1 Down 25 To Go
Series one was a huge learning curve for us, I remember finishing episode one and thinking one down only 25 to go. We didn’t have the luxury of synching the tape recorders to the visuals, so it was all a bit basic and very time consuming. Sometimes it felt like a factory production line, but we had so much work to do to keep up with the schedule we had to just get on with it.
During this period, we were composing some of the “classic” themes for the first time. As a new character was introduced for example Percy, James or Gordon within the episode, the first thing we did was to compose and produce a theme for that character. We could then adapt and arrange that theme to fit into the episode. As we hadn’t yet managed to build up a library of themes and incidentals, everything was being created for the first time.
As Britt and David had put their trust in us, the pressure was on us. The last thing we wanted to do was let them and ourselves down.
We were also composing a lot of jingles for ad companies, and I was still managing Ringo’s studio, so sometimes there just wasn’t enough hours in the day. Obviously, we didn’t know if there was going to be a second series, so we had to make this opportunity count, while working towards getting more jingle work to help pay the bills.
Ringo’s Studio where we recorded series 1
We would meet with Britt and David in the Clearwater offices or at Britt’s house in Southampton for a brief on what they wanted from the music. As the show progressed, they realised we knew what to do and they trusted us to just get on with it.
When we had completed the music for an episode, or two Britt would visit Ringo’s studio to hear what we had done. Of course, she was hearing all the themes for the very first time, so it was exciting for all of us. New character themes created for series 1 were
Thomas
Gordon
Toby
Terrence
James
Percy
Henry
Edward
Bertie
Quite a roll call when you think about it.
We would be working on an episode and then a package would arrive at my house containing the next few episodes on VHS as soon as they left the editing suite, it really was like a production line but we had to keep up so we could meet the schedule for delivery to Britt and then on to the TV company.
A VHS tape similar to the ones we got to work from
I think we had set a target of 2 episodes a week to complete the music. We did like to pay attention to detail and I think that made the music special.
It was a special time for me and one I will always remember fondly.