John E. Keane is a British BAFTA and BFI Award-winning film and television composer. He has been nominated for two British Academy of Film and Television Arts

British Academy of Film and Television Arts

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...

 (BAFTA) awards, for A Very British Coup

A Very British Coup

A Very British Coup is a 1982 novel by British politician Chris Mullin. In 1988, the novel was adapted for television, directed by Mick Jackson, with a screenplay by Alan Plater and starring Ray McAnally...

 in 1989 and Hornblower: The Even Chance

The Even Chance

The Even Chance is the first of a number of TV adaptations of the exploits of Horatio Hornblower, first related by C.S. Forester.The Even Chance is the name given to this first film in the United Kingdom, while in the United States it is known as The Duel...

 in 1999.

Keane's many credits include the 1993 miniseries

Miniseries

A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...

 Tales of the City

Tales of the City (miniseries)

Tales of the City is a 1993 television miniseries based on the first of the Tales of the City series of novels by Armistead Maupin.To date, the first three books in the sequence have been adapted into television miniseries; the first, Tales of the City, was produced by the UK's Channel 4 and was...

, the 1998 film Hideous Kinky

Hideous Kinky

Hideous Kinky is an autobiographical novel by Esther Freud, daughter of British painter Lucian Freud and great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud. In 1998, a film adaptation was produced. It depicts her hippy childhood in Morocco with her elder sister, Bella....

 and multiple installments of Hornblower

Hornblower (TV series)

Hornblower is the umbrella title of a series of television drama programmes based on C. S. Forester's novels about the fictional character Horatio Hornblower, a Royal Naval officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars....

 between 1998 and 2003.

Early years

Keane studied composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...

 with Edmund Rubbra

Edmund Rubbra

Edmund Rubbra was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak of his fame in the mid-20th century. The most famous of his pieces are his eleven...

, and piano with Geraldine Peppin. He went on to study sound recording and film music at the National Film and Television School

National Film and Television School

The National Film and Television School was established in 1971 and is based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, and it is located close to Pinewood Studios.-History:...

. Here he scored numerous graduation films, and his successful career as a composer was launched in1986 with his score for CARELESS TALK, winner of the BAFTA Short Film Award 1986.
John quickly established himself in the Film and Television Music industry in 1987 when he scored THE KITCHEN TOTO directed by Harry Hook. The film won the Tokyo Grand Prize and John won a prize for Best Sound Track at the "Festival International du Film et de la Jeunesse". The same year he won the 1987 British Film Institute

British Film Institute

The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...

 prize for Young Composer of the Year.

Film and TV

John’s first television commission was for the highly acclaimed serial A Very British Coup

A Very British Coup

A Very British Coup is a 1982 novel by British politician Chris Mullin. In 1988, the novel was adapted for television, directed by Mick Jackson, with a screenplay by Alan Plater and starring Ray McAnally...

 for director Mick Jackson. The serial received many awards, including an International Emmy for Best Drama, 5 BAFTA Awards and a BAFTA Nomination for Best Music, Best Drama Series from Broadcasting Press Guild, and at the Banff Festival, Toronto.
Since then John has written the music for a host of high profile television drama including TALES FROM THE CITY, HEARTS AND MINDS, KAVANAGH QC, FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, WIVES AND DAUGHTERS, THE LAST OF THE BLOND BOMBSHELLS, Anna Karenina, THE RUSSIAN BRIDE, GUNPOWDER TREASON & PLOT Mansfield Park

Mansfield Park (2007 TV drama)

Mansfield Park, an adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel of the same name, premiered on 18 March 2007 on the UK network ITV at 9 p.m., as part of their Jane Austen Season. It was filmed at Newby Hall, North Yorkshire, England. It made its TV debut in Canada on 23 December 2007 and in the...

 starring Billie Piper

Billie Piper

Billie Paul Piper is an English singer and actress.She began her career in the late 1990s as a pop singer and then switched to acting. She started in acting and dancing and was talent spotted at the Sylvia Young stage school by Smash Hits magazine who wanted a "face" for their magazine...

 and the Emmy Award winning HORNBLOWER. More recently he has scored two episodes of the BBC’s new drama-documentary series WARRIORS (SHOGUN and CORTES)."

John has written music for a number of award winning documentary series including Molly Dineen’s BBC THE ARK, winner of a BAFTA Award, and The House, about London’s Royal Opera House. He has also written music for a number of feature films, including four films directed by Gilles McKinnon - SMALL FACES, TROJAN EDDIE, Hideous Kinky

Hideous Kinky

Hideous Kinky is an autobiographical novel by Esther Freud, daughter of British painter Lucian Freud and great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud. In 1998, a film adaptation was produced. It depicts her hippy childhood in Morocco with her elder sister, Bella....

starring Kate Winslet, and TARA ROAD.

Feature film

2005

• Tara Road

1998

• Hideous Kinky

1997

• A Further Gesture

1996

• Letters From The East
• Trojan Eddie
• Small Faces

1990

• Windprints

1989

• Chattahoochee
• Resurrected

1987

• The Kitchen Toto

1986

• Nanou

TV Films/Series

2008

• Sleep With Me
• Gently's Last Case

2007

• Mansfield Park
• Who Gets The Dog?

2006

• Perfect Day (The Funeral)

2005

• Wallis & Edward
• Uncle Adolf
• Tom Brown's Schooldays

2004

• Gunpowder, Treason & Plot
• The Brief
• Sparkling Cyanide
• A Line In The Sand

2002

• Bait
• Night Flight

2001

• The Russian Bride
• Hornblower (series 1,2,3)

1999

• Kavanagh QC Series V

1998

• Far From The Madding Crowd
• Kavanagh QC Series IV

1997

• Plotlands (6 part serial)
• Stone Scissors Paper
• Kavanagh QC Series III

1996

• Kavanagh QC Series II

1995

• Killing Me Softly
• Mrs Hartley & the Growth Centre
• I'll Be Watching You

1993

• Circle of Deceit
• Tales of the City
• Maigret (2 episodes)

1992

• Force of Duty
• The Last Of His Tribe
• The Count of Solar
• The Hummingbird Tree

1991

• The Gravy Train Goes East
• Selling Hitler
• One Man's War

1990

• Murder East Murder West
• Stolen
• The Gravy Train

1988

• Defrosting The Fridge
• A Very British Coup
• Leaving

1985

• Careless Talk

Documentaries

2008

• Heroes and Villains - Cortes
• Heroes and Villains - Shogun

2006

• Wolf

2003

• Out Of The Ashes

2002

• Princess To Queen

2001

• The English Civil War

1996

• The House

1994

• True Brits: The Foreign Office

1993

• English Women's Garden
• The Ark

1991

• Billy - A Violent Mind

1989

• EastEnd GP's
• Landshapes

1986

• Movie Masterclass

External links