Show Tunes

Grab a blanket, get a cup of tea and practice the Queen’s English, because today we are talking about Downtown Abbey.

The show ran from 2010 to 2015 and has established a cult fandom like few others. And the theme tune is inseparable from the show. John Lunn’s score won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding music composition for a series, in 2012 and 2013 so it’s safe to say the tune did pretty well. But what makes it so special, you ask?

Today we’re checking out Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, with House M.D.

House is a twist on the classic medical drama TV shows, which aired from 2004 to 2012. Hugh Laurie playing the cynical, inappropriate and stubborn lead who, for all of his flaws, knows his medical stuff. The show is pretty unconventional in comparison to other medical soaps because each episode focuses on one case, and they’re always seemingly impossible. And though House is addicted to pain medication and very fickle minded, he leads a team of diagnosticians (who rarely solve the cases themselves).

Today we’re going all the way back to chalkboards and detentions, with Tim Loane’s very own, Teachers.

Channel 4’s series Teachers aired from 2001 to 2004 and follows the lives of a group of teachers, who are quite often drunk, sorely unmotivated and very self-interested.

“Neighbours… everybody needs good neighbours.”

we’re taking a trip down under to talk about one of the most iconic, instantly recognisable theme tunes in soap opera history - the theme to Neighbours. Yes, that warm, catchy tune that’s so good, you may have watched twice a day.

Full House is a classic late eighties, early nineties sitcom, it's also got a classic theme track.

It centers around Danny Tanner, a recently widowed dad trying to raise his three young daughters in San Francisco.

Overwhelmed but determined, he brings in his brother in law Jesse, a rock musician with a rebellious streak, and his childhood best friend Joey, a goofy comedian to help raise the girls. This unconventional trio navigate the throes of bringing up children, friendship, and growing up.

Over the course of eight seasons, the opening verse was trimmed here, a line skipped there, but the chorus never faltered. And when Fuller House came along, the spinoff, the song was polished up by Carly Rae Jepsen & Butch Walker, giving it a fresh sound for a new generation, but the soul remained the sam

Today we’re popping over to Scranton, Pennsylvania for one of the most instantly recognisable tunes ever: The Office (US Ed. - cough, cough).

The Office, for those who somehow haven't seen it, is a mockumentary about a paper company in Scranton, which ran from 2005 to 2013. It is an awkward, heartfelt show, lasting 9 seasons, which launched the careers of people like John Krasinski and Mindy Kaling.

Today we are shining the spotlight on one of the most beloved shows out there. It is the iconic “howcatchem” detective show: Columbo.

But before we get into the music, let’s take a step back and paint a little picture. So, Columbo , for those of you who are unfamiliar, is a classic American detective series from the '70s, starring Peter Falk as the rumpled, cigarchomping Lieutenant Columbo. He’s not your usual flashy TV cop. He wears the same beige raincoat every episode, drives a battered old Peugeot, and constantly plays the fool. But don’t fall for it because he’s quick and witty underneath it all.

We're taking a trip back to the early 90s, with the tune belonging to none other than Saved by the Bell.

The theme tune was composed by Scott Gale, an american musician, who came up with the main lyric “It’s alright cause I’m saved by the bell” two minutes after rejecting the offer to write the song for NBC.

Prepare yourself to be humming just the one tune for the rest of the day, "Scooby-Dooby-Doo, Where Are You?"

Now this theme, written by David Mook and Ben Raleigh, is a brief but unforgettable tune. Its bouncy guitar riff accompanied with the iconic sound of 60’s vocals, sets the quirky and spooky scene for a mystery solving, potentially troublesome gang, that it introduces. Mook and Raleigh were heavily influenced by surf rock bands such as the Beach Boys and the Ventures, and incorporated elements of the genre into the song.

The insistent arpeggiated bassline, soaring synth leads, and jet-engine-like whooshes don’t just suggest flight - they are flight.

Premiering in 1984 on CBS, Airwolf was the ultimate 80s TV cocktail: Cold War espionage, high-tech military gear, a brooding antihero in Jan-Michael Vincent’s Stringfellow Hawke, and most crucially - a helicopter so souped-up it made KITT from Knight Rider look like a rental car.