Main content

Mike Leigh's Music

Matthew Sweet is joined by director Mike Leigh to talk about his ideas about music for film and to look back at some of the scores for his films.

Matthew Sweet is joined by director Mike Leigh to talk about his ideas about music for films and to look back on some of the scores for films such as the historical dramas 'Mr Turner', 'Peterloo' and ‘Topsy-Turvy’. He first came to prominence with the Play for Today TV drama ‘Nuts in May’ in 1976, and for many years he was known for his improvised domestic dramas. He tells Matthew about his work with composers Andrew Dickson (‘Naked’, Mean Time’ and ‘High Hopes’) and Gary Yershon (‘Peterloo’, ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’ and ‘Another Year’). There’s jazz from Marianne Jean-Baptiste (‘Career Girls’) and an excerpt from one of Rachel Portman’s earliest scores (‘Four Days in July’). And we hear Carl Davis’s versions of Gilbert and Sullivan (‘Topsy-Turvy’).

Mike Leigh’s work is celebrated by the BFI in October and November on the Southbank in London and at Home in Manchester, with the release of a new print of his 1993 classic ‘Naked’, and with the appearance of a new, revised version of ‘Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh’.

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Sat 18 Sep 2021 15:00

Music Played

  • Gary Yershon

    Happy-Go-Lucky: Opening Credits

    Ensemble: Studio-Ensemble.
    • Varese Sarabande.
  • Andrew Dickson

    Naked: Opening Titles

    Ensemble: Studio-Ensemble.
    • Caldera Records.
  • Andrew Dickson

    Meantime: End Credits

    Ensemble: Studio-Ensemble.
    • Caldera Records.
  • Alison Steadman

    Improvised song from Nuts in May opening

    Composer: Roger Sloman. Performer: Alison Steadman. Performer: Roger Sloman.
  • Demis Roussos

    Forever and Ever

    Performer: Demis Roussos.
    • Union Square Music.
  • Andrew Dickson

    High Hopes: Suite

    Ensemble: Studio-Ensemble.
    • Caldera Records.
  • Andrew Dickson

    Vera Drake

    Ensemble: Studio-Ensemble.
    • Caldera Records.
  • Arthur Sullivan

    Topsy-Turvey: Resolution

    Composer: Carl Davis. Orchestra: Studio Orchestra. Conductor: Carl Davis.
    • Sony Classical.
  • W. S. Gilbert

    Topsy-Turvey: The Sun Whose Rays are all Ablaze (The Mikado)

    Composer: Arthur Sullivan. Orchestra: Studio Orchestra. Conductor: Carl Davis.
    • Sony Classical.
  • Gary Yershon

    Mr Turner: Mr Turner; The Fighting Temeraire

    Ensemble: Studio-Ensemble.
    • Varese Sarabande.
  • Gary Yershon

    Peterloo: In Praise of the Weavers; To the Fields; Middleton

    Performer: Dorothy Atkinson. Ensemble: Studio-Ensemble.
    • Amazon Studios.
  • Gary Yershon

    Happy-Go-Lucky: Trampoline; Journey to Southend; Flamenco Class

    Ensemble: Studio-Ensemble.
    • Varese Sarabande.
  • Gary Yershon

    Another Year: Spring into Summer; Summer into Autumn; Into Winter

    Ensemble: Studio-Ensemble.
    • Varese Sarabande.
  • Georges Delerue

    Jules et Jim: Opening Titles

    Orchestra: Studio Orchestra.
    • Doxy Cinematic.
  • Marianne Jean-Baptiste

    Career Girls

    Ensemble: Studio-Ensemble.
    • Tweed Records.
  • Rachel Portman

    Four Days in July: End Titles

    Ensemble: Studio-Ensemble.

Broadcast

  • Sat 18 Sep 2021 15:00

Moon River: The story of the 1962 Oscars Best Song winner

Moon River: The story of the 1962 Oscars Best Song winner

"Wherever you're going, I'm going your way..."

Podcast