Theme tune that lasts the test of time

Theme tune that lasts the test of time

Watching the BBC World Service's Panorama documentary on the coronavirus situation, it struck me that it is one of the few TV offerings in which the theme music is just right. You wouldn't want to hear it too often, but its distinctive authoritative tones with a hint of foreboding, suggests the show is of some substance, which it usually is. It was surprising to discover that this serious music was adapted by Francis Lai from the soundtrack of the 1966 hit film, Un Homme et Une Femme (A Man and a Woman), basically a love story. The music, which has introduced Panorama for nearly 50 years, is called Aujordhi C'est Toi (Today it's You). Well, that's enough French for one day.

Probably the most well-known theme music for UK people of my wrinkly generation was that for the long-running radio "agricultural soap", The Archers, an "everyday story of country folk" which began in 1951. The jolly-sounding music, Barwick Green, was originally a maypole dance. I wasn't a regular listener but there was a period of about six months in the mid 1950s when I couldn't avoid it. My mum was ill and I was sent to live with my Auntie Lily who lived in a village 30 kilometres away. She was a lovely person but didn't have a television, so the radio was our prime source of entertainment. Lily was a huge Archers fan so I got a daily earful of the 15-minute show. She would sing along to the opening music with her own lyrics, "Mr Archer's making hay, Walter's making trouble," a reference to two of the main characters at that time, Dan Archer and Walter Gabriel. The mischievous Walter was the most iconic character and was responsible for the splendid catchphrase in his best rural accent "Oooo arr, me ol' beauty, me ol' pal."

Wayward arrows

Because Lily had no TV, my cousin Robert and I were given a treat every Sunday evening, being allowed to visit our grandma's house to watch The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Richard Greene. It was in black and white and we loved it, especially the memorable opening scene in which Robin fires an arrow which hits a tree at some distance with a resounding "twang". You can see that sequence on YouTube. It also had a very jaunty theme song with the opening lines, "Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen/Robin Hood, Robin Hood, with his band of men/Feared by the bad, loved by the good,/Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Robin Hood."

The programme prompted us to make our own bows and arrows with which we would ambush imaginary enemies as we hid in the long grass of a nearby field. Alas, we weren't very fearsome, partly because my bow kept snapping and I never once got an arrow to stick in a tree, let alone make a twanging sound.

The first chat show

Another creative introduction prompted my interest in a very different sort of BBC production. In Town Tonight was originally a radio programme, but was also shown on TV in the 1950s. I was just a child but remember being fascinated by the opening sequence. To the strains of Knightsbridge March, it showed heavy traffic going round Piccadilly Circus with lots of street noises, but then came a booming voice, "Stop!" Miraculously all the vehicles and noises stopped and the voice-over informed us: "Once again we stop the mighty roar of London's traffic to bring you some of the interesting people who have come by land, sea and air to be 'in town tonight'."

In a way it was Britain's first chat show, featuring celebrities who happened to be in London. At the end of the programme, the same booming voice would command triumphantly, "Carry on, London!" and all the Piccadilly traffic would suddenly spring into life again. Great stuff.

Battle of the birds

One long-running radio show that has a familiar theme tune is Desert Island Discs in which a celebrity is asked to choose eight records they would like if they happened to be stranded on a desert island. The theme music is a rather flaky light orchestral piece entitled By the Summer Lagoon and has been ever-present since the show was launched back in 1942 -- that's even older than me. There was one slight hiccup in 1964 when it was pointed out that the distinctive cries of the herring gull featured in the signature tune would not be heard on a desert island as those gulls only lived in the northern hemisphere. So the gulls were culled from the music and replaced by the sounds of exotic tropical bird noises more in keeping with a desert island. However, the change prompted such an outcry from loyal listeners that after a couple of months the gulls triumphantly returned.

Evening all

One song you don't hear much is Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner, the theme tune for the first BBC police series, Dixon of Dock Green, which ran from 1955-76. At the start of each show Jack Warner, who was in his 60s, would totter down the police station steps, salute and greet everyone with "evening all". PC George Dixon didn't have the gritty dialogue to match Dirty Harry's "make my day" or "do you feel lucky punk?", but George always got his man.


Contact PostScript via email at oldcrutch@hotmail.com

Roger Crutchley

Bangkok Post columnist

A long time popular Bangkok Post columnist. In 1994 he won the Ayumongkol Literary Award. For many years he was Sports Editor at the Bangkok Post.

Email : oldcrutch@gmail.com

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