Song:Main Title
Album:The Prisoner: File #1
Ron Grainer is primarily known for writing themes for 60s BBC TV shows including Doctor Who and The Prisoner. I guess that makes him somewhat of a cult figure. He was born Aug. 11, 1922 in Atherton, Queensland, Australia. After studying at the Sydney Conservatory of Music, he moved to England to pursue a career in classical music. But he got work playing piano for visiting pop singers like Guy Mitchell and Frankie Laine. And this led to work at the BBC. His first TV theme was for the series Maigret and it won him an Ivor Novello Award and a full time job at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. He won his second Ivor Novello Award for the theme for the sitcom Steptoe and Son. But he became a fanboy legend when he wrote the Doctor Who theme in 1963. Other composers usually wrote the incidental music. Grainer just wrote the theme. He also wrote the theme for the series Danger Man. And when Danger Man star Patrick McGoohan was working on The Prisoner in 1967, he got Grainer to write the theme. The Prisoner is one of the all time great cult TV shows and the theme is a big part of that. You can get it on this CD of music from The Prisoner. Unfortunately there is no Ron Grainer theme CD in print right now. Grainer worked on other TV shows and some films including the 1971 film The Omega Man. Apparently the music is based on The Prisoner. Health problems curtailed Ron Grainer's career in the 70s. After writing the music for the series Tales Of The Unexpected, he died on Feb. 21, 1981 at age 58. Here's the main title for The Prisoner by Ron Grainer.
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