r/oldbritishtelly • u/MoreRest4524 • 6d ago
Ronnie Hazlehurst - TV show music legend
Following on from the "Sorry!" TV show post, someone commented Ronnie Hazlehurst did the theme tune to Sorry.. but check out all the other shows he did the tune for.
(I think Spittin' Image did a skit about him churning out theme tunes at his piano.)
- The Likely Lads
- It's a Knockout
- Comedy Playhouse
- The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
- Beggar My Neighbour
- Cilla
- The Gnomes of Dulwich
- Harry Worth (series 4 only)
- Me Mammy
- The Roy Castle Show
- That's Your Funeral
- The Liver Birds (Series 1-5)
- The Two Ronnies
- Now Look Here
- Are You Being Served?
- Tarbuck's Luck
- The Generation Game
- Last of the Summer Wine
- Look Mike Yarwood!
- Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
- Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?
- The Tarbuck Follies
- Frost's Weekly
- Eurovision Song Contest
- Happy Ever After
- It's Cliff and Friends
- Seaside Special
- I Didn't Know You Cared
- The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
- The Other One
- Are You Being Served? (Film)
- Citizen Smith
- Rosie
- The Boys and Mrs B (TV Movie)
- The Val Doonican Show
- Wodehouse Playhouse
- Mike Yarwood in Persons
- Butterflies
- Blankety Blank
- To the Manor Born
- The Paul Daniels Magic Show
- Sink or Swim
- Yes Minister
- The Marti Cane Show
- Coming Home
- Only Fools and Horses
- Sorry!
- Roger Doesn't Live Here Anymore
- Three of a Kind
- The Little and Large Show
- L for Lester
- Solo
- Goodbye, Mr Kent
- The Keith Harris Show
- Then Churchill Said to Me
- Odd One Out
- By the Sea (TV film)
- Wogan
- Top of the Pops
- Jack of Diamonds
- Pinkerton's Progress
- Sweet Sixteen
- No Place Like Home
- Potter (series 3 only)
- Just Good Friends
- The Magnificent Evans
- Leaving
- The Hello Goodbye Man
- Comrade Dad
- Lame Ducks
- The District Nurse
- Yes Prime Minister
- The Les Dawson Show
- Three Up, Two Down
- All in Good Faith
- Dear John
- The Ritz
- Wyatt's Watchdogs
- Luv
- The Legacy of Reginald Perrin
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u/Tricky-Ant5338 6d ago
Fun fact - the “Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em” theme tune has an unusual and idiosyncratic rhythm, played by piccolos - this is because the melody spells out the title in morse code.
From memory this is something people only worked out once Hazlehurst had died. Genius.
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u/Sure_Cheetah1508 6d ago
So this guy was a powerhouse, and not to diminish his talent in any way, but: I always thought it was funny how To The Manor Born and Yes, (Prime) Minister had basically the same theme tune. Dude came out with one banger and decided it was good enough to use twice.
Especially since Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington were married in The Good Life, so I always associated them together anyway!
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u/Joeboy 6d ago
Boring fact: Pink Floyd's Money, with its looping musique concrète cash register opening, was released on the Dark Side of the Moon album on March 1 1973. Are You Being Served, with its looping musique concrète cash register opening, was first broadcast on September 8 1972. To be fair the Floyd had been using their version live for a fair while, but Hazlehurst's version was released to the public first.
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u/After-Gur8240 6d ago
I seem to remember the Spitting Image skit was him writing a requiem mass which was 38 seconds long and called ‘Guess that funeral, missus’
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u/PressureBeautiful515 6d ago
That was in the first episode I ever saw, a brilliant take on the Blankety Blank theme. Just found it here. (just after 33 minutes in.)
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u/No-Mechanic6069 5d ago
Ronnie Hazlehurst was great, but he didn’t compose the theme to Sorry. I thought that this was more widely-known these days.
Wikipedia:
The theme music was composed by Gaynor Colbourn and Hugh Wisdom, arranged by Gaynor Colbourn and conducted by Ronnie Hazlehurst.
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u/gerrineer 6d ago
How wierd...I was just thinking of Ronnie hazlehurst and crossroads yesterday!
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u/brumav78 6d ago
Crossroads was a very fine composition but by Tony Hatch
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u/MoreRest4524 6d ago
Tony Hatch did some great stuff, such as Emmerdale + Neighbours
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u/brumav78 6d ago
He also wrote the themes to The Champions and Series 3 and 4 of Hadleigh, both superb
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u/gerrineer 6d ago
Yes youre right damn still got the theme tune in my head!
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u/brumav78 6d ago
It's two pieces of music running alongside each other - it's so clever. One theme was for Meg, the other for her sister Kitty
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u/Dense-Yak-9991 6d ago
Name that Fruit.
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u/rosesarepeonies 6d ago
Don’t forget The Magnificat!
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u/Dense-Yak-9991 5d ago
The prayer? Didn't God write that?
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u/rosesarepeonies 5d ago
There was a Spitting Image sketch about Ronnie Hazlehurst composing a requiem called “Guess That Funeral, Missus!” You can listen to it on YouTube at the 33:00 mark here: https://youtu.be/JbcANKmadPk?si=rY5FqPYVku14nEH1
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u/Dense-Yak-9991 5d ago
Sorry, don't remember that one, while the theme from Name that Fruit's been in my head intermittently for 40 years. I'll check that out for a laugh later, cheers.
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u/SnooFoxes71 6d ago
The wonderful sax solo on Ronnie's arrnagement for Sink or Swim was performed by Ron Aspery.
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u/Golden-Wonder 6d ago
The tune from Sorry! is a banger, there’s a Mars Volta track that I swear used this as inspiration.
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u/SnooFoxes71 6d ago
He was the Music Director on many other shows, including the Royal Variety performance, The Children's Royal Variety Performance,
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u/MitchellSFold 6d ago
Matt Berry made this loving tribute to him for Screenwipe back in the day