The KPM AllStars have done numerous concerts over the years. This performance features three players with Shadows connections: Brian Bennett on drums (hiding at the back), Dave Richmond on bass and Alan Hawkshaw on keyboard. Enjoy professional musos having fun!