Teen answered phone call and had to keep a secret for months
A teenager made TV history after answering a vital phone call.
Patrick Bennett comes from a very sporty family. However, when it became clear he did not share the same ability, his dad Greg came up with an idea.
Patrick said: “I got interested in music at about 10 years old when dad bought me a guitar because I wasn't very good at football. We were all big LFC fans.
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“At about 14, I was in the cinema watching the film 1917. The score was written by Thomas Newman. There was a particular scene of this French town which had been bombed out. The music over the top blew me away. From then on, I was like right, I’ve got to do that.
Patrick began his music course at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA) last year. Though he is from Cambridge originally, he has many family members from Merseyside.
Now living in Liverpool city centre, he set about building his way up in the industry and acquired Roag Best, a Liverpool musician and brother of former Beatle, Pete Best, as his agent.
Earlier this year, Roag told him about an exciting opportunity. Speaking to the ECHO, Patrick said: “When I came along, I shared my film music. He said, I know a few directors, I’ll give them a call.
“A couple of weeks later I got a phone call after a LIPA lecturer. He said, 'an amazing opportunity has just come your way. LA Productions, the director, has just finished this series in Scotland. He wants you to score a few scenes.'”
That man was Colin McKeown, who leads the Liverpool-based production company. He was working on the second series of Granite Harbour, a BBC crime drama set in Aberdeen. Gradually, Patrick began doing more and more work on the show.
Patrick said: “They initially gave me a few scenes and said, give it a go. I kept coming back. Roag said, 'why don't you score the whole opening title sequence and theme?' I said, they didn't ask me to do that. He said, 'do it anyway.'”
Colin and the production team were so impressed by Patrick’s work they invited him to compose the whole series. Aged 19, this makes him the youngest composer in British broadcasting history.
Patrick said: “It's incredible. I'm incredibly grateful for everyone who’s given me this marvellous opportunity. It's just brilliant.
“I had to find a voice for it through experimenting with different techniques. Since writing the theme tune, that has spring boarded me into other pieces for the series. I tried to blur the line between more classic and acoustic sounds, and more electronic synth.”
However, because Patrick was seeing full episodes before their official broadcast, he had to keep his new job secret from most people he knew. He said: “I got given the episodes for series two so I knew what was going to happen.
“I told my family but I couldn't tell LIPA, I couldn't really tell any of my mates. I had to take a step back from the educational side of things and focus on this. I did have to keep it quite on the down-low. It’s like a sense of now, I can tell everyone, I'm free.”
Patrick was impressed when he finally got to see his work on the big screen. He said: “We got to go down to BAFTA for the screening. It was a fantastic experience. We went into the Princess Anne theatre and got to see episode one.
“John Barnes was there which my dad was very jealous of. Hearing my own score in a cinema of that calibre was just fantastic. It was crazy hearing my own music on such big speakers.”
Patrick is hoping the work will get him more opportunities in the industry, and says he has already been approached to work on a feature film. He is very grateful for his dad’s quick thinking all those years ago.
He said: “I'd always been very creative growing up. I'd always liked drawing at school, I did drama at GCSE. When my dad got my guitar and I found music, that was the perfect way to channel that creativity.”
All three episodes of Granite Harbour series two are available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.
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