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Music certainly plays an important
part in explaining the popularity of the South African radio series of
The Avengers. Here we take a look and a listen! Let's start off
with an example clip, from All Done By Mirrors... Just click
the bowler to play the audio file...
All Done By Mirrors
Episode Six
The Springbok Radio Gong
Springbok Radio used the
distinctive sound of a gong between programmes — quite a clever,
innocent form of mental conditioning for their listenership, making
them turn their attention to the radio! The gong was struck live by
the announcers and this accounts for the variations in the sound of
the gong from one episode to another. The gong would have been heard at the
start of every episode of The Avengers on Springbok Radio — and
many of the surviving radio recordings include them.
The Springbok Gong
Regular Music
After the opening narration and
'teaser' scene, Laurie
Johnson's catchy Emma Peel era version of 'The Avengers Theme' accompanies the
voiceover announcement, "The Avengers. John Steed
and Emma Peel — The Avengers".
The Avengers Theme
In the original transmissions, 'The
Avengers Theme' lead into the programme's first commercial break.
After the advertisements, listeners would be welcomed back to The
Avengers by the lively opening of the 2nd
movement of Laurie Johnson's 'Symphony (Synthesis)', which underscored the episode number announcement — "Episode
... of this story..."
Symphony (Synthesis)
2nd Movement
(Con Moto)
As each night's episode drew to a
close, one of two variations from Laurie Johnson's 'Symphony
(Synthesis)' would play out from the end of the action and lead into
the programme's second and final commercial break. These variations
were either
the short drum roll and cymbal at the end of the 4th Movement of the
piece or the longer, more atmospheric climax to the 5th Movement with
trumpet. These would be used both for dramatic effect and timing
reasons.
|
Symphony (Synthesis)
4th Movement
(Allegro) |
Symphony (Synthesis)
5th Movement
(Finale) |
One exception to this rule can be heard at the
end of Episode Six of The Quick-Quick-Slow Death, which has a
sound effect of a crowd as the playout leading into the commercial
break. The same Avengers theme then follows the advertisements with the reminder
"The Avengers. Listen every evening, Monday to Friday, to
John Steed and Emma Peel — The Avengers... Brought to you by
the makers of Cold Water Omo," and the once-weekly announcement
of central cast (Donald Monat as John Steed and Diane Appleby as Emma
Peel) and the adaptor/director and producer.
Alternate Playout, Commercials and
Closing Theme with Announcement
Title Tunes
Following the episode number
announcement, each serial has its own signature tune, a sort of Title
Tune, which plays as the serial name is distinctly mentioned. The
tunes range from the catchy ditty for Love All, through all
kinds of instrumentals to the distinctly unmusical sounds used for
Get-A-Way! These title tunes often continue for a short while,
giving a musical backing to the lively narration by Hugh Rouse.
|
Serial Title |
Play
Title Tune |
Track Title
and Other Details |
|
The Fantasy Game |
|
— |
|
The Quick-Quick-Slow Death |
|
— |
|
Love All |
|
'Old Fashioned' — Eric Siday
LP
Version |
|
Get-A-Way! |
|
— |
|
A Deadly Gift |
|
— |
|
The Super Secret Cypher Snatch |
|
'Helicopter Eyeview' — Eric
Siday
LP Version |
|
Dial A Deadly Number |
|
— |
|
Not To Be Sneezed At |
|
— |
|
Who Shot Poor George Oblique Stroke
XR40? |
|
'Symphony (Synthesis) — 2nd
Movement (Con Moto)' — Laurie Johnson |
|
A Grave Charge |
|
— |
|
All Done By Mirrors |
|
— |
|
The Morning After |
|
— |
|
The Joker |
|
— |
|
Straight From The Shoulder |
|
This theme appears to be a
variation on 'Take Five' by the Dave Brubeck Quartet |
|
Stop Me If You've Heard This |
|
— |
|
From Venus With Love |
|
— |
|
A Case Of Interrogation |
|
— |
|
Too Many Oles |
|
— |
|
Train Of Events |
|
— |
|
Escape In Time (Remake) |
|
— |
Incidental Music
Donald Monat said in an interview
for this website in 2000: "Incidental music would almost certainly
have come from library material. Each producer had his or her own
favourite libraries of theme and background music..."
