Doreen Carwithen studied at the Royal Academy of Music and became the first student there to be selected for the Apprenticeship Scheme for composers to specialise in the study of film music, working closely with the doyen of film conductors, Muir Mathieson. She wrote the music for over thirty films, including the official film of the 1953 Coronation, Elizabeth is Queen. She became composer William Alwyn’s second wife, devoting herself to him and writing little.