Murray Gold

Described as the U.K.'s answer to Bear McCreary, Murray Gold is one of the most successful TV composers of the last decade. Born in Portsmouth in 1969, Gold started playing the piano at the age of six, and in his teens he arranged for high-school brass ensembles. After studying History at Cambridge University, he worked on a theater production at the Edinburgh Festival and became a scriptwriter for Channel 5 before his first score of a BBC-TV adaptation of Vanity Fair launched his composing career. A regular stalwart of writer Russell T. Davies, Gold provided the soundtracks for Queer as Folk and Casanova, and in 2005 he became the musical director of the revamped Doctor Who, creating a new arrangement for its iconic theme tune. Since then, five compilation albums featuring the music for the sci-fi series have been released. Featuring vocal contributions from soprano Melanie Pappenheim and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon, the collections have become the biggest-selling TV soundtracks in the U.K. In 2010 he performed at The Proms and arranged and orchestrated two live Doctor Who concerts at Cardiff's Millennium Centre and London's Royal Albert Hall. Gold has also scored several movies, including Death at a Funeral and Alien Autopsy, and wrote the soundtrack to Doctor Who spinoffs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. ~ Jon O'Brien, Rovi