Themed Music Evening

On Thursday 29th May, we held another Themed Music Evening for our weekly get-together at the Scout Hall.  This was our fifth such evening and the subject, this time, was TV & Film Themes.  I had received 20 suggestions to play but, rather than the group members sitting in a semi-circle looking at me / me staring at my laptop and trying not to feel too self-conscious, Brian had suggested we try something to make it more interactive. 

Once everyone had got tea / coffee and biscuits and I'd checked that I had sound coming from the speakers, we got started.  We'd placed the chairs such that everyone sat in groups of four or five and, as each track was played, the groups conferred to discuss which show or film they thought it had been the theme tune for. The consensus was that the person who'd chosen the track wouldn't contribute to the discussion, to be fair.  Once the track was finished (or I'd cut it short if it was longer than a couple of minutes), I asked each team, at random, what they'd concluded and noted who was right. The person who'd originally chosen the track then told everyone what it had been the theme for / explained why they'd chosen it.  Seemingly 'Running Scared', a children's TV series from the late 1980s was set in Forest Gate and parts of it were filmed nearby; Trevor had been working as a groundman at a sports club at the time that the studio filmed on the grounds and, for 2 days, had been unable to do any work to ensure equipment was out of the way of filming.  When it actually went on air, about 30 seconds of footage appeared on the TV.   

Some tracks were easily identified, some were a toss-up between two or three programmes, some were correctly guessed by some teams but not all and one track (sung in Arabic, for a French film) flummoxed everyone.  One person couldn't remember the name of the film, that the track they'd chosen, had come from and, to much hilarity, another didn't even recognise their choice, participated in the group discussion and their team had no idea what it had been the theme to. To be fair, apparently the important bit is towards the end of the track and I was cutting everything short at 2 minutes.  

Our mixed bag managed to cover children's TV shows, regular TV shows and films.  It was a fun evening and was definitely made more interesting by finding a way to actually get the group to socialise and interact whilst the music was played.  Our playlist consisted of the following:

The Persuaders by John Barry

Captain Pugwash theme

The IT Crowd theme

Midsomer Murders theme

This Wheel's On Fire by Julie Driscoll & Adrian Edmondson (Absolutely Fabulous)

Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush (Running Scared TV series)

Ya Sidi by Orange Blossom (film 'Marseille' theme song)

Theme from The Onedin Line

The Chain by Fleetwood Mac (Theme to F1 on TV)

Theme from Jaws by David Williams

Theme from Space: 1999

Love Me Tender sung by Nicholas Cage (from David Lynch's Wild At Heart film)

The theme from Bod

Miami Vice by Jan Hammer

Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers (film Ghost)

Theme from the original Halloween film by John Carpenter

Theme from Schindler's List

Gabriel's Oboe by Ennio Morricone (The Mission theme)

Theme to Camberwick Green

Roobarb (and Custard) theme 

Assuming we add another music evening when we plan the next programme, we'll definitely come up with something that people can discuss / guess whilst each track is playing.  

Jill S, 31st May 2025