He joined Doctor Who (1963) in 1988 for its final two seasons while Sylvester McCoy was starring as the Doctor (1987-89) and shared the role of incidental music composer with the two other regular electronic composers on the series at the time, Dominic Glynn and Keff McCulloch.
He is a major supporter of the European Union and opponent of Brexit.
He supported Labour (and re-tweeted Jeremy Corbyn) at the 2019 general election.