There has been an explosion in the global popularity of contemporary South Korean culture, often referred to by the Chinese word Hallyu - meaning Korean Wave. - which is also being reflected in a current exhibition at Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Matthew Sweet foregrounds music from highly praised films such as Parasite, Snowpiercer, The Handmaiden and Oldboy and also takes a look at the huge interest in Korean TV music for the streaming services, including cues from Jung Jae-il for Squid Game ..read more

Music for film reflecting cinema's engagement with the idea of an over populated planet prompted by the release this week of Chie Hayakawa's Japanese feature, 'Plan 75', with a score by Jeremie Archache and Christophe Musset. The programme also includes music from 'Inferno' by Hans Zimmer, 'Passengers' by Thomas Newman, 'Idiocracy' by Theodore Shapiro, Miklos Rozsa's 'The World, The Flesh and The Devil', Fred Myrow's 'Soylent Green' as well as cues from 'Cloud Atlas', 'Elysium', 'What Happened To Monday' and Craig Armstromg's 'In Time'. Also in the line up is Alan Silvestri's 'Avengers - Infin ..read more

With the screen adaptation of Rachel Joyce's novel 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' out this week, scored by folk musician Sam Lee, Matthew Sweet looks at cinema's engagement with the folk tradition ..read more

With the release this week of Chris McKay's new film Renfield, Matthew Sweet looks back at the many appearances of Dracula on our screens and at the music the count has inspired. The programme looks back to some of the earliest cinematic manifestations of Dracula, from the 1920s, including the silent classic 'Nosferatu' and brings things right up to date with scores from Wojciech Kilar, Popol Vuh, Dan Jones, Philip Glass, James Bernard, Mark Isham, John Williams and Marco Beltrami ..read more

Matthew Sweet marks Earth Day with a look at screen music composed to celebrate the natural world. He is joined by composer Sarah Class, who has written many scores foregrounding environmental issues and for natural history documentaries, and is one of the chosen composers commissioned to write a new piece for the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla. Sarah talks about her approach to writing for wildlife films. As well as music by Sarah the programme features scores from Hans Zimmer, George Fenton, Frank Churchill, Alex Wurman, Harry Gregson-Williams and Éric Serra ..read more

During the period of New Year resolutions Matthew Sweet looks at music for films which offer the opportunity of a "second chance", including 'It's a Wonderful Life', 'The Artist', 'The Pursuit of Happyness', 'Soul', 'Living', 'Mrs Jones Goes To Paris', 'Groundhog Day' and 'Star Trek IV - The Journey Home'. Matthew also focuses on music composed for the various screen versions of Charles Dickens's perennial seasonal favourite 'A Christmas Carol' and marking the 30th anniversary of 'The Muppet Christmas Carol' - his Classic Score of the Week - he talks to songwriter Paul Williams about composing ..read more

Matthew Sweet talks with the wildly successful, classically trained Dutch composer Tom Holkenborg, a.k.a. Junkie XL, a star of club electronica, video games and film scores. Tom talks about looking to composition masters for influence, making brand new instruments and writing 95 melodies to find the perfect one for his latest film, Three Thousand Years of Longing ..read more

John Debney, composer of scores for films such as Elf, Jetsons: The Movie, Hocus Pocus and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, joins Matthew Sweet for a look back on his prodigious Hollywood career. John has a long association with the Disney studios and he explains to Matthew the extraordinary story of how his Disney career came about, of writing music for films such Bruce Almighty and The Passion of the Christ, and about his latest score for a new film inspired by an American sporting hero ..read more

On Oscars weekend, Matthew looks back on the 70th Academy Award Ceremony, to date the most watched ever Oscars. What was it about the films of 1997 that really caught the public imagination? Featuring classic scores from James Horner (Titanic), Hans Zimmer (As Good As It Gets), Edward Shearmur (The Wings of the Dove), Jerry Goldsmith (Air Force One) and Michael Nyman (Gattaca ..read more