TV Theme Tunes

[Axolotl]

Three of my favourites are the themes to The Detectorists, His Dark Materials, and Have I Got News For You, all of which suit their respective programmes perfectly and are great pieces of music in their own right.

[Steve in Pudsey]

I find it difficult to pick a favourite, but I have a lot of time for the tunes that have a random and rarely heard middle section.

Ronnie H's theme for The Two Ronnies is a great example, or the totally unexpected guitar solo in Grandstand.

[Lewser]

George Fenton's six o'clock news headline bed is my ringtone. Sometimes I just let it ring out because it's an epic track!

My work phone meanwhile has Magazine by Ed Welch.

[JamesWorldNews]

George Fenton's six o'clock news headline bed is my ringtone. Sometimes I just let it ring out because it's an epic track!

My work phone meanwhile has Magazine by Ed Welch.

With the Lawley/Witchell voiceover, or have you omitted that? Lol.

A classic.

[James Martin]

We have to talk about "Hazelhursting" at this point - lots of composers incorporated the show title into the melody, but Ronnie H was a master of the art:

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

He also does this with To The Manor Born:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t5NV_L0Dkw

And if you listen closely, he even manages to get in "Where Is Harrogate" in the opening music of the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest.

https://youtu.be/Wi7ilDXZWoM?t=23

[Lewser]

George Fenton's six o'clock news headline bed is my ringtone. Sometimes I just let it ring out because it's an epic track!

My work phone meanwhile has Magazine by Ed Welch.

With the Lawley/Witchell voiceover, or have you omitted that? Lol.

A classic.

1993 version!

[bbpro]

It’s a real shame that tv themes don’t get released anymore. Compilations of tv themes used to get released all the time back in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

There hasn’t been (to my knowledge) a compilation of recent tv theme original recordings from the 2000s+.

In this day and age, they should just make them available online to purchase as an option, it’s not like the old days where it would have cost a lot to produce physically for only a niche market. It costs virtually nothing to make them digitally available and can only make extra profit surely?

[Brekkie]

Generally speaking pick an HBO series and you'll find a banger. Six Feet Under and True Blood two of my favourites.

Just seeing the discussion of the Friends theme and can't help but think how it would just be the last bar of it as a title card if it began today.

[EJnutz]

Some of my favourites are

Van Der Valk (Eye Level) the original series
World In Action
Prisoner Cell Block H
No Honestly
Blue Peter
Shoestring

[AaronLancs]

Given the talk of a certain Mr. Hazelhurst. Does anyone remember the "rants" that Lily Savage used to peter out to the Blankety Blank theme tune and the music for the Supermatch Game? He used to say that Hazelhurst used to in similar words "have a great imagination when coming up with music".

[James Martin]

It was a shame the recent Neil Brand series didn't give more time over to Ronnie. Could have filled an entire episode between his huge body of work for LE BBC themes and his excellent work as Eurovision's MD on several BBC hostings (unbelievably we still hold the record for hostings, helped by stepping in for other winners in the early years.) On the clip I posted you'll notice the opening ends with the 1977 overture; why waste a good piece of music by playing it once?!

[Vanilla Vip3r]

A few favourites:

Red Dwarf.

Specifically the opening theme for the first two series. As much as I like the more familiar theme from series 3 onwards, there's just something about the original theme that conveys the feeling of being alone in deep space.

TOTP (1986-1991)

Better known as The Wizard by Paul Hardcastle. A real mid-80s synth banger that perfectly suited the style of the show at the time.

The Big Breakfast

Pretty much any version apart from the ropey Artful Dodger remix from 2000. The original 1992 theme and the 2001 relaunch version are particular favourites.

Wentworth

A couple have already suggested the PCBH closing theme. So how about Wentworth as well?

[This is UTV]

The Countdown clock, theme tune is a personal fave (much better than the main theme).

Was a big fan of themes such as the full length Corrie from back in the day, full length Neighbours theme, H&A, Eastenders etc but all not as good as they use to due to so many chops and edits over the years.

[From The North]

Some of my personal favourites, in no particular order

Crossroads
Man in a Suitcase
Tales of the Unexpected
Crystal Maze
Antiques Roadshow
BBC News
The South Bank Show