It's hardly surprising that other
excerpts from 'Symphony (Synthesis)' are used as incidental music, as
in Who Shot Poor George Oblique Stroke XR40? (Episode Five)
where the opening of the Fourth Movement (Allegro) is employed. It is a very atmospheric piece that has garnered
critical acclaim.
Who Shot Poor George Oblique Stroke
XR40?
Episode Five
Symphony (Synthesis) — 4th Movement (Allegro)
Then there are tunes as in The
Quick-Quick-Slow Death (Episode One) which were popular choices at
Sonovision that can be heard in
several serials. Another tune in Straight From The Shoulder
(Episode One) is another one much-utilised. A very similar tune,
possibly a different excerpt from the same music, is used in the
The Fantasy Game (Episode One). Love All's title tune ('Old
Fashioned' by Eric Siday) must have been favoured as it is heard as incidental
music throughout The Super Secret Cypher Snatch. Love All
and some other Avengers serials contain synth-pop music, very
much like
'Popcorn' by Hot Butter (1972). Judging by the below, the Eric
Siday library music album Sounds of Now must have been a
well-used LP at Sonovision Studios.
Generally each serial has its own
incidental music style to go with the story. One example, from Too
Many Olés, lends a distinctly Spanish feel (Episode One).
Escape In Time (Remake) is imbued with music of an historical lilt
with the likes of 'Brush Up Your Shakespeare' written by Cole Porter
for
'Kiss Me, Kate' (Episode One). Some of the longest and most tuneful pieces are the
dance band numbers used in The Quick-Quick-Slow Death. Would
the producers' libraries have contained the likes of Glenn Miller,
Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Kenny Clarke, Henry Mancini, James Last,
Burt Bacharach and possibly the composers of James Bond or Pink
Panther movie themes? Perhaps lesser known pieces were chosen for
copyright reasons. They're certainly not that easy to track down!
|
Too Many Olés
Episode One
Incidental Music |
Escape in Time (Remake)
Episode One
Incidental Music |
One particular serial that has an
incidental track that will cause any self-respecting telefantasy fan
to sit up and take notice is The Morning After. This story
makes regular use of a piece of music that is a library music tune
reminiscent of Edwin Astley's distinctive Department S theme
from the popular ITC television series. It's one of those reworkings
that changes enough of the composition to avoid copyright but which
keeps enough for the listener to find it instantly recognisable. This
piece is used at about the nine minute mark in Episode One and
re-appears in all of the subsequent episodes, directly after the
episode title announcement.
|
The Morning After
Episode Four
Incidental Music |
Department S Theme
by Edwin Astley
(for comparison) |
Songs
The Joker is one of the few
serials where almost a whole song can be heard. It is
'Mam'selle' written by Mack Gordon, Edmond Goulding and J
Delettre. This was performed by many artists in the 1940s and 50s and
the version here is thought to be by The Pied Pipers. The villain plays this on a record player and hopes that
Mrs Peel will recognise 'their song':
Mam'selle — Performed by The
Pied Pipers
A small cafe, Mam'selle
Our rendezvous, Mam'selle
The violins were warm and sweet
And so were you, Mam'selle
And as the night danced by
A kiss became a sigh
Your lovely eyes seem to sparkle
Just like wine does
No heart ever yearned the way that mine does
For you...
And yet I know too well
Someday you'll say goodbye
Then violins will cry
And so will I, Mam'selle
Occasionally, well-recognised tunes
are included but are not a part of the incidental score — for instance, when we hear
Steed's watch playing the
'Jingle Bells' tune in the serial Dial A Deadly Number.
In true Avengers style, the
dialogue sometimes contains quotes from song lyrics. The clowns in
Stop Me If You've Heard This declare, "When you've got to go...
You've got to go".
Name That Tune...
The music in The Avengers
radio series is great. If you recognise any of the tunes,
please drop us a line and let us know. We would love to hear from
you and be able to update this feature.
Written by Ron Geddes with Alan
Hayes
with thanks to Donald Monat and Etron81
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