Those of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s, miss those 'pure' years so dearly that we oddly find comfort in little things from back then... even in the iconic tune from Thames TV. It seems that every year that passes is a little bit better than the next one. So sad.
I just saw this on Daily Motion when one video rolled in to the next. I haven't seen or heard it since then and it immediately transported me to my younger years watching The Benny Hill Show et al late at night in America when there were only seven channels on the dial; gave me goosebumps.
I was born in '78 and I've never even been to England or even Great Britain but the mid- to late 80's Thames intro is still stuck in my mind. Our state channel licensed a lot of stuff from BBC and ITV. Seeing this before a show meant quality, at least for me. Mr. Bean, The Wind In The Willows, so much more Good thing is the post-watershed Brit shows were never dubbed (unlike Charlie Chalk, Postman Pat etc) so that's how I learned English: Monty Python's Flying Circus, 'Allo 'Allo, Hale & Pace, Smith & Jones, you know Made me English well 'ard
@@ZootWorld1 Multiculturalism means more crime, move traffic, more houses needed. Doesn’t take a genius to work that out! Oh and some cultures are better than others.
@@ArmyJamesit wasn’t Thames’ decision, it was a central mandate from ITV for all franchises to use the same tune. It was a compromise to even retain their logo at the very start, which ITV also did-away with a few years later. It’s quite sad, what was a wide range of regional diversity is now all ITV branded. It’s STV up here in Scotland; but even STV has no personality, and there used to be two different Scottish regions with very different designs! But it’s a right shame, especially given they’d only just had their new cinematic rendition of the same theme (rather than the small brass ensemble that I remember). I can’t imagine they were happy about it, they probably wanted to get another 20 years use out of it minimum.
I know you guys won't believe it, but I watched Thames Tv's shows in the early 90s here in Kenya. The iconic theme sound gives me nolstalgia. Damn! The good old days!
Yup the same i can say in Ecuador although we have the shows either in Spanish or subtitled. I love when i was a kid Count Duckula or as we call it CONDE PÁTULA
At 1:03 in the late 70s/early 80s the whole family would cheer with excitement as it meant the Benny Hill show was about to start! Thank you PBS and UK-
I did not grow up in the UK but I feel very nostalgic about this. I watched loads of British television in the eighties and funny how life goes.. I always wondered how London is and Big Ben was etched in my mind as this image of a big city. Little that I knew I would end up moving to UK and for a long time came out of Westminster tube every morning greeted by Big Ben. Maybe it worked subliminally!
Early days of the bill. For me. Sitting watching it with my parents. Not forgetting when Emerdale was known as Emerdale Farm and Was a lot better. When Coronation Street was also a lot better with Stan and Hilda. Both of the soaps are a load of nonsense today.
The good old Thames TV jingle... It became quite popular also here in Spain between the late 70s and the mid 90s. Hearing that tune on TV meant that you were going to have a good time during the next minutes.
0:39 Brings back memories watching Count Duckula on Nickelodeon in the late 1980s. Count Duckula, You Can't Do That On Television and Mister Wizard... Nickelodeon had these three completely unrelated shows in the same time block, but I loved them all.
It's an arpeggio based on the fifth of the chord, so even though it's reassuringly plummy there's a sense of expectation from the instability of the second inversion. That's some classy attention to craft for a 7 second continuity jingle
Most UK TV idents had similar musical depth, it’s one of my favourite things about them to be honest. A lot of the Scottish and Grampian ident jingles used the specific pentatonic scales common in Scottish folk music :)
0:39-0:45 is the one I remember from my childhood. There was something very, very relaxing about seeing and hearing that. I could fall asleep in peace by meditating on it - although there was a fun show about to begin. From that moment I forgot about everything that could make me feel bad.
