Great Mystery/Crime TV Themes

Mystery TV Themes 1950s

DRAGNET (1951-59, 1967-70)

The "Dragnet March" ("Danger Ahead") by composer Walter Schumann (1913-1958) is one of the most recognizable themes in history. Dragnet started as a radio drama...

M SQUAD (1957-60)

M Squad starred Lee Marvin as a member of a special unit of the Chicago Police battling violent crime city-wide.

MR. AND MRS. NORTH (1952-54)

Mr. and Mrs. North are fictional American amateur detectives. Created by Frances and Richard Lockridge, the couple were featured in a series of 26 Mr. and Mrs. North novels, a Broadway play, a motion picture and several radio and television series.

PERRY MASON (1957-1966)

Created in the 1930s by Erle Stanley Gardner, this fictional defense attorney appeared in some 80 novels and short stories, several films, and a long-running radio drama before hitting the small screen in 1957...

PETER GUNN (1958-61)

One of the most ubiquitous melodies of all time -- and most-requested since we began this series -- the cool jazz theme for Peter Gunn was written by the great Henry Mancini...

Mystery TV Themes 1960s

ADAM-12 (1968-1975)

Two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department patrol the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12.

THE BARON (1966-67)

This British series starred American Steve Forrest as an international art and antiques dealer tracking stolen treasures.

BATMAN (1966-68)

Adam West and Burt Ward starred as masked vigilantes Batman and Robin.

CHECKMATE (1960-62)

Created by thriller writer Eric Ambler, and filmed on the streets of San Francisco, Checkmate revolves around investigators trying to stop crimes before they happen.

THE FUGITIVE (1963-1967)

David Janssen stars as a man falsely convicted of his wife's murder. Escaping from custody, he launches on a cross-country search for the real killer -- all the while hounded by the authorities.

HAWAII FIVE-O (1968-1980)

One of the longest-running crime dramas in TV history, Hawaii Five-O followed members of an elite state-police unit investigating an assortment of felonies in the 50th state, where it was shot on location.

HONEY WEST (1965-66)

A spin-off of Burke's Law, Anne Francis starred as private investigator Honey West.

IRONSIDE (1967-1975)

Starring Raymond Burr as wheelchair-bound police detective Robert T. Ironside.

JUDD FOR THE DEFENSE (1967-69)

This legal drama starred Carl Betz as Clinton Judd, a flamboyant attorney based in Houston who took on controversial cases across the country...

MANNIX (1967-75)

For eight seasons on CBS, Mike Connors starred as Joe Mannix, a private eye in the hardboiled tradition.

THE MOD SQUAD (1968-73)

This police drama centered on three troubled young adults recruited to be undercover cops. Series creator Bud Ruskin based the show on his experiences in the 1950s on the LAPD.

Spy-fi TV Themes of the 1960s

THE AVENGERS (1961-1969)

This quirky '60s spy show starred Patrick Macnee as gentleman government agent John Steed, working with a variety of partners to keep Great Britain safe from a variety of outlandish threats...

DANGER MAN a.k.a. SECRET AGENT (1960-1962 and 1964-1968)

The British espionage series Danger Man, starring Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake, ran as a half-hour series 1960-62. It was revived as a one-hour series 1964-68, and retitled Secret Agent when it aired in the U.S.

DEPARTMENT S (1969-70)

This British spy-fi series featured a trio of operatives who solved mysteries too perplexing for normal law enforcement agencies.

GET SMART (1965-70)

This classic spy sitcom starred Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99.

IT TAKES A THIEF (1968-1970)

Adventure series starring a young Robert Wagner as a smooth, sophisticated playboy and burglar recruited by the government...

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (1966-73)

In this influential spy series, a super-secret government agency called the "Impossible Missions Force" is given secret anonymous covert missions...

Mystery TV Themes 1970s

BARETTA

The main titles from Baretta (1975-78) starring Robert Blake.

BARNEY MILLER

A half-hour series that regularly mixed comedy with drama, the ABC series Barney Miller (1975-82) was set in a New York City police station. The iconic theme song was composed by Jack Elliott ...

THE HARDY BOYS / NANCY DREW MYSTERIES

Created in the 1920s, these popular mystery solving teens were updated for the 1977-79 ABC series starring Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson as brothers Joe and Frank Hardy and Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew. (In the third and final season, Drew was played by Janet Louise Johnson.) the haunting theme is credited to both producer Glen A. Larson and composer Stu Phillips. Over the years, the duo have also worked their magic on such classic series as Quincy M.E., Battlestar Galactica and Knight Rider.

