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Greatest TV theme tune?

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Unashamedly nicked from the Grauniad, what’s your fave TV theme tune, and why? I immediately thought of “Stingray.” Back then, as a nipper, there was nothing more exciting. These “people” had American accents (yes kids, once it was unusual, or at least notable). Viewing it now, the sight of all those exclusively WASP right on “World” (AKA American) Aquanaut Security Patrol dudes in their uniforms, where any perceived alien threat could easily be sorted out with a Sting missile, fills me not with disgust at a misguided and over simplistic world, but with a sense of loss at the easy certainties of the era, when (channeling Gil Scott Heron) TV was in black and white, and so was everything else. And it starts with sirens, an explosion, and kettle drums. What more do you want?

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Comments

    • From the Wikipedia page;
      ‘The series had a memorable signature tune The Trumpet Hornpipe which was played by accordionist Tom Edmundson and arranged by Philip Lane. He had learned the tune from Jimmy Shand. The tune appears to have been popular from the mid-19th century, but its composer and country of origin are unknown. In the United States it is known as the Thunder Hornpipe. Other background music was provided by BBC music arranger and pianist Johnny Pearson.
      I saw Tom Edmundson play once and got his autograph, I was 45!

  5. I once bumped into two friends in mid-conversation. One of them asked me, “What was the name of that show where the Dutch cop was always pulling dead hookers out of the canals?”

    That was easily enough to go on so I answered and the bloke who asked me goes, “That’s right! The best TV theme ever is Van Der Valk” I can’t say I disagree.

  14. My personal favourite back in the day was this John Barry gem, “Vendetta”. I wanted to be Angelo James so much I bought the Corgi model of the car he drove. Ignore the picture in the YouTube video, it’s from the wrong Barry-themed series (which also had a great tune).

  16. Jackie Lee recorded ‘Rupert The Bear’ with two other notable British women – prog-jazzer Norma Winstone and swinging sixties backing vocalist Barbara Moore ( http://www.barbaramoore.co.uk/).

    Norma was also involved in the music on The Goodies, along with other Brit jazzers like Mike Gibbs (MD on the show), Chris Spedding and Isotope guitar mesiter Gary Boyle.

    • Yes, she certainly had many strings to her bow. She had her Eurovision song covered by the Fabs, sang BVs on ‘Hey Joe’, ‘Green Green Grass of Home’ and ‘Release Me’ and employed Reginald Dwight as a backing singer.

      Both her compilation CDs, End Of A Rainbow and The Town I Live In are worth a go.

    • Seems it was a soundalike version of H&G they used on The Office. Gervais was an unknown at the time and the publishers were asking for a fortune to use the original 1967 Chris Farlowe version. So they re-recorded it.

      I saw The Manfreds recently and Mike D’Abo (who wrote H&G) told the story of how a then-unknown Rod Stewart came to him begging to record the song, then existing only in demo form. “Sorry Rod”, D’Abo said, “I’ve promised it to Chris Farlowe. But I’ve got another song you might like.” The “other” song of course was Little Miss Understood which is almost as good.

      Rod did get to record H&G of course, but not until his first solo LP in 1969, when Mike D’Abo arranged it and played piano.

      • …and according to Rod’s autobiography, D’Abo was none too pleased when Rod changed the lyrics in Handbags:

        “To the intense irritation of Mike, when I came to record the vocal I changed the big line at the end of the chorus. As Mike wrote it the line was ‘the handbags and the gladrags that your grandad had to sweat so you could buy’. I changed that to ‘the handbags and the gladrags that your poor old grandad had to sweat to buy.'”

  22. My favourite, might not be the greatest ever, but hey…is The Sweeney. Especially because Madness spent years ripping it off.

    Meanwhile, The Avengers original music was also pretty good, Batman, the old Spiderman cartoon, Minder, Dangermouse, The Professionals, Booker T & The MGs Soul Limbo for the cricket. All good.

    • White Horses? Oh yes, I remember that. The original was in German, of course, and the version shown in the UK featured some of the classiest dubbing the world had seen until King Tubby got his hands on some Bunny Lee rhythms!

  33. Let’s not forget the wonderful themes written for Pistgate’s Smallfilms.

    The North Sea Radio Orchestra haven’t. They’ve done whole gigs based on Ivor the Engine etc.

  37. Memories flooding back on this thread. But the internet here on Öland is crap. Anyone else remember that very evocative music from French TV The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe?

  39. The name “Ronnie Hazelhurst” must appear somewhere in this thread

    Sorry!

    There is also a 3:30 Psychemagik edit, which is basically those 35 seconds in a loop, and a 10 hour version on YouTube

  40. The most perfect melding of song and the series it prefaced was indeed “Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads.” Such regret, such pathos. So much London Pride. Hic!

  42. I have now reconsidered. The greatest TV themes are all for children’s shows and this is because there are so many programmes I watched when I was a kid, and the only thing I can remember about them is the theme. Button Moon. Jamie and the Magic Torch. Tickle On The Tum many others, all brilliant music.

    As a slightly new father, the music on In The Night Garden astonishes me. It’s genuinely brilliant. The main theme is astonishing. But the dance theme is really really good as well. Generations of people will have this engraved in their subconsciousness for life.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh6eACrHqWw

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