TV Themes

TV theme tunes: 30 second stabs of music that mean you’ve missed the allotted window to go to the toilet, make some tea, teach the cat banjo... because drums-are-a-thumping, Eastenders is on - and Phil Mitchell is about to start wheezing.

Sometimes the intro music is more memorable than the show itself - you may never have seen an episode of Cheers but you definitely know it’s ‘where everybody knows your name’. And sometimes it’s just a great piece of music in its own right.

For these reasons we’ve jumped into our vault and picked out a collection of the corniest, catchiest and greatest TV themes for you to get stuck into, by yourself or at one of those strange parties you have.

Plus, get nostalgic by flicking through our YouTube playlist, reminding yourself just how good the TV intros of yesteryear could get. Click the arrows to cycle through them.

Highlights

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

The story of how Will Smith’s life got flipped upside down. In West Philadelphia (born and raised) the Fresh Prince spent most of his days in the playground just chilling out, maxing and relaxing, shooting some b-ball outside of the school. To cut a long story short, he got into trouble in his neighbourhood and moved to Bel-Air, where he is now the go-to guy if you need a Muhammad Ali impersonator or Earth has an “alien problem”.

The Wire

The Blind Boys Of Alabama
Way Down In The Hole

The Wire raised the bar with their finely tuned, observant and intelligent ‘crime drama’ that realistically depicts the world of drug crime in Baltimore. It’s been praised by critics as being ‘the greatest TV series of all time’ and Barack Obama has said it’s his favourite program. It’s no surprise, then, that the music is inspirationally chosen – each season uses a different and individually ace version of Tom Wait’s ‘Down In The Whole’ to open its episodes. This is our favourite.