Martin Phipps is one of Britain's leading soundtrack composers, active in both films and television. He has scored several seasons of the popular BBC series The Crown.

Phipps was born on August 1, 1968, in London. His parents, Jack Phipps and Sue Pears, operated a music agency whose clients included composer Benjamin Britten; he was a friend of the family and became Phipps' godfather. Sue Pears, moreover, was a niece of singer Peter Pears, who was also among the family's clients. Martin studied drama at Manchester University but then switched to music and landed a staff composing position with the BBC in 1994. The first of his scores to gain widespread notice was that for the 1999 miniseries Eureka Street, depicting the aftermath of the 1994 peace accords in Northern Ireland.

Phipps wrote scores for the BBC dramas North & South (2004) and The Virgin Queen (2005); the latter earned him an Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Score. He earned a second Ivor Novello Award, this one for Best Television Soundtrack, in 2008 for the BBC's adaptation of Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist. He scored television adaptations of a pair of Jane Austen novels, Persuasion for the ITV network and Sense and Sensibility for the BBC. His score for the television mystery series Wallander (2008-2015) brought him a BAFTA Craft Award for Best Original TV Score in 2009. He won the same award in 2010 for his score for the television film Small Island.

Phipps has continued to write music for television, scoring the BBC's miniseries adaptation of Tolstoy's War & Peace in 2016, but he increasingly often turned his attention to feature films. These included Endgame (2009), starring William Hurt and dealing with the end of the apartheid system in South Africa, Brighton Rock (2010), the documentary Britain in a Day (2011), and the biographical drama Woman in Gold (2015). Much of Phipps' energy in the late 2010s and early 2020s was taken up by scores for the six-season series The Crown, about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II; Phipps wrote the soundtracks for the third, fourth, and fifth seasons. ~ James Manheim

With an anguished, melodic baritone that falls somewhere in the neighborhood of Scott Walker, Pulp touring guitarist and former Longpigs member Richard Hawley is a songwriter, guitarist, and producer whose elegant, timeless solo work ranges from neo-psychedelic indie rock to vintage roots rock, sweeping, lushly orchestrated ballads, and highly styled romantic pop. He has often used his native Sheffield, England's locations as a muse, particularly on the award-winning trilogy of Cole's Corner, Lady's Bridge, and Truelove's Gutter. He has been nominated several times for the Mercury Prize as well as a Brit Award. In addition to his solo recordings and his presence in Pulp, Hawley has worked with a variety of other artists, including collaborations with Lisa Marie Presley, Arctic Monkeys, Manic Street Preachers, Elbow, and Paul Weller, and he has produced recordings by A Girl Called Eddy and Nancy Sinatra. He also scored the award-winning film Funny Cow.

The son of a steel worker, Hawley was raised in Sheffield and grew up listening to folks such as Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley. He learned guitar at an early age from his father and uncle. During the '90s he built up a reputation as an ace guitarist and, in addition to his stints in Pulp and Longpigs, did session work for U.K. artists such as Robbie Williams, Beth Orton, and All Saints. He released his self-titled debut in April 2001. Hawley's sophomore effort, Late Night Final, which cloaked his sweet baritone and heart-worn songs in lush arrangements, followed in 2002 on Bar-None Records. Hawley toured behind the album, opening for the likes of Coldplay and Pulp. Also in 2002, Hawley and Pulp leader Jarvis Cocker recorded a track for the tribute album Total Lee! The Songs of Lee Hazlewood. The next year, Hawley returned with the personal Lowedges, which was named for a place just outside Sheffield.

In September 2005, Hawley released his first album for Mute, the bittersweet Coles Corner. He followed it in 2007 with Lady's Bridge. Hawley was approached by Mute label boss Daniel Miller, who asked him if he had an album in him that he'd always wanted to make regardless of commercial concerns. Hawley responded in the affirmative and underscored his remark with "There won't be any singles on it." Miller told him to go ahead and record it anyway. That album, Truelove's Gutter, was released by the label in 2009. He followed it in 2010 with a four-track EP entitled False Lights from the Land, featuring two originals and two covers. In the spring of 2012, Hawley released Standing at the Sky's Edge on Parlophone, an aggressive, two-guitar, bass, drums -- and rocket noises -- rock & roll album, which stood in stark contrast to his previous full-lengths. His catalog was also used as the soundtrack to the documentary film Love Is All. Part of the Crossover Music Archive film project, the doc featured film clips from over 75 different sources set to some 20 of Hawley's compositions.

After a couple of short tours, Hawley retreated to Sheffield and suffered a broken leg. During his recuperation, he wrote Hollow Meadows (again named for a location in Sheffield). The album was recorded at the Yellow Arch Studios and co-produced with longtime guitarist Shez Sheridan and Colin Elliot. It featured guest appearances by Martin Simpson, Jarvis Cocker, and Nancy Kerr, and was released on September 11, 2015. After recuperating and playing select dates, Hawley settled back in Sheffield and wrote the score for the film Funny Cow, written by Tony Pitts and directed by Adrian Shergold. The finished score (which also contained additional songs by Ollie Trevers) contained the duet single "I Still Want You," recorded by Hawley and Corinne Bailey Rae. The recording was released as a stand-alone document by Laughing Girl in the spring of 2018, just as the film was widely screened on the U.S. indie circuit. The next year, Hawley released Further (his first album not to be named for a Sheffield locale), that juxtaposed his psychedelic rock and balladic indie pop styles. ~ Erik Hage