Ep. 574 - David Arnold - Film composer of 5 James Bond films, Independence Day, Godzilla and many more
My Time Capsule
Cast Off Productions
4.8 • 842 Ratings
🗓️ 29 March 2026
⏱️ 85 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
David Arnold is a British film and television composer, best known for scoring five James Bond films—Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace—helping to redefine the modern sound of the franchise. His blockbuster film credits also include Independence Day, Godzilla, Stargate, Zoolander The Day After Tomorrow, 2 Fast 2 Furious and Hot Fuzz. On television, Arnold has composed for major series including Sherlock, Good Omens and Little Britain. HIs early work includes the themes for The Big Breakfast, Live and Kicking and Tomorrow’s World. His work has received numerous honours, including a Grammy Award for Independence Day, an Ivor Novello Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award for Sherlock. Arnold is widely regarded as one of the leading composers of his generation, with a career spanning some of the most iconic film and television scores of the past three decades.
David Arnold is our guest in episode 574 of My Time Capsule and he chats to Michael Fenton Stevens about the five things he’d like to put in a time capsule; four he’d like to preserve and one he’d like to bury and never have to think about again .
Buy tickets for David Arnold at The London Soundtrack Festival here - https://londonsoundtrack.com .
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Produced and edited by John Fenton-Stevens for Cast Off Productions .
Music by Pass The Peas Music .
Artwork by matthewboxall.com .
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to my time capsule. My name's Mike Fenton-Stevens, and my time capsule is the podcast where people tell me five things from their life they wish they had in a time capsule. |
| 0:21.9 | They pick four things they really cherish and one thing they'd like to bury and forget. |
| 0:27.3 | My guest in this episode is David Arnold. |
| 0:30.8 | David is an English film and TV composer, best known for scoring no less than five James Bond films, |
| 0:38.9 | including the BAFTA and Grammy-nominated score for Casino Royale, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. |
| 0:45.0 | Yes, 20 years old, hard to believe. He'd already written the score for Tomorrow Never Dies, |
| 0:50.2 | Pierce Brosnan's second outing as 007, proving he was the rightful heir to the great John Barry. |
| 0:56.7 | David would go on to pen the music for a further four Bond films. |
| 1:00.6 | David also scored the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack for the film Independence Day. |
| 1:05.3 | He scored Godzilla, Zoolander, Hot Farts, Last of the Dogmen, the Stepford Wives, |
| 1:12.0 | The Chronicles of Narnia, |
| 1:17.0 | The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Amazing Grace, and Too Fast, Too Furious. |
| 1:21.2 | And he's written some of the most iconic TV soundtracks of the 21st century, |
| 1:24.4 | such as the Emmy winning score for BBC's Sherlock, |
| 1:29.9 | and the double Emmy nominated score for Good Omen's with David Tennant and Michael Sheen. |
| 1:36.0 | David is the headliner of the London Soundtrack Festival from the 9th to the 12th of April this year. |
| 1:41.8 | London's first ever dedicated annual festival celebrating the music of TV, film and games. |
| 1:45.9 | David's music is celebrated in the festival's opening night concert, |
| 1:51.6 | homegrown heroes at the Barbican on the 9th of April, followed by a question and answer talk at the Royal College of Music on the 11th of April, where David will share never before heard |
| 1:56.8 | insights into his composition process. There's a link in the written description of this episode |
| 2:01.7 | as ever. So let's hear from the man behind music that most people in the world have heard |
| 2:07.2 | without knowing he was responsible for it and discovered the four things he cherishes and the one |
... |
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