Paul Englishby is a prolific, versatile and award-winning composer for film, television, theatre, the concert hall and dance. His best-known work includes: five series of the BBC’s Luther (BATFA-nominated soundtrack); EMMY Award-winning music for David Hare’s Page Eight; his lyrical score for An Education, starring Carey Mulligan (for which Paul received an ASCAP award); box office and critical hit The Inheritance, directed by Stephen Daldry (London and Broadway, for which Paul was nominated for both Tony and Olivier Awards); and his many, varied and vivid scores for The Royal Shakespeare Company, with whom Paul has been an Associate Artist since 2018.
Recent scores include Lang Lang Plays Disney, for Disney+; the Big Band charts for Apple TV’s Masters of the Air, produced by Tom Hanks, Stephen Spielberg and Gary Goetzman; and vocal and jazz arrangements for Daniel Levy’s debut feature Good Grief (jazz composing and arranging being something of a speciality for Paul); and BAFTA winning TV film Together directed by Stephen Daldry, starring Sharon Hogan and James McAvoy; and The Canterville Ghost for the BBC. Recent theatre scores include Richard III and Cymbeline for the RSC and Jack Absolute Flies Again for the National Theatre.
Paul’s many other film and television credits illustrate his huge expressive range. These include the musical movie Sunshine on Leith, directed by Dexter Fletcher; the spy drama The Worricker Trilogy, starring Bill Nighy; the prime time action adventure The Musketeers for the BBC, the comedy murder-mystery series Queens of Mystery; Iraq War Inquiry drama Danny Boy starring Toby Jones, and period comedy Decline and Fall starring Jack Whitehall and Eva Logoria. Paul’s score for the The Witness for The Prosecution, directed by Julian Jarrold, was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award. Paul received a second ASCAP Award for his score for Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, directed by Bharat Nalluri and starring Amy Adams, Frances McDormand and Lee Pace.
Paul has over 20 credits for the RSC, including landmark productions of Hamlet directed by Gregory Doran, starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart; The Tempest, starring Simon Russell Beale; All’s Well That Ends Well, starring Judi Dench; and Death of a Salesman, starring Anthony Sher. His work with Director Stephen Daldry in the West End and on Broadway includes The Audience starring Helen Mirren; Skylight, starring Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan; as well as The Inheritance. His scores for the National Theatre include Emil and the Detectives, A Taste of Honey, Peter Gynt and The Visit.
In dance and ballet Paul’s work includes Imminent for Birmingham Royal Ballet, choreographed by Daniela Cardim; the critically acclaimed The Thief of Baghdad and Pleasure’s Progress for the Royal Opera House, both choreographed by Will Tuckett; and the ballet Pinocchio for National Ballet of Canada - an instant classic that Paul most recently conducted for Texas Ballet Theatre.
Paul Englishby studied composition at Goldsmiths college and the Royal Academy of Music. It was as a student at Goldsmith’s that Paul won his first major commission from the BBC as part of the Sound on Film series, resulting in his virtuosic orchestral score for Pictures on the Piano. At the Royal Academy of Music, Paul won the coveted Charles’ Lucas for composition and was awarded the Arthur Hervey scholarship for a further year’s study. He was made associate of the RAM in 2018.