Wind in the Willows

Mark Hall of Cosgrove Hall approached us to score the feature film adaptation of The Wind in the Willows they were developing — and given that the book had only just come out of copyright, this was the very first production of a story that generation after generation had grown up loving. It was, understandably, a huge deal for everyone involved. Unusually for us, and for the format generally, this was our first fully orchestral project, and Mark wanted the score written to the script rather than the finished film, so the music itself could help inspire the animators as they worked.

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We recorded with players from the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, working across sessions at both Pluto and Strawberry Studios. The film featured a number of songs — some lifted from the original book, others written specifically for the production — and recording them, with a cast that included David Jason, Sir Michael Hordern, Ian Carmichael and Richard Pearson, turned into an unexpected lesson in diplomacy. Ian, who'd "made a couple of albums" in his time, considered himself very much a singer; the other three, by contrast, couldn't wait for the session to be over. Singing, it's fair to say, was not in their repertoire. We got Ian's parts down quickly and sent him on his way with a smile, then spent the rest of the session gently coaxing performances out of a reluctant trio. It all came together beautifully in the end.

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We got suited and booted for the Royal Premiere in Leicester Square — a genuinely fantastic way to close out such a memorable project. From there, the show grew into 65 episodes and several specials, every one of them written with real care in the spirit of Kenneth Grahame's original prose, by the wonderful Brian Trueman. Years later, using audio lifted directly from the film, we produced an audio version of the story — first on vinyl, then cassette, and eventually CD — which remarkably still sells around the world today, with its theme now a regular fixture at weddings, bar mitzvahs, funerals and everything in between.