Great TV Themes of the Past, Present and Remixes

This is one of my favourites ever. Not just the music itself, but also that studio set. I always thought it was very cutting-edge, the way he spun around on his chair at open and close.

And.........for a programme that aired at 7pm, how the heck did they get away with having a pair of thrupennies embedded in the titles?? I really don't think those would be allowed today, in this ridiculous era of Political Correctness, etc, etc. Anyone who worked on the programme got any inside angle?

Those aside, Simon May really does know how to write a tune. (Thanks to the owner of the clip.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL0B6VVUcBo&feature=related

How did they get away with that in 1986, let alone today, on a primetime programme. That's puzzling.

Best TV Theme for me has to be Going For Gold by Hans Zimmer, quality European cheese!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIPRxJWhkDY&feature=related

Many of the themes from the 1990s were great. 1993 Family Fortunes theme tune is very good if one listens carefully.

I doubt anyone could name me a time when you could get away with it on a 7pm light entertainment show on BBC 1 no less, Daily Mail-esque "political correcness gone mad" harrmuphing and "1986 obviously" smartarsery aside.

I have to be honest, after conversation and communication with composers over the years it seems that Themes have become far more Cheap and nasty compared to the older versions. I know when big bands etc were used to create such classic but now adays its all done on a music system. Some composer are rather rude and nasty and could not care one about there creations, caring more about Films scores.

Those Holidays titles well SO nice to see such NON PC titles

Is there anything better than this? Keith Mansfield's Grandstand theme, played by the KPM All Stars with Alan Hawkshaw on keyboards

Indeed, Alan Hawkshaw is GOD when it comes to TV theme composition. Not only were his general TV themes good, but also his news themes like Channel 4 News and his Lunchtime News and Early Evening News/Weekend News themes from the early 1990s for ITN.

Out of interest, did The Hawk do any of the other ITN themes from that time, such as:









Love all those themes, by the way!

I don't believe he did any, the world news might be Dave hewson?

You could try the following composer to see if can get anywhere?

* Robert Foster
* Crispin Merrell http://www.toomanynotes.co.uk/
* THOMAS WAYNE KOZAK and
* BRUCE PRICE MURRAY

Alan also did Channel 4 racing theme aswell.... ITN don't have any ideas

Thanks for your posts and info guys. Steve, great clip of the Grandstand theme above. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when they started the intro.

And to the gent who put me in touch with the full-length version of Simon May's "BBC Holiday" theme - blow me away. Farking awesome. Thank you very much.

Rob: late nineties flag era on World was also a pretty good vintage, huh?

Anyone remember a tv programme called "Rockliffe's Babies" in the early nineties? They had a cool theme too.

And, what about this beauty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWxcx4msBMA

Sounds like the bill at the start...

Probably my favourite TV theme of all time, both the jazzy version (Barracuda) and the vocal version (Always's There). Simon May really was genius. I play the full version of Barracuda when I'm out for a run, really get the heart pumping lol