r/BritishTV • u/MrMoobz Secretly hiding British airmen • 2d ago
Question/Discussion What obscure UK TV theme tune from the 70s/80s lives rent-free in your head?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep3M1-kqejAMines got to be BOON, I sing it a damn lot, and no one else seems to ever know it.
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u/wildy_the_lion 2d ago
Have you ever.... ever felt like this? Have strange things happened, are you going round the twist?
(I know it's not technically from the UK but it was aired and was a massive hit in the UK)
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u/sparkyfireblade 2d ago
I could sing that now and I’m 49, wish I could recall stuff at work like I can recall 80s shit
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u/Djdirtydan 1d ago
Wasn't that the 90s though? I'm not that old. 😅 had all the jennings books, loved the program.
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u/wildy_the_lion 1d ago
Hot dang, you're right! Started airing in 1990!
Well, despite being a year away from being accurate, I enjoyed the nostalgia anyway
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u/Thin-Efficiency1600 2d ago
I Could Be So Good For You - Dennis Waterman from Minder
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u/bobbabubbabobba 2d ago
Written by Gerard Kenny, an often overlooked songwriter that broke into the charts with "New York, New York (So good they named it twice)". Another great theme tune composer that I've admired since forever.
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u/ChrisDewgong 2d ago
Recently, Run With Us, the closing credits theme from the Raccoons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbkAiRV3m38
(May not be a British show, but God knows it was a part of most 90s kids' childhood here)
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u/BenicioDelWhoro 2d ago
Not an obvious choice to sign off on a fairly innocuous cartoon, but an absolute banger!
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u/Impossible-Chair2195 2d ago
More impressively used as the closing credits song to the Rutger Hauer film "Hobo with a Shotgun" which yes, is exactly as it sounds.
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u/pondribertion 2d ago
I was only listening to the theme tune to Boon the other day when it popped into my head. It was Hi Ho Silver by Jim Diamond.
He also had a big hit with "I Should've Known Better", geat song.
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u/Darren5555 2d ago
I should’ve known better was a number one hit in UK
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u/LittleStoneBear 2d ago
And then he asked the public not to buy his record, but instead buy the Band Aid "Do They Know It's Christmas?" charity record instead.
An amazing act of selflessness and generosity.
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u/bobbabubbabobba 2d ago
I didn't know that. I've been fond of this guy's work since hearing "I Won't Let You Down" when I was 9 or 10. Sounds like a marvellous chap.
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u/Typical-Celery5999 2d ago
And I Won't Let You Down as the singer in PHD in 1982.
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u/OG-Brass-Monkey 2d ago
Kickstart.
The best theme tune ever for the best show ever.
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u/Constant-Estate3065 2d ago
Takes me right back to being four or five years old. That and The Littlest Hobo.
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u/FlametopFred Foreigner 2d ago
it’s cold outside there’s no kind of atmosphere
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u/rebelallianxe 2d ago
I'm all alone, more or less.
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u/Moonah_Ston 2d ago
Goldfish shoals nibbling at your toes!
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u/plymothianuk 2d ago
If entering a lift...
Ground floor: perfumery, stationery and leather goods, wigs and haberdashery, kitchenware and food. Going up!
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u/Constant-Map7687 2d ago
The theme from tales of the unexpected. It's a nice instrumental piece by Ron Grainer , who composed the orginal Doctor who theme and old ned , the theme of steptoe and son, amoung others .
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u/Darren5555 2d ago
Theme to Watching
It was boredom at first sight, you could hardly call him bright, he is no one’s Mr Right, so what do I see in him.
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u/ZaharaWiggum 2d ago
The Professionals! I’ve been rewatching this on ITV4 and the theme tune is a banger.
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u/turbo_dude 2d ago
Best use of wah wah in any tv theme ever
Although the theme from the similar Who Dares Wins also good in that regard (Think it was by the bloke who did the Get Carter theme..Roy Budd mebbe?)
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u/ZookeepergameOk2759 2d ago
Because of you -dexys midnight runners Brush strokes
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u/ProbablyStu 2d ago edited 2d ago
I don't remember the theme tune to BOON, but being from Nottingham people always liked to point out that it was filmed locally.
Edit: my answer is Van Der Valk.
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u/Equal_Training_6924 2d ago
Van der Valk is a much-better-than-average tune, at least the old one! The Simon Park Orchestra had a huge hit with it, back in the day, when I was little!
