8. Billy GoldenbergColumbo Original Soundtrack

Columbo is a complete work of genius from head to toe. It’s up there with The Rite of Spring as one of the best cultural products of the 20th century. The music is just phenomenal, and a lot of it was done very quickly, in the production process of the programme. They managed to get away with really experimental, unusual, atonal stuff in that context. It’s also really loud and really prominent a lot of the time. 

I love Peter Falk. His autobiography is a must read. He’s from that time when you could live about 10 lives. He was a cook for the merchant marines, he was quite academic and travelled around the Soviet Union a lot. In the programme, I love the way he disrupts this sort of perfect, serene world, and shatters this glamorous illusion. He was a big hero growing up, definitely.