Music for stories that live in the listener’s imagination — made by, and for, sentient beings.

Sentiena Works is a new specialist music team for audio drama, cinematic audiobooks and immersive spoken-word storytelling, led by BAFTA-winning composer James Hannigan.

In an era when we can no longer be sure that what we are hearing is real, Sentiena Works stands for music shaped by human feeling, dramatic instinct, taste and intention. Its mission is simple: to help spoken stories become movies in the mind – emotionally precise, distinctive and alive with human presence.

That mission is grounded in rare experience. Led by Hannigan, Sentiena Works draws on the background of one of the most widely heard composers in modern full-cast audio drama and cinematic audiobook scoring. Long established in the realm of AAA games, television and other media, Hannigan brings to the initiative a body of work spanning some of the most recognisable story worlds in contemporary entertainment.

In audio drama and audiobooks, his credits include the much-loved Harry Potter audiobooks read by Stephen Fry — part of a series that has surpassed 1.5 billion global listening hours on Audible — and Audible’s landmark production of The Sandman, featuring a cast including James McAvoy, Kat Dennings, Michael Sheen and many others.

Directed by Dirk Maggs, The Sandman spent two months at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller Audio Fictionlist and became Audible’s best-selling Original to date. Hannigan also shared in a Webby People’s Voice Award for The Sandman: Act II, which features “The Song of Orpheus” sung by Regé-Jean Page.

His further credits in the medium include scores for the full-cast Audie Award-winning Alien series, DC’s Kingdom Come, themes for BBC Radio 4 adaptations of Neverwhere and Good Omens, the newly recorded Discworld audiobooks, the full-cast drama Unseen Academicals, and more.

An IFMCA (International Film Music Critics Association) Award winner for EA’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and a five-time BAFTA nominee, Hannigan brings to audio drama the same ambition, dramatic intelligence and narrative drive that have defined his work across major AAA game franchises including Harry Potter, Dead Space, RuneScape, Command & Conquer, The Lord of the Rings and Warhammer. His music has also been heard in countless Television productions including Primeval, Top Gear, The Grand Tour and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.

From intimate electronic textures and minimalist themes to fully orchestral scores, Sentiena Works shapes music as a living force within the story. Whether a production calls for a single defining theme or an expansive cinematic score, the same care is given to scale, story and, above all, human truth and authenticity.