Bob the Builder

My connection to Bob the Builder actually started years earlier, through Jackie Cockle, who I'd worked alongside on The Wind in the Willows. By the time Bob came along, Jackie was directing for HIT Entertainment, and after the show's early success she invited me to pitch — specifically asking for something with a country flavour. I put together a two-minute interstitial with my best country licks, and that one piece of music kicked off a working relationship that ran for seven years. I ended up playing the vast majority of the score myself, switching between guitars, with the occasional guest appearance from a wonderfully authentic country fiddle player.

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The show grew into spin-offs, specials, and a steady stream of original songs. Of everything, the voice sessions stand out most vividly — recording with Neil Morrissey, Rob Rackstraw and Kate Harbour, where there was so much laughter in the room it's a genuine surprise we ever finished a take. Alongside the UK versions, we also produced a separate set of tracks for the American market with an entirely different cast, recorded at Audio International in London — including the western-themed special Built to Be Wild, which starred Suzi Quatro alongside Tim Howar and Lorelie King.

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By 2009, it felt like time for a proper album, so I produced Never Mind the Breezeblocks — half cover versions, half original songs, all recorded at Pluto. It remains one of the most satisfying projects I've worked on, and it was warmly received. Throughout all of it, I held firmly to one rule: never write "music for children." Kids are, after all, listening to whatever's actually topping the charts at the time. Every show I've scored, I've written music that served the film first — and that I could stand behind myself.