A personal testimonial by the award-nominated performer of BBC’s television series, ‘Look Around You.’ 
Interview: Peter Serafinowicz By: Paul Kaufman Look Around You is one of the BBC's newest and most original comedy series. Remember those science programs of the 70's and 80's that wondered what life would be like in the year 2000? Did you ever sit through those school educational programs that told you about 'the wonders of zinc or "our friend the atom"? Well, Look Around You takes these programs and tears them to pieces! They are totally authentic and played completely straight, right down to the 70's style music, the excruciating fashion sense, a sense of wonder about technology and the assumption that everything they show will definitely be available by the end of the century. Peter Serafinowicz, who is one of the main writers as well as playing 'Peter Packard', the lead presenter, is a keen fan of SampleTank® 2 and tells us that it was heavily used throughout the series. "Remember 'Synthesizer Patel'? That was SampleTank® 2. Remember Teddy Clarke and the Vegetable Orchestra? That was also SampleTank® 2!!" Peter told us: "When we were making Look Around You, we had to make the music sound as though it had been recorded in the late seventies - which of course means analogue. And not a sort of 'nouveau-retro' analogue, either - if it sounded like it had been Pro-Tool'ed, then the game was up! We found that we used SampleTank 2 for most of our compositions - there's an almost overwhelming range of real sounding instruments that are super easy to use and mess about with." "I wish we would have had Sonik Synth™ 2 while we were making the series! There's a staggering collection of synths here, lovingly and thoughtfully put together, and all easily accessible via the splendid SampleTank® 2 interface. The effort that has gone into the reproductions of the familiar (and not-so familiar!) sounds is monumental - from chuffing Oberheims, to robotic ARPs, to Lennony Mellotrons, the quality of the hundreds and hundreds of sounds is never less than excellent, and in many cases the sounds are so spookily evocative you'll feel like you're playing a time machine!" For full details on the series, including your chance to play one of Synthesizer Patel's beloved keyboards and to hear more about the Vegetable Orchestra just click here. About Peter Serafinowicz: Peter Serafinowicz was born in Liverpool. He made his radio debut in 1993 on Radio 1's The Knowledge, a spoof documentary about the music industry. He went on to perform voice work for the Radio 4 series Weekending, Harry Hill's Fruit Corner and Grevious Bodily Radio. In 1997, he appeared on screen in Murder Most Horrid and then as Brian May in Comedy Nation on BBC 2. His role as Dean Yardley in How Do You Want Me? brought him further attention; he returned working alongside Dylan Moran in 2002 with a cameo in Black Books. Roles followed in the series Chambers (with John Bird) and in World of Pub, which ran for three years. Serafinowicz seems to have a recurring role as Simon Pegg's nemesis, appearing both as Duane Benzie in the magnificent Spaced and as Robin in the underrated sitcom Hippies. His distinctive voice landed him the vocal role in Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, an experience he described in an interview with Star Wars Insider: - "I was trying to exude this coolness, but I kept tripping over things - inside I was nearly having a heart attack…I did my impression of Darth Vader for [George Lucas] and he laughed." He remained busy throughout the early nineties with work on both Radio 4 and on TV, including appearing briefly in the pilot of Little Britain in 2002. However, it's been his collaborations with Robert Popper that has brought him the most attention. They met in 1998 on You Are Here, and after a number of successful projects they received a BAFTA nomination in 2002 for Look Around You. Serafinowicz and Popper wrote, produced, starred, composed and performed the show's music as 'Gelg'. Series Two is scheduled for early 2005, and Serafinowicz is also writing a thirty-minute script with Popper for the BBC. He plays Kenny in the ITV sitcom Hardware, written by Men Behaving Badly's Simon Nye. The series was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2004. For more information on Peter Serafinowicz, click here. 2005-07-08 |