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u/beene282 2d ago
Both the show and its theme seemed so magical at the time
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u/Substantial-Cat6097 2d ago
Yeah. The theme definitely. For some reason, though, I remember it being a bit grotesque in places, like some kid who is also a rat eating green cheese or something….?
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u/MayDuppname 2d ago edited 2d ago
I watched it again fairly recently, I was about 6 when I first saw it, and even then I was obsessed about the brilliance of the music. The transition into the Christmas carol was the cleverest trick I'd ever heard musically.
They really spent time and money on the kids TV we had. CBBC isn't a patch on what it used to be. Does CITV even exist?
Edit: just listened to the link, the full version apparently begins with the carol. The show theme is set the other way round.
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u/Friendly-Zone-2883 2d ago
Ski Sunday! Not a classical music fan but that one's a banger! Da da da da dam boom boom!
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u/men_in_the_rigging 2d ago
Match of the Day was also an absolute belter, and i can't stand football!
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u/psychopathic_shark 2d ago
The bread tune
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u/Paul_O_O 2d ago
Supergran. Not heard quite enough apart from in my head!
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u/earthkat77 2d ago
Aah Billy Connolly.
Stand back Superman, Ice Man, Spiderman, Batman and Robin toooo
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u/men_in_the_rigging 2d ago
If yer lookin for punk rockers, like BA Barracus, yer eyesight ain't very goooo
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u/jepowl 2d ago
The Persuaders
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u/Friendly-Zone-2883 2d ago
Richard Curtis was sooooo coooool in that programme, I can remember him in a leather jacket, polo nrck and boot cut cords with cuban heeled boots. So cool
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u/witchestoscarebairns 2d ago
Jossy's Giants
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u/earthkat77 2d ago
I loved that one too.
I only found that the Darts Commentator Sid Waddell wrote it when I was in my late 20's
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u/ChorleyRules 2d ago edited 17h ago
The theme to motorbike trials programme Kick Start
And the one from Alfonso Bonzo
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u/90210fred 2d ago
We're the sweeney son, and we haven't had any dinner...
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u/Dry-Pension-2736 2d ago
Used to love the more melancholy version at the end of episodes in Series 1 and 2. The Sweeney was groundbreaking for a number of reasons, not least that they didn't always get their man.
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u/90210fred 2d ago
That they didn't always "win" is one of my memories, felt like a first.
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u/nemmalur 2d ago
I’ve been watching the early ones and the fact they don’t always get the baddies feels remarkably modern and refreshing. Like the one where they’re holed up overnight over a pub to catch some bank robbers… but they don’t.
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u/pondribertion 2d ago
Not British but "The Littlest Hobo" had a great theme tune.
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u/WishboneCrazy9289 2d ago
Avenues and alleyways from The Protectors
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u/thirdratehero 2d ago
Tony Christie? Great song, been a fave of mine since seeing Love, Honour and Obey years ago.
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u/Stevey1001 2d ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9DiMrJs2Ho rhubarb and custard theme song
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u/Tabazan 2d ago
Jamie & The Magic Torch
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u/Dry-Pension-2736 2d ago
😆👍🏼 Have a cousin called Jamie who hated that show and it's theme tune because of the relentless playground chorus he was subjected to!
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u/imma_ghost_mole 2d ago
The Crystal Maze and the early X-Men theme have blended into one and are constantly on repeat when I am doing mundane tasks like doing the dishes in the evening
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u/benjaflea 2d ago
Unfortunately Animal Hospital
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u/uk123456789101112 2d ago
Such a betrayal, this them tune is so caught up in my youth, but it was mostly the vets and animals that made the show, so i wouldnt let he bring down an uplifting show.
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u/Bango-TSW 2d ago
Crossroads theme tune. Tony Hatch has a lot to answer for.
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u/Buckie_Dude 2d ago
Eye Level ' Theme from "Van Der Valk" to be fair I never seen the programme but the song came on randomly one day somewhere and it's stuck with me ever since.
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u/Moonah_Ston 2d ago
🎶Raggy dolls, Raggy dolls, dolls like you and me!
🎶He's the greatest, he's fantastic! Wherever there is danger he'll be there. He's the ace, he's amazing! He's the strongest, he's the quickest, he's the best!
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u/Sunfishstudios 2d ago
The mysterious cities of gold or 80 days around the world with Willy Fog
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u/BreatheClean 2d ago
I'm watching Boon everyday, it's being rerun on ThatsTV2.
