Interview by Paul Salfen
Tim Phillips is an award-winning Canadian/British composer and lyricist. In this interview he tells Paul Salfen about the creative process while working with PJ Harvey on the Score of “Bad Sisters.”
A delicious blend of both dark comedy and thriller, “Bad Sisters” follows the lives of the Garvey sisters, who are bound together by the premature death of their parents and a promise to always protect one another. The series stars Sharon Horgan, alongside Anne-Marie Duff (“Suffragette,” “The Salisbury Poisonings”), Eva Birthistle (“Brooklyn,” “The Last Kingdom”), Sarah Greene (“Frank of Ireland,” “Dublin Murders”) and Eve Hewson (“Behind her Eyes,” “The Luminaries”) as the Garvey sisters.
He co-created the musical The Grinning Man, which began life at the Bristol Old Vic and then became a hit in the West End, to widespread critical acclaim and a full run of standing ovations (“crowned by an extraordinary score” – Whatsonstage). Tim is now developing new musicals with various collaborators around the world. He is also Co-Artistic Director of Filter Theatre, one of Britain’s’s most innovative and critically acclaimed theatre companies. Filter shows have toured extensively. In media he has scored a variety of prestigious television dramas including the recent hit STARZ series Shining Vale (starring Courteney Cox, Greg Kinnear, and Mira Sorvino), Channel 4’s Shameless and Ackley Bridge, the BBC film of Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot (starring Judi Dench and Dustin Hoffman), and the epic period drama Jericho for ITV, amongst others. In North America his scoring credits include Entourage and Delete, as well as the upcoming major period drama Becoming Elizabeth for STARZ and Sharon Horgan’s Bad Sisters for Apple TV. In 2013 Tim composed and conducted the orchestral score to the acclaimed hit Dragon, for Vox Motus/The National Theatre of Scotland and Tianjin People’s Art Theatre of China. Tim’s music from the Dragon soundtrack has been released as an album and licensed regularly including to major Hollywood films, such as Alice In Wonderland.
Tim is currently working on a new album entitled Norman’s Brain and the Stars as well as his new musical Candlewood Lake, recently commissioned by a US producer.
