Composer George Fenton, known for Blue Planet and Gandhi scores, dies aged 76

Centre · 2The composer George Fenton died unexpectedly on Monday 5 October 2026, aged 76, according to his management company CMG. 1 2 Centre · 2A statement said: "We are sad to announce that George Fenton passed away unexpectedly today." It listed the people he leaves behind: his wife Amanda, ex-wife Jane, children Gemma, Grace and Bridget, and six grandchildren. It also said he leaves "a life of music". The BBC attributed the statement to his family, while the Evening Standard attributed it to a CMG spokesperson. Management said he died in London. 1 2 Centre · 1Fenton was born George Howe in Bromley, Kent, in 1949. He began as a performer, appearing in Alan Bennett's first West End play Forty Years On in 1968, when he took his mother's maiden name because of union rules. He had a recurring role in the ITV soap Emmerdale Farm in the mid-1970s, and he scored a top 10 hit in Sweden with a cover of The Beatles' Maxwell's Silver Hammer. He moved into composing, and his first job was as composer and musical director for Twelfth Night at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1974. 2

Centre · 1Fenton received five Oscar nominations for film scores. These included Richard Attenborough's Gandhi, on which he worked with Ravi Shankar, and Cry Freedom, which brought two nominations, for score and song, and The Remains of the Day. His other film credits included Groundhog Day, The Fisher King, You've Got Mail, Sweet Home Alabama, The Lady in the Van and Mrs Henderson Presents. 2 Centre · 2He scored more films for the director Ken Loach than any other composer, in 18 collaborations. These included I, Daniel Blake and The Wind That Shakes the Barley, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2006. 2 1 Centre · 2For television, Fenton wrote music for The Jewel in the Crown, The Monocled Mutineer and Alan Bennett's Talking Heads in the 1980s. He also wrote theme tunes for BBC programmes including the One, Six and Nine O'Clock News, Newsnight and The Money Programme. The BBC adds Radio 4's PM Programme. 1 2

Centre · 2In 1990 he scored his first natural history series, David Attenborough's The Trials of Life, followed by Life in the Freezer. Alastair Fothergill then asked him to compose The Blue Planet in 2001, which began a decade of work on Planet Earth, Frozen Planet and Life. He reunited with Fothergill and Attenborough for Wild Isles in 2022. The Blue Planet in Concert was later performed by leading orchestras around the world. 1 2 Centre · 2According to his website, he won 28 awards for composition, including Baftas, Emmys, Ivor Novellos, BMIs and a Classic Brit. He was made a CBE for services to music in 2023. He founded the Association of Professional Composers, which later merged with The Ivors Academy, and he was a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music and the University of Nottingham. 1 2 Centre · 2Neither outlet gives a cause of death beyond the description "unexpectedly". 2 1