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This Town soundtrack: All songs in the BBC drama

The soundtrack features songs from artists including Bob Marley, Ray Charles and UB40.

Levi Brown as Dante Williams in This Town, holding a record and stood in a record shop

BBC/Banijay Rights/Kudos

Published: Saturday, 6 April 2024 at 10:51 am

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Prolific screenwriter Steven Knight has always known how to utilise a strong soundtrack in his projects, but This Town is a particularly noteworthy example as music plays a "central" role in the story.

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Set in the 1980s across Birmingham and the Midlands, the story follows a young poet named Dante (Levi Brown), who forms a band that quickly finds itself at the centre of a growing yet volatile music scene.

The soundtrack includes a diverse list of iconic artists that really breathes life into the era, from Bob Marley to Blondie and from Talking Heads to Toots and the Maytals – it really is a stellar line-up.

Alongside the jukebox of timeless hits, This Town has also enlisted several contemporary artists to provide cover versions of popular tracks as well as to lend their vocals to original songs penned by Dan Carey and Kae Tempest.

Read on for a full list of the songs featured in This Town – and everything you need to know about the original soundtrack.

This Town soundtrack: All songs in the BBC drama

This Town episode 1 songs

Levi Brown as Dante Williams and Eve Austin as Jeannie Keefe in This Town. They are sat in a truck, she is driving, and in between them is an empty space suit

Levi Brown as Dante Williams and Eve Austin as Jeannie Keefe in This Town. Banijay Rights/Kudos/Robert Viglasky

This Town episode 2 songs

This Town episode 3 songs

This Town episode 4 songs

This Town episode 5 songs

This Town episode 6 songs

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Who composed the soundtrack for This Town?

Ben Rose as Bardon Quinn in This Town, stood in front of a billboard advertising a car and wearing a brown jacket and yellow t-shirt

Ben Rose as Bardon Quinn in This Town. BBC/Banijay Rights/Kudos

As well as featuring a host of well-known popular songs from the '80s and before, This Town also features a number of covers and original songs composed for the series.

Six major artists provided covers for the show, each of whom feature over the credits of the episodes. These artists are: Celeste, Gregory Porter, Olivia Dean, Ray Laurél, Sekou and Self Esteem.

Meanwhile, the original songs for the series have been written by Dan Carey and Kae Tempest, and the show has been co-produced with Mercury Studios (part of the Universal Music Group), which has, according to the BBC, "helped create the musical backdrop for Knight’s incredible story".

Carey is a producer who has worked with the likes of Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen, Sia and Franz Ferdinand, while Tempest is a poet, recording artist, novelist and playwright.

The show has been described as a "love letter to Birmingham and the Midlands" by star Shyvonne Ahmmad.

She added: "And it's a love letter to that time. So those who grew up during that time, or even children of parents who grew up in that time, it's so exciting to get to step into it."

She went on to say that "it's all about self-expression, it's all about figuring out who you are. So step into it, I'd say for audience members, and remember who you were trying to be at that time and who you thought you were".

"And if you are still figuring out, like all of us, I think it's a lifelong endeavour to try and figure out who you are and what you want and who your tribe is," Ahmmad continued. "Step into it and just enjoy it."

Her co-star Ben Rose also explained to RadioTimes.com how the show is both similar and different to Peaky Blinders, saying: "It’s just the writing. Steven Knight, the writer, he has a really incredible sort of voice, I think, and he's able to create really grounded, naturalistic characters who all speak in poetry, and all have a heightened sense of reality within this really gritty, very earthly world.

"His language is sort of otherworldly. And the way Peaky uses contemporary popular music to contrast with the era, our show kind of has the opposite, because it's using music of the time, of the era, to make you feel even more immersed in that world."

This Town is available to stream on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Sunday 31st March, while the first episode airs on BBC One at 9pm.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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Authors

Black and white cut-out portrait headshot of James Hibbs, smiling against a lime green background.

James HibbsDrama Writer

James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.

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