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Can you tell us a bit about yourself? What is it you do?

I’m a composer who writes music for films, TV and my own records and concerts.

What is inspires you to keep doing what you doing?

For me there are big and small inspirations. A big one might be playing a concert, and being in the same room as people who are enjoying your music, or watching a TV show and knowing that millions of people are hearing your music at the same time, but I think the small daily inspirations are the ones that keep me going. I’m still fascinated with the magical nature of music, and how putting one note after another can have such a profound emotional effect on us. Every morning when I sit down to work there’s that excitement that by the end of the day, some music will exist which wasn’t in the world the day before.

Can you tell us a bit about the different people you’re worked with?

I’v been lucky enough to work with lots people in film and pop music. I started as an assistant to an American composer called Michael Kamen, who wrote the music for Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and the first X-Men film, amongst others, and through him I got to work with bands like Metallica, and in recording studios around the world.

Since then I’ve worked on some pretty big films as a Music Editor, like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Love Actually, so I’ve bumped into a few people you might have seen, but mostly the music department is locked away in a dark studio, away from the action!

Can you tell us a bit about the projects you’ve worked on?

For the last 7 years, along with David Arnold, I’ve written the music for the BBC’s Sherlock series, which has been an absolute joy. Watching Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch grow into their roles, and become huge movie stars, has been great, and there’s a real family atmosphere on the production of the show.

No-one knows what will happen next with Sherlock, but I hope we haven’t seen the last of it …

Where do you see yourself in five years time?

I’d be really happy doing what I’m doing now and taking my daughter to school in the morning, when she’s old enough!

When did you realise you had a passion music? At what age did you interest in music start?

I started playing trumpet at junior school when I was about 8. I never had a thought that music would become my life, it was just something that I seemed to click with, and became a way to escape a few lessons.

Who was your inspiration when you were growing up?Has your inspections changed if so how?

I think I’m most inspired by the character of people, rather than how well known they are. Sometimes people have both, and are well known, with a really remarkable sense of purpose, resilience and a generous nature, which is wonderful. Some of the truly inspirational people I’ve met, like Mark Williams at Heart n Soul, haven’t been in a movie or a soap opera, though, they’ve just calmly gone about changing things for the better, for thousands of people.

Is there anything else you want to tell us?

I just wanted to add that you and your writing are an inspiration to me, too, Lilly. I hope it brings you daily joy for a long time to come.