Steven Moffat’s dark new drama Inside Man has started airing on BBC One, and ever since it was first heard in the show’s initial trailer, the series’s theme song has struck a chord.
The seriously catchy tune fits perfectly with the drama’s dark tone and particularly melds with the scenes set inside a US prison, following Stanley Tucci’s Jefferson Grieff.
The song is used multiple times throughout the first episode, while you might have also noticed the eerie, foreboding score underlining some seriously dramatic scenes starring David Tennant. But just what is the show’s theme song and who wrote the score?
Read on for everything you need to know about the soundtrack for Inside Man.
What is the theme song for Inside Man and who sings it?
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Inside Man uses God’s Gonna Cut You Down for its theme tune, which is a traditional American folk song first recorded by the Golden Gate Quartet.
It was made particularly popular by Johnny Cash who recorded his own version of the song in 2003, and it has since appeared in multiple games, TV shows and films, including the trailer for 2010 film True Grit.
Inside Man uses an entirely new cover of the song performed by John Grant, an American and Icelandic musician who is known as the lead singer of The Czars.
The decision to use the song and record a new version was made after Johnny Cash’s recording was used as temporary music in the edit, as revealed by director Paul McGuigan at a recent press event for the show.
McGuigan said that it was actually composer David Arnold’s “brilliant” idea to use the song, as when looking at a cut of the episode he said of the temporary music, ‘Well this is perfect, so why don’t we do a version of that?’”
You can listen to two different versions of the song on Spotify now.
Who wrote the score for Inside Man?
Prolific and iconic film composer David Arnold wrote the score for the series, with McGuigan saying that “to have David Arnold is just incredible”.
Arnold had previously worked with Moffat on both Sherlock and Dracula, while his film scores include writing for Hot Fuzz, Casino Royale and Made in Dagenham.
In 2019, he composed the score for Good Omens, also starring David Tennant.
Inside Man arrived on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Monday 26th September. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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