ITV's 60th Birthday

Further to that Just in Case



Alot of people have said it could have been longer Im not sure if ITV could have gotten away with 90mins ( top 30 )

Bet they never said how they came up with this 'nations favourite ITV theme tune' list. Based purely on viewer votes, Corrie would have been Number 1 by a country mile.

Co-incidentally, I'm guessing because of time constraints - it's shows like this, that are crying out for a longer two hour version to be aired on ITV3 - but if anyone was awake in the production team, there was a nice amusing cross entry they could have included.

When it came to The Sweeney at number 13, it would have been fun to include someone already interviewed at number 16.
Keith Strachan did a very good parody version of The Sweeney theme tune for the intro to the Robert Powell/Jasper Carrott spoof 'The Detectives'. Could have asked him about that, seeing as he had to pull the original apart to come up with the almost soundalike comedy version.

The Radio Times did :

Victoria Wood narrates a countdown of the top 20 theme tunes from throughout ITV's history, as the channel marks its 60th anniversary this year. The list of tracks was compiled via an opinion poll, which gave viewers a chance to vote for their favourite themes from the six-decade catalogue of ITV's most popular shows. Includes interviews with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? host Chris Tarrant, Coronation Street veteran William Roache and Dennis Waterman, formerly the star of Minder and The Sweeney, as well as contributions by the composers responsible for creating these distinctive themes, such as Christopher Gunning (Poirot), Simon Park (Van Der Valk) and Tony Hatch (Emmerdale).

I'm guessing whoever they asked never thought 'Overkill' from The Bill was worthy of being on the top 20...

Well there were loads of themes missing, they were trying to fit 60 years into 20 slots.

It could have been 2 hours but as only 2 million tuned in for the hour long edition I'm not sure many people seem to be that interested.

You never here about these polls until the programme airs. It did seem a somewhat dubious top 20 - yes, great they've gone out the norm but there is nothing really like the Corrie theme tune as a call to armchairs. The Bill was a notable absentee, along with Heartbeat.

On the whole though an enjoyable show, though it did make me laugh when they summed up This is your Life as 50 years of shows hosted by "Eamonn Andrews, Trevor McDonald and Michael Aspel" when of course Sir Trev only ever did one episode.

I think I actually voted in this, it was a while back, I cant remember much about ticking a few boxes

The story behind the Corrie theme is as boring as hell, so was glad to hear some of the more interesting tales.

Ralph Edwards (who also hosted the US version) also did one episode - the very first. Eamonn was the one getting the book. In fact, he got it twice. David Nixon hosted the second time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Your_Life_(UK_TV_series)

I actually laughed out loud at the story of how Kate Robbins demoed the Surprise Surprise theme by impersonating Cilla's voice.

I'm surprised This Is Your Life hasn't come back in some form or another. In the celebrity obsessed modern day, surely it's the perfect programme for ITV to bring back (while if done right adding a touch of class to the schedule, Keith Lemon should not be the Presenter!). How about Mark Austin?

Btw I really enjoyed the Theme Tune programme and the fact that modern ITV wasn't pushed down people's throats too much.

The ITV 60th season has been rather good on the whole - all the better for not being a loud and brash celebration as the 50th was.

Dermot O'Leary would probably be a safe bet for This is your Life. It's no wonder though the revival with Trevor McDonald didn't get beyond one episode when 5 production companies were involved.