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What is the Antiques Roadshow theme tune and who composed it?

Fiona Bruce on Antiques Roadshow
The theme tune is a TV classic (Picture: BBC)

There’s nothing that personifies Sunday night telly quite like the Antiques Roadshow theme tune.

It’s a classic of its kind which has heralded the arrival of the show for decades – but the theme we recognise today isn’t the piece originally heard on the programme.

The first music to be used over the show’s opening credits was Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, played on a Moog synthesiser by American musician Wendy Carlos.

However, things changed in the early 90s when the show introduced an original theme.

But what is it, and who wrote it?

The piece we know today was written by Paul Reade and Tim Gibson, and has been a fixture on the show for more than 25 years.

It’s one of the most instantly recognisable TV theme tunes in the UK, and a fixture of Sunday night telly for decades.

Antiques Roadshow first appeared on the BBC back in 1979, hosted by Bruce Parker, Angela Rippon and Arthur Negus.

Since then, Hugh Scully and Michael Aspel have presented the programme, with Fiona Bruce taking over in 2008.

Fiona recently revealed that she left an Antiques Roadshow expert ‘horrified’ after bringing her doll collection onto the show for valuation.

This year, one guest was left lost for words as her two necklaces were valued at a combined total of £23,000.

Another was stunned to learn the plate she thought was worth £400 was actually worth £10k with expert Will Farmer praising it as one of the ‘best ever’ he had seen on the programme.

The current series has been socially distanced and scaled back to keep guests and crew safe.

Antiques Roadshow continues tonight at 7pm on BBC One.

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