‘You could argue that his name is effectively the definition of quality, authenticity and trust when it comes to natural history,’ composer Segun Akinola tells us in our new short film Composing for a Centurion, marking Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday tomorrow (8 May). ‘That’s how much of an influence he’s had over his many, many decades of work.’
Segun, who composed the score for Sir David’s Kingdom documentary in 2025, is one of three PRS members who spoke to us about the legendary broadcaster’s landmark birthday and their own connections to his vast career. For Segun, the chance to write the score for one of Sir David’s natural history documentaries was too good to pass up.
‘Working on a David Attenborough series was one of my goals in life,’ he tells M. ‘So to have now worked on one is incredibly special, and Kingdom does sit in a different place to everything else that I’ve worked on.’
‘Working on a David Attenborough series was one of my goals in life.' - Segun Akinola
Speaking in our film, Elizabeth Parker, renowned for her work in the BBC’s pioneering Radiophonic Workshop, recalls the often-experimental approach she took in composing the music for 1984’s 12-episode series The Living Planet.
‘In one scene there's a couple of stick insects having a fight, so I used sticks as the basis for the percussion track,’ she explains. ‘[Another scene features] a weedy seadragon, which I know is one of David Attenborough's favourite creatures. For that, I sampled the sound from a comb, just rippling down its edges. I was really trying to get the music to emerge from natural sounds — that was my basic [creative] philosophy.’
Describing her Living Planet score as the work she’s ‘most proud of’, Elizabeth is forever grateful to Sir David for giving her his backing.
‘For The Living Planet, I was asked to produce a 20-minute demo for Sir David and his team. They had no idea who I was, other than that I was at the Radiophonic Workshop. I played this demo to a large group of people — I think there were about three other women there — in an enormous room.
'At the end, there was complete silence. Sir David then stood up and, I just remember it [so clearly], said, “Well, I don't know about anybody else, but I think that's the way we want to go.”’
‘He wears it lightly, but Sir David has a huge responsibility to the British public.' - George Fenton
George Fenton has been one of the most prolific composers for Sir David’s documentaries, having scored such acclaimed series as The Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Frozen Planet. He continues to be inspired by the broadcaster’s longevity, pointing to 2023’s Wild Isles as one of his favourite productions.
‘It’s about the British Isles and Sir David at home — and he's in it! That, to me, always gives something extra. So however magnificent The Blue Planet, Frozen Planet, Planet Earth and all those things are, in Wild Isles he's actually present. He was in his mid-90s then, but still lying on a rock in Skoma off the coast of Wales, or he's there at midnight talking to camera in the middle of a bird colony, just like he did [in years previously]. I found that to be very touching and very moving.’
As we celebrate Sir David’s 100th birthday and his magnificent career on our screens, our three composers are all keen that future generations of viewers and media composers alike can continue to take inspiration and guidance from the broadcaster’s rich television career.
‘He wears it lightly, but Sir David has a huge responsibility to the British public,’ George says. ‘I think people expect him to just go on and on, and I just hope he does.’