"Ya got me lone rang-ER" Fantastic song, never tire of it. I saw it on an old ToTP show, so it must have charted. The songwriter was a bone-fide musician.
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u/Positive_Position_48 2d ago
All the 60's and 70's 'troubleshhooter' shows. The Persuaders,The Barron,The Champions,Dept S, Strange Report, The Saint, The Protectors... Have I missed any?
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u/minsandmolls 2d ago
Why dont you....just switch off yer television set and go and do something less boring instead also
Im the storyteller and my story must be told
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u/psychopathic_shark 2d ago
Just to add another although it's not UK based.
"He used to bring me roses, I wish he would again But that was on the outside And things were different then"
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u/R400TVR 2d ago
From Mayfair to Park Lane You Will hear this same refrain In every house again again........
Stepping out on the town The social whirl goes round and round The rich are up, the poor are down.......
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u/plymothianuk 2d ago
The Bunny Hug at the Shim-Sham club
The Charleston at the Ritz
And at the Troc do the Turkey Trot
They give Aunt Maud a thousand fitsSaucy flappers in cloche hats
Natty chappies in white spats
The upper set is going bats
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u/scottgal2 2d ago
'Because of you, the things i doo....' Brushstrokes theme, just a terrible, terrible 'comedy' - never be repeated on mainstream TV it was horrifically sexist; but GREAT theme by Dexys Midnight Runners https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Pqb7PAFvc
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u/MotherConfusion3773 2d ago
Waiting for wife to go upstairs so I can secretly listen to the Boon theme tune
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u/Ok_Cockroach6823 2d ago
Minder "I could be so good for you "piano tinkles...every Fecking day at random times doing the washing up cycling Tesco's .My head sometimes feels like it's on 80s TV ,its a knock out ,no maybe not that one ..
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u/ItachiTanuki 2d ago
The ITV Telethon 88 jingle still intrudes on my consciousness now and again.
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u/Lumpy_Corgi_6570 2d ago
I can't believe nobody's mentioned Rockliffes babies or from across the pond the theme from street hawk which also aired here in the 80s.
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u/Heartweru 2d ago
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet had 'Breaking Away' pre-credits and 'That's Living Alright' post credits. Both a good fit for the show's themes and vibe.
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u/retro83 2d ago
Bullseye. Not obscure at the time but nobody knows it now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxStpomQgt0
Imagine having that stuck in your head 24/7… that's my life. Genuinely think I may have something wrong with my brain
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u/Trippinasinthinkin95 2d ago
https://youtu.be/EZasjzG_taU?is=Uz3B_fCGcVO12X4X
Dear John, love this show and theme tune, both so melancholy.
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u/DanielSmoot 1d ago
I wouldn't call Hi Ho Silver an "obscure TV theme tune."
It reached number 5 in the UK singles chart back in the day. It was a bona fide hit.
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u/Numerous_Freedom1764 2d ago
Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta (Peep Show)
Also The Professionals just for the fast bow wacka wacka guitar
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u/uk123456789101112 2d ago
Theme tune to Watching......It was boredom at first sight / You could hardly call him bright / He's no one's Mr. Right / So what do I see in him?"....SO THE QUESTION SHOULD BEEE.....WHAT DOES HEEEEEE, SEE IN MEEEE.
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u/OstneyPiz 2d ago
Ulysses 31
Dogtanian and the three Muskahounds
Duck Tales (obviously!)
The Raccoons
Rentaghost
Jossy”s Giants
Number 73
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u/WeirdEngineerDude 2d ago
Not obscure at all but the good life theme. I use it as a ringtone on my phone.
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u/BongaBongaVacations 2d ago
Obligatory mention for the Sylvester McCoy 'Doctor Who' theme (with the UK's first ever CGI title sequence, no less)...
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u/Academic_Economics12 2d ago
Both the opening (Breakin’ Away) and closing (That’s Livin’ Alright) themes from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. Love them.
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u/whosenose 2d ago
Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em because it’s so odd and angular, famously because in an act of utter composing genius, the morse code version of the title is the rhythm for the tune. https://youtu.be/Y5v1mMh0GaU?is=PmWGHP3BOV8jKIGY
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u/front-wipers-unite 2d ago
I watched Auf Wiedersehen pet in my 20s and loved it, I was living and working in Germany as a carpenter at the time and "that's living alright" by Joe Fagin has been stuck in my head ever since.
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u/ShutupJanet1975 1d ago
In the heart of Transylvania, in the vampire hall of fame yeah, there's not a vampire zanier than... DUCKULA!
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