Melodic Monochrome - The Sequel

Almost a year ago, well right at the start of this year I posted a blog
dissecting the musical work of the unsung composers of television.

I promised to do a follow-up not long after, but I got caught up with
other things, such as spending time in London pubs chatting to like
minded library music fans, and even meeting the odd composer
in person.

But as it's the little bit in the holidays where nothing's going on at all
I thought I'd put together a second helping containing a few tunesmiths
who certain readers thought should have been in the first one.

Here goes;


Keith Mansfield 






Quite a lengthy selection, and it was difficult to decided what to include and what to leave out as many a composition by Mansfield became the defining tune of respective outdoor activities on the BBC.

One bringing back many memories of being sat in front of the telly on a Saturday lunchtime, which pretty much gives me an excuse to dig out an amusing moment from Buzzcocks where Sean Hughes and Kevin from Liberty X have to perform the intro to the strangely familiar "Forget About You" by The Motors. I bet the thought going through Sean Hughes' head was "it sounds like a sports theme".

Back to Mansfield, and it's also worth mentioning "Party Time" at 1.25, familiar to listeners of Chris Evans' Breakfast Show as the backing bed for Vassos Alexander's sports updates, and "Superstar Fanfare" at 3:02 used as the ident theme for Channel Television in the mid-80s.

Ronnie Hazlehurst






I'll be perfectly honest, whilst the name may be familiar, the best known works of the late composer are on a personal level rather inane.

It seemed to be a requirement of the BBC's in house composer to match the main melody of a sig tune to the show's title (Last Of The Summer Wine, Wogan) or to provide sickly lyrics giving a viewer a taste of what to expect (The Paul Daniels Magic Show, Larry Grayson's Generation Game) Larry Grayson also deserves a nod for having in my opinion, the worst gameshow theme tune with a badly timed ending and unexpected change of key and tempo.

Thankfully the audio in the above montage puts that to one side, with gems such as the twangy tune to Sorry!, the authoritative Yes Minister, the original theme to Only Fools And Horses, and both the opening and closing theme to The Two Ronnies.

There's also the middle bit of the long theme to Some Mothers Do 'Ave Em which in itself is rather superb. And it would have been ridiculous to have left out Blankety Blank.

Neil Richardson 






Once again, a man who's not associated with many specific sig tunes, apart from the one near the end which is up there with News At Ten for catching children off guard when they should have been in bed.

Thankfully it's the original version of "Approaching Menace", as opposed to the new arrangement they've introduced for the most recent series of Mastermind.

Also included are the lively "Full Speed Ahead" at 0:18 and "Prestige Production" at 1:06, later renamed "The Riviera Affair" and released on the first (superior) Sound Gallery compilation during the mid-90s "Loungecore" revival.



James Clarke 





Another composer who again, isn't associated with a specific television sig tune but his works have cropped up here and there over the years.

Kicking off the selection is "Wild Elephants" AKA "Blow Up-A-Go-Go" revived in 1999 as the soundtrack to the infamous Gap adverts and subsequently used like bonkers on many a television and radio show.

Also worth a mention at 0.35 is "Pogo Stick" which I seem to remember cropping up in an episode of Morph, and the rather surreal synth blues tune "Mr Mack" at 2.30.

And if you've reached this far, thank you for reading and listening, and apologies if any melodies have trouble escaping from your head.

(All rights acknowledged)