Two for Tuesday: Ron Grainer

Two for Tuesday 1 Minute

Ron Grainer was born in Australia and did most of his work in the UK. He wrote theme music for a number of TV shows, most famously:

Doctor Who

The Prisoner

Steptoe and Son

This was the basis for the 1970’s show Sanford and Son. Wilfrid Brambell, who played Paul McCartney’s grandfather in A Hard Day’s Night, played the elder Steptoe.

Maigret (1960)

That Was The Week That Was (UK, 1962)

And that’s just a sample of his work. A partial list of his work in film and television is available on Wikipedia.

Ron Grainer, your Two for Tuesday, January 21, 2020.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

15 thoughts on “Two for Tuesday: Ron Grainer”

  1. Pingback: The Pre-Anniversary Week That Was – The Sound of One Hand Typing

  2. Love these themes but the Doctor Who one is close to my heart…I’m a huge Doctor Who fan.

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        1. Doctor Who was very popular in Chicago. If I remember correctly, it was someone at WTTW who suggested taking all the individual episodes that made up a story and sticking them all together so they could air an entire story in one night. Anyway, they got as far as “Logopolis” (where Tom Baker regenerated into Peter Davison) and the Fifth Doctor episodes weren’t available from the BBC, but they did manage to get some of the William Hartnell and Parick Troughton episodes and already had all the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker episodes, so they started from the beginning, and by the time they got back to the end of the Bakers the Davison episodes were available. I really enjoyed seeing the old shows, and the Davison episodes were almost a letdown. The only good thing about the Colin Baker episodes was Peri (Nicola Bryant) running around in booty shorts and tank tops, and I only saw a couple of the Sylvester McCoys before losing interest. I did like the movie with Paul McGann and some of the David Tennant and Matt Smith episodes (especially the ones with Jenna Coleman). Right after Matt turned into Peter Capaldi we cut the cord and I didn’t have access to BBC America…

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          1. We would get them in Nashville on PBS. Baker is who I remember first and then of course Davison.
            Colin was an odd one…they really changed the character with him. Yea I did like Peri a lot.
            I lost interest when Matt Smith left. It was excellent til then. I had some British buddies and I would get that weeks show a few hours after it was shown over there.

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  4. I’m only familiar with the Dr. Who theme. It’s still in use for the current incarnation of the show. thanks for the flashback to the original Doctor.

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    1. It used to change a little bit for each new incarnation of the Doctor, usually in the last season of the then-current Doctor’s reign. The biggest change was the last season of Tom Baker. That was fantastic…

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    1. I never saw it; we had “Sanford & Son” in this country, which was pretty funny. Wilfrid Brambell was hilarious in “A Hard Day’s Night.”

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