Philip Appleby
Composer
Philip Appleby’s credits include episodes in the long running BBC series Inspector George Gently, produced by Company Pictures. Other credits include the BBC costume drama The Wyvern Mystery for which he was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award and the BBC comedy series Born To Run, written by Debbie Horsfield and produced by Laura Mackie, for which he was nominated for the RTS Award. He also scored the Oscar winning short Franz Kafka’s It’s A Wonderful Life, written and directed by Peter Capaldi and produced by Ruth Kenley-Letts.
Philip’s musical style embraces everything from contemporary electronic scores to large scale choral and orchestral and even quirky children’s drama. He won critical acclaim for his work on Tony Collingwood’s Bafta nominated animation Rarg for which the British Film Institute gave him a best film music award that year and in the US the International Animated Film Society commended him for ‘outstanding achievement for music in the field of animation’.
Other credits include the BBC/WGBH thriller The Blue Boy, starring Emma Thompson and Adrian Dunbar; all five episodes of Julian Fellowes’ A Most Mysterious Murder, starring Michael Fassbender; the BBC TV film Zig Zag Love, starring Robert Carlyle; Granada’s crime thriller Butterfly Collectors; Maria's Child and The Grass Arena for the BBC’s long running Screen Two series and his powerful score for the BBC mini-series Tell Tale Hearts, starring Bill Paterson as a child killer, won many industry plaudits. He scored the D W Griffith segments of Photoplay’s history of the American cinema mini-series, plus their history of European cinema series The Other Hollywood.
He has also had great success with his music for popular children’s TV series, including 94 episodes of the BAFTA nominated Tracy Beaker, as well as the Tracy Beaker feature The Movie of Me. He also scored the BAFTA award winning Eddy and the Bear.
Philip originally trained as a trumpeter before going on to study composition at the Royal Academy of Music and later at Sussex University. He later enrolled at the National Film and Television School as their first official film music composition student and within a couple of years he was already establishing himself as a successful new name in TV scoring.
PHILIP APPLEBY
Credits Include
Features
THE ROOSTER MUST DIE – Square Elephant Productions
Prod. Debora Setnik Dir. Parag Sankhe
THE KING’S BEARD – CITV – Prod. Christopher O’Hare Dir. Tony Collingwood
P.O.V. – Parallel Pictures – Prod. Janet Radenkovic Dir. Lesley Manning
FRANZ KAFKA’S IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE – Conundrum Films/BBC
Prod. Ruth Kenley-Letts Dir. Peter Capaldi
NOTHING PERSONAL – British Screen Productions / Channel Four Films
Prods. Jonathan Cavendish, Tracey Seaward Dir. Thaddeus O’Sullivan
RARG – NFTS – Prod. Christoper O’Hare Dir. Tony Collingwood
Television
INSPECTOR GEORGE GENTLY x 2 – Company Pictures – Prod. Faye Dorn
Dir. Gillies MacKinnon
A MOST MYSTERIOUS MURDER X 5 - Touchpaper Television – Prod. Clare Alan
Dir. Michael Samuels / Delyth Thomas / Dominic Santana
ZIG ZAG LOVE – Machine Productions – Prod. Jane Dauncey & Jane Steventon
Dir. Gillies MacKinnon
BUTTERFLY COLLECTORS – Granada Drama – Prod. Hilary Bevan Jones
Dir. Jean Stewart
THE WYVERN MYSTERY - BBC Films - Prod. Ruth Baumgarten
Dir. Alex Pillai
BORN TO RUN – BBC – Prod. Laura Mackie Dir. Jean Stewart
HARPUR & ILES - BBC – Prod. Jane Dauncey Dir. Jim Hill
THE BLUE BOY – BBC/WGBH – Prod. Kate Swan Dir. Paul Murton
D W GRIFFITH: FATHER OF FILM X 1 – Photoplay Productions.
Prod. / Dir. David Gill & Kevin Brownlow
CINEMA EUROPE: THE OTHER HOLLYWOOD X 1 – Photoplay Productions
Prod. / Dir. David Gill & Kevin Brownlow
TELL TALE HEARTS – BBC Series x 3
Prod. Norman McClandlish & David Blair Dir. Thaddeus O' Sullivan
GHOSTWATCH – BBC - Prod. Ruth Baumgarten Dir. Lesley Manning
ALIVE & KICKING - SCREEN ONE – BBC – Prod. David M.Thompson Dir. Robert Young
MARIA'S CHILD - SCREEN TWO – BBC – Prod. Kenith Trodd Dir. Malcolm McKay
NEEDLE – BBC – Prod. George Faber Dir. Gillies MacKinnon
Childrens
THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER – 94 eps BBC – Exec. Prod. Cas Lester
EDDY AND THE BEAR – Collingwood O’Hare – Prod. Christopher O’Hare
Dir Tony Collingwood
TRACY BEAKER’S ‘THE MOVIE OF ME’ – BBC – Prod. Jane Dauncey & Jane Steventon
Dir. Joss Agnew
DAISY-HEAD MAYZIE – Collingwood O’Hare – Prod. Christopher O’Hare
Dir. Tony Collingwoood

Philip Appleby working at Alexander Sound Studios.