Silva Screen

“a memorable score” - Radio Times

Arthur Sharpe’s soundtrack for The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies.

The dark, comic and unpredictable five-episode thriller series is written by siblings Penelope Skinner (Fresh Meat, Linda, Briony Hatch - a graphic novel) and Ginny Skinner (Briony Hatch - a graphic novel). Starring stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Alistair Petrie, Rebekah Staton, Romola Garai, and Derek Jacobi, the series follows Alistair Petrie’s sleazebag serial scammer, Robert, engaging in a game of cat and mouse with Alice (Rebekah Staton), the abandoned ex-wife who thought he was dead, and Cheryl (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) the successful fantasy author who he is currently attempting to extort money from.

Penelope and Ginny Skinner observe - “In a world where convicted conmen become overnight cultural icons, bypassing blame on their way to fame, we have been inspired to fight back against the glorification of the predator. We want to tell a story about the real heroes of any scam: those who risk everything to call out the perpetrators.”

Den of Geek describes the series stylistic form - “The BBC scammer drama isn't a biopic, but it comes with shades of reality” while The Guardian describes Alice’s quest for revenge as a “total thrill”. The intricacies of composing a soundtrack for such a form is explained by composer Arthur Sharpe - “To create a sound world within which the music spans the bright colours of the visuals to the dark insidiousness of a conman, I employed a wide variety of sounds.

The score is an amalgam of harpsichords, harps, strings and marimbas driven along by the beats of the Bangers & Crash percussion group, with added sprinklings of detuned echos, scaffolding, broken floor tiles and a metal toy box; all combinations augmenting and supporting the storyline peppered with deceit and paranoia. It reflects Alice's attempts to out the ex-husband who destroyed her life as he attempts to woo and steal from his new victim, the unsuspecting fantasy author and recently widowed Cheryl.” Delightful and surprising, Arthur’s soundtrack proves a perfect fit for the series.

Arthur Sharpe is a BAFTA, Ivor Novello and RTS Award-winning film and TV composer. He is known for his HBO & Sky Atlantic series Landscapers (2021), a genre-distorting true crime drama starring Olivia Colman and David Thewlis, for which he won multiple awards including the 2022 BAFTA for Best Original Music and the Ivor Novello Award for Best Television Soundtrack; and the feature film The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021), a Victorian-era artist’s biopic starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy. Other notable works include BBC1 comedy Ghosts (2019 - present), Women On The Verge (2018) created by Lorna Martin and Sharon Horgan, Neil Forsyth’s BBC Scotland & BBC2 drama Guilt (2019 – 2023) and C4’s black comedy drama Flowers (2016-2018) starring Sophia Di Martino, Olivia Colman and Julian Barrett.

The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies first episode aired on Tuesday 29th August on 2023 BBC One.