Royal Wreck of Gold – Original Music by Stuart Fox
(Welsh Wreck of Gold – ITV Wales)
I composed the original score for Royal Wreck of Gold, a gripping three-part documentary series exploring the tragic final voyage of the Royal Charter. Wrecked off the Anglesey coast in 1859 during one of the worst storms in British maritime history, the ship was returning from Melbourne laden with gold — and filled with hopeful passengers.
The series blends historical narrative, forensic investigation, and present-day exploration, as gold prospector Vince Thurkettle searches for traces of the wreck and the human stories behind it.
Musically, I took a hybrid orchestral cinematic approach to underscore the scale and tension of the disaster — drawing on powerful textures, dark brass, and contemporary rhythmic elements. But the score also needed space for reflection. This was one of those rare projects that demanded both large cinematic moments and subtlety, a composers dream!
One particularly moving segment tells the story of Reverend Stephen Roose Hughes, the local priest of St Gallgo’s Church in Llanallgo, who worked tirelessly to give dignity to the dead in the aftermath of the wreck. He turned his small church into a temporary mortuary, carefully documented victims’ identities, and wrote over a thousand letters to grieving families across Britain and Australia. The emotional toll was immense — he died just three years later, at the age of 47. His gravestone notes that the trauma of the Royal Charter disaster contributed to his early death.
For this moment in the film, I pared everything back to a solo violin (performed by the brilliant Laurance Kempton) with string ensemble, giving space for grief, reverence, and quiet humanity amidst the chaos.
Royal Wreck of Gold is currently available to stream internationally on platforms including Tubi, The Roku Channel, Amazon Freevee, and Apple TV. Viewers in the UK can also watch the Welsh version, Welsh Wreck of Gold, via ITVX under ITV Wales regional content.