Items34The creator’s order
  1. 1Coronation Street (1960)Coronation Street (1960) 5.6/10 on IMDbFirst aired Dec 9, 1960Eric Spear's theme is a lone cornet over a brass band, slow and a little wistful, and it sounds like a street of row houses at dusk. The soap first aired on December 9, 1960, which makes it the oldest show on this list. Its trick is restraint. There is no big hook, just a melody that settles into…0
  2. 2The Avengers (1961)The Avengers (1961) 8.3/10 on IMDbFirst aired Jan 7, 1961This is the 1960s spy series, not the Marvel films. The early episodes used a jazzy theme by John Dankworth, but the one everyone remembers is Laurie Johnson's, introduced in 1965 when Diana Rigg joined as Emma Peel. Johnson built it from an earlier track of his called The Shake, and you can hear…0
  3. 3Z-Cars (1962)Z-Cars (1962) 7.0/10 on IMDbFirst aired Jan 2, 1962The theme outlived the police drama by a mile. Fritz Spiegl and the composer Bridget Fry arranged it from Johnny Todd, a traditional Liverpool folk song, and its rolling fife-and-drum feel suited a series set in a fictional town based on Kirkby. Today far more people hear it at soccer games than…0
  4. 4Steptoe and Son (1962)Steptoe and Son (1962) 7.8/10 on IMDbFirst aired Jan 5, 1962Ron Grainer's Old Ned is a jaunty, slightly creaky tune that trots along like the rag-and-bone cart it was written for. It sounds cheerful until you notice the melancholy under the bounce, which is the whole sitcom in two minutes: father and son stuck together, laughing so they do not cry. Grainer…0
  5. 5Doctor Who (1963)Doctor Who (1963) 8.4/10 on IMDbFirst aired Nov 23, 1963This is the original 1963 series and the theme that has followed the Doctor ever since. Ron Grainer wrote it, but Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop realized it, and her version was one of the first television themes created and produced entirely with electronics. That pulsing…0
  6. 6Crossroads (1964)Crossroads (1964) 4.4/10 on IMDbFirst aired Nov 2, 1964This is the original ITV motel soap that ran from 1964 to 1988, not the 2001 revival. Tony Hatch wrote its theme, a breezy, rising tune that sounds like a car pulling into the parking lot with the radio on. The soap became a byword for low production values, but nobody mocked the music. Wings…0
  7. 7Thunderbirds (1965)Thunderbirds (1965) 7.9/10 on IMDbFirst aired Sep 30, 1965This is the 1965 Supermarionation original, not the 2015 remake Thunderbirds Are Go. Gerry Anderson asked Barry Gray for a military feel, and Gray answered with The Thunderbirds March, a brass-heavy piece that follows Jeff Tracy's famous countdown. It is a proper march, with bold brass and a tune…0
  8. 8Dad's Army (1968)Dad's Army (1968) 8.1/10 on IMDbFirst aired Jul 31, 1968Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr Hitler? sounds so much like a 1940s music-hall number that many people assume it is one. In fact Jimmy Perry wrote the words and composed the music with Derek Taverner for the 1968 sitcom, as a gentle pastiche of wartime songs. The masterstroke was the singer.…0
  9. 9Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969)Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969) 8.8/10 on IMDbFirst aired Oct 5, 1969The sketch show's theme is not British at all: it is The Liberty Bell, an 1893 march by the American bandmaster John Philip Sousa, in a recording by the Band of the Grenadier Guards. It was picked partly because it had fallen into the public domain, so the team could use it without paying…0
  10. 10Van der Valk (1972)Van der Valk (1972) 7.1/10 on IMDbFirst aired Sep 13, 1972This is the 1972 Thames Television detective series starring Barry Foster, not the 2020 revival. Its theme, Eye Level, was a library track by the Dutch composer Jan Stoeckart under the name Jack Trombey, recorded by the Simon Park Orchestra. Then it did something no detective theme should: it went…0