Another example of one of the finest theme tunes to a gameshow, this time being
the end credits to an episode of Catchphrase from the series transmitted in Winter 1989.
Many people will agree with me when I say that Ed Welch's theme from when TVS made the show was a lot better than the ones used when Carlton produced the show from 1994 onwards.
This particular series moved back to being shown on Sunday nights after Highway,
after a succesfull run on Saturdays the previous year although when it would return for a second series in the Autumn it would be back on the Saturday night schedule which I can rather clearly remember being on before Blind Date.
Although for many reasons in my house we would be more likely to be tuned to the likes of Monkhouse and Edmonds on a Saturday night from then onwards.
One of them being I didn't like the noise it made when a contestant failed the endgame although having watched the programme many years later it's really inoffensive and more of a signifier of relief after struggling to guess that rather tough animated image.
And it's nowhere near as bad as the sound it made if a player landed on a bankrupt on the UK version of the Wheel Of Fortune.
When the show moved to Carlton, they changed the time-up noise to what sounded like an electronic sound of water dripping, to give a better description, although I was more nervous of the sound it made in the Ready Money Round when they had to speed things up and remove all the squares in the bonus.
And there's no better example than what I'm sure everyone has seen, the legendary "Snake Charmer" catchphrase which has had me in stiches many times.
Well, since I understood what was actually happening.
This actually ended up being shown as part of the programme too.
Although the most famous sound effect from the show continues to be heard quite often in the radio rooms, as Phil Harris has the contestants buzzer as his text message sound on his mobile.
On another note it's worth mentioning that although an American format, it was a lot more succesfull over here than in the states as it only had one series there and on our shores it lasted for 16 years, although the first 14 tend to be regarded a lot better when Roy hosted the show.
It's worth posting a link to an episode of the American version which is notable for a few things as despite looking exactly the same, the show's mascot Mr Chips is called "Herbie" and one of the contestants happens to have the same name as one of our students
"Mary Lopez".
She's nowhere near as good looking however and I very much doubt that she would want to be called "Maz".
Roy Walker made an appearance in Edinburgh earlier this year and can be seen in this interview where he reveals that many fans of the show can remember where they were and what they were eating whilst the show was on which would normally be along the lines of spaghetti on toast, or egg and cress sandwiches as mentioned.
Roy of course is now pretty much a big star on the radio not just on
The Chris Moyles Show, but he's also currently appearing on as one of the captains on a Radio 4 comedy quiz called "Act Your Age" hosted by Simon Mayo and also featuring
Lucy Porter.
I very much doubt it will be the last we'll be hearing from "The Legend".
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