My friend got Thames I got anglia . On Saturday he got UFO. I got farmers weekly . We were only a few doors away . He tell me about captain scarlet , the Brady bunch and a whole raft of stuff . Anglia had regional programs about Norfolk and bloody tolly cobbold ads with willie rushton . I was addicted to tv in those days . Would watch anything . I would wait for the programs to come on .this was about 72
Yes, in the US for late boomer teens/GenX kids, 0:43 meant Benny Hill. And in the late 70s-80s in my Midwestern US hometown, it also meant Man About the House, Robin's Nest, and Kenny Everett. A deeply Anglophile programmer must have been at the local indy station. I grew up seeing a ton of UK shows aside from the usual Monty Python, Doctor Who, and Are You Being Served? on PBS-my town even got 2-weeks-late TOTP. By the time I left home for college in '87, French & Saunders was on Saturday afternoons, as was Black Adder and Red Dwarf, and the international version of ITN News at 10 was on, yes, at 10 with Trevor McDonald. I remember this ident, London Weekend, ATV, Granada, and Anglia (and the spinning ITC diamonds meant it was time for The Muppet Show!).
Though I'm Japanese, I lived in London from 1985 through 1991 as a child. So I do remember these sounds very much. It always reminds me of my happy days in London. Thank you so much for sharing.
When I was young, I often referred to Big Ben and St. Paul's Cathedral as "London and Washington", as the dome on St. Paul's Cathedral is similar to the dome on the United States Capitol HQ. Now years later I am developing the format for a TV spy series featuring a British diplomat and a tough US CIA agent from Washington D.C. as the main characters.
To be honest in those times everyone tried to use modern visual effects - thing was, the software and hardware just couldn't produce anything of value. Progress for the sake of progress.
I was born in the 00's but I remember the 90s and 80s one so vividly. There used to be this thing that came on where they would show all the old programmes and I would watch that with my mum. I can remember it so much and it has so much nostalgia towards me.
Castle Duckula. Home for many centuries to a dreadful dynasty of vicious vampire ducks. The counts of Duckula! Legend has it that these foul beings can be destroyed by a stake through the heart or exposure to sunlight. This does not suffice, however, for they may be brought back to life by means of a secret rite that can be performed once a century when the moon is in the eighth house of Aquarius. The latest reincarnation did not run according to plan...
They should not have messed around with this ident or the iconic jingle. The simple eight notes of the 60's, 70's and early 80's were the best and you knew straight away you were watching something from Thames Television.
When I was kid,I remember this sound and picture,I saw a great show’s, series, now I discover it THAMS TV, what a great days,a great Company and Great Britain 🇬🇧
If Thames ever gets revived, but as a name-only unit than an actual production company, they should make the logo likes the older ones with its famous jingle.
Always reminds of RAINBOW!!! on ZBC TV in Zimbabwe... Gosh what happy carefree days..... such beautiful nostalgia. How do we get back to those happy days?!
There was one used on a few series 3 episodes of Callan where the "Thames" lettering disappeared along with the reflection of the word. And I've seen a couple of programmes using the vignette ident but with the later version of the jingle, with the elongated 4 final notes.
Such fond childhood memories here in Canada of various English TV series back in the early half of the 1970s where this "THAMES" logo was the opening of each episode. Good Old Days.
I remember seeing this at the start of shows made by this production company as well as LWT, and being a kid from Australia I always thought it was how the word looked and would say thhames and my mother would say the proper pronunciation i didnt know it was more like Tems.
I bet if Thames kept the franchise then the 91-92 ident would've lasted well into the very end of the 90s and been almost as iconic as the original skyline one! Though only in London, cos by 1988 ITV stopped showing regional idents for programmes, which is a massive shame.
That iconic music and image will be deeply embedded in Childhood memories of 70s TV for many including myself. It was a special era, and better quality TV than the 100s of fibre optic channels on tap today. 😊
I like the night time one, I don’t think I ever saw it. I had to go to bed before it was on. All of the idents are special and take me straight back to the 1980s and my childhood.
The nighttime version I remembered was used for *"Armchair Thriller"* in the late 70s, where sometimes you had a witch on a broomstick fly over. Great days. Bring back Thames!!
The nighttime variant was also seen at the start of a Christmas TV movie called Quincy's Quest which starred Tommy Steele & was broadcast on ITV at Christmas 1979.
Me too. I knew World at War was coming on. Back in the early 70's. That was a graphic show for a 10 year old kid. My dad was in Europe and was in the big push from Normandy on but he never talked about. I wanted to see myself.
It has that classic 1970s - 80s music in it that even if you make anyone hear just this music and ask them from which decade is this from, he/she can tell that it's from 1970s - 80s..
