Born in Australia and having begun his career there, Ron Grainer came to London in 1952 where he spent the majority of his career, memorable to generations of television viewers in the UK and across the world. He is particularly known for his themes for Doctor Who, The Prisoner, Steptoe and Son and Tales of the Unexpected.
Grainer’s Doctor Who theme composition became the legendary, global theme we know thanks to the arrangement of Delia Derbyshire, who Grainer endeavoured to be credited as a co-composer but was prevented by BBC bureaucracy.
His breakthrough came in 1960 with his theme and incidental music for the TV series Maigret which won the Ivor Novello Award for "Outstanding Composition for Film, TV or Radio" award in 1961. This led to an incredibly rich period of Grainer’s career and diverse film and tv credits including documentaries (Terminus, 1961), the kitchen sink drama (A Kind of Loving), the sitcom (Steptoe and Son 1962), series (Oliver Twist 1962), late night satire (That Was The Week That Was, 1962), ballet (The King's Breakfast, 1963), science fiction (Doctor Who, 1963), children's adventure stories (The Moon Spinners, 1964), patriotic biography (The Finest Hours, 1964), big-budget musicals (Robert and Elizabeth, 1964), love stories (Boy Meets Girl, 1967), acclaimed dramas To Sir, with Love (1967), allegorical social commentary (The Prisoner, 1967) and the crime-caper movie (Only When I Larf, 1968).
Later work before his sudden death in 1981 included scoring the Emmy and BAFTA winning mini-series Edward & Mrs Simpson , Tales of the Unexpected (1979) and Rebecca (1979).
