If the purpose of a show’s opening music is to set the tone for what follows, you could argue that The Theme From The Persuaders actually falls short of meeting its brief. While The Persuaders was often comedic in its approach, composer John Barry instead wrote a theme that pulsed with tension and intrigue. But in doing so he gifted the show a gravitas it otherwise wouldn’t have warranted and, into the bargain, gave the world a musical masterpiece.
Several years before Barry wrote the Theme From The Persuaders, in the early Sixties he had started assembling the skills he would use in its composition and performance. A true musical connoisseur, he travelled to the States to investigate innovative new recording techniques and schooled himself in the approaches of relatively unknown producers like Lee Hazlewood and Phil Spector. When Barry eventually recorded the theme at London’s Air Studios in 1971, studio owner George Martin was present and contributed a few words of wisdom during the session.
The fruit of Barry’s labours first graced UK screens later that year on ITV. The opening credits employed a split-screen technique to encapsulate the life stories of the show’s two wealthy adventurers. Lord Brett Sinclair (Roger Moore) was old money and aristocratic privilege; Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis) was new money and New York street smarts. Barry’s theme music also blended classic and modern as it chimed over the intro. Electric harpsichord, pipe organ, piano, mandolin, mandola, cinbablom and kantele were suddenly swept along by the arrival of a dramatic-sounding Moog synth. The melange of instruments gave the theme a timeless feel, which partly explains its long-lasting appeal.
Colour television was still in its infancy in the UK when The Persuaders debuted, so the Mediterranean locations and Moore’s flamboyant wardrobe choices (some of which he designed himself, including cravats, suede safari suits and double-breasted blazers representing every hue and shade under the sun) made for a vivid viewing experience. The £2 million budget was a record for British television at that time and it showed. Rewatching The Persuaders, it’s hard to imagine the impact it had. As is often the case, many of the things that lent it vibrancy now constrain it within the straitjacket of kitsch. Yet Barry’s theme will never cease to amaze.
