BBC Sport Ident

Two words - Drag Racer.

Original lasted 20+ years. Since then there have been three remixes. I'm hoping one day they'll see the light and go back to how it used to be.

Similarly, but offtopically, is anyone willing to stick their neck out and say the newer The Bill themes were better than the original Overkill?

I'm not against updating theme tunes, but that particular one sounds like it's from off of one of those dodgy 1980s theme tune compilations by the Powerpack Orchestra.

Yes, the 2003-2007 theme

By the time it got to that point, it was nothing like the original. The original is musically superior, this version is probably a better theme tune.

They also brought back the 'walking feet' in 2007 (I think that video must be wrong as I don't remember there being another theme from 2007-2009 now that I think of it)



Of course then they did that big revamp in 2009. Similar to News at Ten, doing that big relaunch in 2008 bringing back the old theme tune and those opening titles similar to the late 80s titles, only to ditch them less than 2 years later in favour of the current generic look.

The plodding feet were only originally dropped because they were wearing an obsolete uniform, little known fact is during the 1998 revamp they reshot the plodding feet to be mixed into the montage of police equipment, but it just didn't work, so it was dropped completely!

I loved the 1998 version of the music and I don't know why, perhaps it's just because that's 'my' era of The Bill, 1997-2002...

I think the 1998 theme is okay but there's something about it which makes it a bit cheesy, possibly how jazzy it sounds for a show like The Bill. (It may also be due to the fact that growing up the 2003 theme is the one I remember the most). Similar to the jazzy EastEnders theme, which when I first heard it a few years ago thought was quite good, but was never going to be a good replacement for the theme that came before it. It's probably one of the only modernised themes that I disagree with so far in this thread! I do like it on its own though, and the updated computer generated map sequence is obviously superior to the previous titles they used since the start.



The style of the theme tune would probably have suited a show like Neighbours (which had several jazz style themes throughout the 90s from the early 90s revamp up until 2002) or Home and Away, but not something gritty like EastEnders.

Yeah, the change in April 1999 came during that mad weekend of sport when there was the Grand National, the Boat Race, the Six Nations and a load of other stuff on all channels, and the graphics changed from the italic font they were using to a big bold font, but Match of the Day still used the old font for the rest of the season. Then in August 2001 they changed all the graphics again, as well as introducing the new two-tier studio set for all the programmes, with the sofa downstairs and the desk upstairs. That coinicided with the introduction of their new football contracts for the FA Cup and England.



Yes, and that change was on Saturday 15th February when they had the start of the Six Nations and Man U vs Arsenal in the FA Cup that afternoon, their biggest day of sport for ages.