SO – HOW DID YOU DO?
As we said, there are some tricky ones in there – the first few should be easier for Irish audiences, but for the others you might have had to grow up with the channels, as they’re occasionally dubbed.
So, without further ado…
Clip 1
There’s a generation of young Irish adults who feel totally duped by RTÉ. Not only had Challenging Times been scrapped by the time they got to college, but they were also too young to appear on Ray D’Arcy’s Blackboard Jungle (or on Derek Mooney’s short-lived successor, Gridlock).
Clip 2
That Ivana Bacik sound-a-like you hear is actually Theresa Lowe… meaning the show is, obviously, Where In The World. (That, and Glenroe, and then you have to go to bed.)
Clip 3
Brought back to life by its regular inclusion in ‘Moone Boy’, it is – of course it is – the theme to The Gay Byrne Show on Radio 1.
Clip 4
Duuuuh. The Gay Byrne theme was a giveaway. It’s the opening drum sequence to the original theme for The Late Late Show.
Clip 5
You may not have gotten this one. Yes, home to Sean Moncrieff, Brendan O’Connor and Dara Ó Briain… it’s Don’t Feed The Gondolas.
Clip 6
“…when you’re going for Going For Gold!” The theme tune was written by Hans Zimmer of ‘now a big Hollywood composer’ fame.
Clip 7
The irrepressible genius of Blockbusters (featuring, in this instance, the hand dance performed by the audience whenever the show finished after someone won a Gold Run).
Clip 8
The very inclusion of Zig and Zag should have narrowed it down immediately. After The Den, the aliens and Ray D’Arcy hosted 2Phat, a music-themed show on the then-Network 2. (The big prize was a Honda Scooter! Scooter! Scooter!) Velcro Girl was a regular feature.
Clip 9
Pat Kenny always gets classic theme tunes, doesn’t he? Ladies and gentlemen, Kenny Live.
Clip 10
A personal favourite of Michael Freeman: it’s Bruce Forsyth’s Generation Game.
Clip 11
That’s the voice of George Hamilton – but if he’s not doing a soccer commentary, he must only be presenting Know Your Sport. (Bring it back, we say!)
Clip 12
A particular favourite of a few of the office staff: the theme tune to The Greatest American Hero.
Clip 13
Ey! Ey! Ey! Calm down! Calm down! Calm down! Brookside‘s on!
Clip 14
OK. Where In The World is over, Glenroe is over – time for you to go to bed and be gripped by the fear of not having your homework done.
Clip 15
“Rita!” “Bella!” “Rita!” “Bella!” “Rita!” “Bella!” “Rita!” “Bella!” Yes, that pretty much was the entire plot of the first episode of Fair City.
Clip 16
There’s a reason the excerpt is so short: the next words are ‘Here comes the wagon, the Wanderly Wagon‘…
Clip 17
If you were a child of the 1990s, and you can’t recognise the theme tune to Live & Kicking, go stand in a corner.
Clip 18
On a similar vein, anyone who had Channel 4 in the mid-to-late-1990s was missing out if they weren’t watching The Big Breakfast.
Clip 19
Need a hint? Anneka Rice in a helicopter, wearing a yellow jumpsuit. Yes, it’s Treasure Hunt.
Clip 20
Any young adult in your house probably just started sighing heavily at the memories of Pokémon.
Clip 21
The so-80s-it’s-awesome closing theme from The Raccoons.
Clip 22
The opening theme from ‘The Littlest Hobo‘, Terry Bush’s ‘Maybe Tomorrow’.
Clip 23
Last and not by any means least: the theme to MacGyver.
