‘I didn’t expect anything to come of it’: Leeds pianist’s 'haunting' track chosen for Netflix’s Adolescence

Sophie Lim, 23, says she feels "incredibly lucky" after being asked to perform a stripped back version of Sting's Fragile for the Netflix hit.

Sophie was accompanied by a choir of children to perform the song which plays during the ending moments of episode two.

The four-part series follows a 13-year-old schoolboy who is accused of murdering his female classmate.

Sophie got the opportunity through an old classmate who she studied Music with whilst at the University of Leeds.

The musician had "no idea" she was working on the popular show when recording the acoustic rendition.

Sophie said: "They wanted it to be really moving - to evoke the heavy emotion of the scene.

"I felt it perfectly captured the fragility of the situation that it's incredibly difficult to be a child in this world right now."

The pianist, who works at the University of Leeds Student Information Service, got the role after she was contacted by Adolescence composers David Ridley after being recommended by her friend Mia Windsor, an experimental musician, who she studied alongside.

She said: "David contacted me and I sent him a few amateur recordings because I don't have a professional portfolio.

"I didn't expect anything to come from it, but he said they were exactly what they were looking for."

The song which is about violence and the fragility of life was played whilst Eddie Miller, Stephen Graham, placed flowers on the ground at the scene where his son, Jamie, Owen Cooper, murdered his classmate.

Sophie said: "None of the children were musically trained, so they had to learn to sing from scratch and learn the song by heart."

The pianist played a grand piano whilst rows of chairs filled with schoolchildren sang the lyrics.

Sophie said was only sent the music a "week before" it was recorded along with a small bit of information on the storyline.

She said: "I was really excited to eventually find out what the song was.

"I hadn't heard it before, but I could see the vision they had and why they wanted it to be a stripped back and more haunting version of the original."

"People really liked this version of Fragile - it sounds so different from the rest of the soundtrack, which made it stand out."

Sophie comes from a musical family and also plays the clarinet and saxophone.

She said "Music has always been a big part of my life - all my family are multi-instrumentalists - it was pretty loud in our house.

"They're all really excited for me and very proud and they really liked the Netflix series and were quite moved by it.

Despite her involvement in the series, Sophie had to wait like everyone else until it first aired earlier this month.

"I have to confess it was a slightly weird experience hearing the song I'd recorded, but I think it perfectly captured the conflict between the themes of innocence and the harsh realities explored in the show.

I'm really happy with how it all came across.

"I felt incredibly lucky they were prepared to take a chance on me and believed in me - It was an awesome experience."