Simon Russell is an EMMY Award winning freelance composer from the UK, composing music in a diverse range of styles for both Film and TV productions.
2014 EMMY Awards
Marc Bryan-Brown Photography.
® 2014 Marc Bryan-Brown.
Simon was awarded an EMMY in 2014 for his original soundtrack to “Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer”, a documentary film by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin.
July 2026
Once Upon a Time in Space premieres in the US on PBS July 14th
Prisoner 951; The Hostages’ Story nominated for Best Doc at the Edinburgh TV Awards
June 2026
One In A Million screening at DocFest Sheffield – Thursday June 11th & Saturday June 13th
One In A Million wins the Shine Global Children’s Resilience Award for best documentary
May 2026
final mixes for BBC doc
composing for a new Channel 4 series
April 2026
Once Upon a Time in Space nominated for a Rockie Award
Prisoner 951: The Hostages’ Story nominated for a Rockie Award
composing for a new BBC1 documentary
The Battle for Tibet has been nominated for an Emmy
One In a Million premiere in New York April 26th
March 2026
One In A Million showing at the Copenhagen Doc Festival 14th-18th March
Operation Dark Phone – nominated in True Crime Awards 2026 Outstanding 3 or more part docu series
February 2026
Panorama; Our Man in Moscow – film about BBC Russia Correspondent Steve Rosenberg – tx 2nd February 8pm BBC1
One in a Million wins Directing Award and Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival
Not Welcome; The Battle to Stop the Boats – tx Thursday 12th Feb 10pm Channel 4
January 2026
composing music for a film about Steve Rosenberg – the BBC Moscow correspondent
One In A Million screening at Sundance festival Jan 23rd-26th
December 2025
Prisoner 951; The Hostages’ Story airs on December 3rd 9pm BBC2 – the story of Nazanin Radcliffe’s 6 year imprisonment in Iran
Taylor – the Taylor Swift story screens at the Curzon Bloomsbury December 3rd
One in a Million has been selected for the Sundance Film Festival screening in January 2026
the soundtrack to Once Upon a Time in Space is now available on all streaming platforms
November 2025
Panorama; Trump and the Tech Titans broadcast 3rd November BBC 1
Episode 2 Once Upon a Time in Space broadcast 3rd November BBC 2
Inside China; The Battle For Tibet wins Arts & Culture story of the year at 2025 Foreign Press Awards
Ghislaine Maxwell: The Making of a Monster repeated on Channel 4 25th November 10pm
Operation Dark Phone: Murder by Text shortlisted for a Broadcast Award
October 2025
mixes for Once Upon a Time in Space – due for broadcast end of October
composed music for Prisoner 951: The Hostages’ Story – directed by Erica Gornall – tells the story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
Once Upon a Time in Space directed by James Bluemel begins Monday 27th October BBC2
September 2025
Art’s Most series with Waldemar Januszczak begins on Sky Arts on September 30th
Taylor – 2 part series about Taylor Swift – both episodes to be broadcast back to back on Channel 4 September 30th 9.15pm
writing music for BBC 4 part series Once Upon a Time in Space due to be broadcast in October
composing for a new Panorama film
writing music for One in a Million – film following a Syrian refugee over 10 years
July 2025
Operation Dark Phone: Murder by Text – 4 part series begins on Channel 4 27th July 9pm
Al Fayed; Predator at Harrods makes the Grierson longlist