HART TO HART

For five seasons (1979-84) and several TV movies in the 1990s, Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers starred as millionaire husband-and-wife amateur sleuths Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, aided by their trusted employee Max and their faithful dog Freeway ...

JASON KING

Following the end of British spy-fi series Department S (ATV, 1969-70), Peter Wyngarde reprised his role in the own spin-off Jason King (ATV, 1971-72). In the new series, King -- a "dilettante dandy and author" -- left Dept. S to concentrate on his career writing adventure novels. The Jason King theme is credited to Laurie Johnson (The Avengers, The Professionals).

THE MAGICIAN

For one season on NBC, 1973-74, Bill Bixby starred as an illusionist / escape artist who put his wealth and skills to the aid of other victims of injustice ...

NBC MYSTERY MOVIE

The NBC Mystery Movie's haunting theme music was composed by Henry Mancini (1924-1994), Academy Award-winning American composer, conductor and arranger. The NBC Mystery Movie aired 1971-1977, anchored by three main series: Columbo, starring Peter Falk as the disarming yet brilliant LAPD homicide detective; McCloud starred Dennis Weaver as a modern-day western Marshal transplanted from New Mexico to the streets of New York City; and McMillan and Wife starred Rock Hudson and Susan St. James as a San Francisco Police Commissioner and his wife.

THE PERSUADERS

The opening credits for The Persuaders, starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. Theme by John Barry.

THE ROCKFORD FILES

Hailed by Thrilling Detective as "the best private eye series to ever grace the television screen, and arguably one of the greatest private eyes of all time," The Rockford Files (1974-1980) starred James Garner as private investigator Jim Rockford, who preferred to talk, rather than slug, his way out of a tight spot.The breezy, whimsical theme to this classic series was a Top 10 hit co-written by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter.

STARSKY AND HUTCH

This buddy-cop show (1975-79), produced by Aaron Spelling, starred Paul Michael Glaser as the brash Detective Dave Starsky and David Soul as the thoughtful Detective Ken Hutchinson, chasing bad guys in Starsky's iconic red Gran Torino. The original theme (1975-76 arrangement), which highlighted the grittier side of the series, was written by Lalo Schifrin (Mission: Impossible). The second theme (1976-78 arrangement), highlighting the more playful aspects of the series, was written by jazzman Tom Scott. The third theme, credited to Mark Snow (Hart to Hart, T.J. Hooker), sported a more dramatic edge.

S.W.A.T.

The rockin' theme song for this short-lived spinoff of The Rookies went to No. 1 on the pop charts for Rhythm Heritage in 1976. The group's Michael Omartian went on to an illustrious career as a Grammy-winning producer ...

Mystery TV Themes 1980s

THE EQUALIZER (with bonus CALLAN)

"Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer." This 1985-89 CBS series starred imposing British actor Edward Woodward as guilt-ridden ex-espionage agent Robert McCall ...

MAGNUM, P.I.

This post-hardboiled detective series starred Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a former Navy SEAL and Vietnam vet who lived in the guest house of a lush 200-acre beachfront estate owned by celebrated (but unseen) author Robin Masters.

MATLOCK

Legal drama Matlock (NBC 1986-1992, ABC 1992-1995) starred Andy Griffith as folksy defense attorney Ben Matlock. The format of the show, not unlike that of Perry Mason (1957-1966) often found Matlock identifying the murderer in the courtroom and confronting him or her on the stand.

PERRY MASON RETURNS

Years after the legendary series Perry Mason (CBS, 1957-1966), star Raymond Burr and co-star Barbara Hale reunited for a series of Perry Mason TV movies starting in 1985.

SIMON & SIMON

The popular P.I. show (1981-88) followed the adventures of brothers who -- despite having almost nothing in common -- ran a small detective agency ...

T.J. HOOKER

This cop series, which aired 1982-1986 on ABC and then CBS, starred William Shatner as a tough, no-nonsense uniformed police sergeant with a penchant for jumping on moving vehicles ...

Mystery TV Themes 1990s-2000s

ALIAS

The minimalist but energizing theme to the "spy-fi" series Alias was written by creator J. J. Abrams. Counter-espionage agent Sydney Bristow wears colorful disguises while working undercover assignments all over the world ...

BONES

Inspired by real-life forensic anthropologist (and thriller novelist) Kathy Reichs, forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) investigate unsolved crimes ...

HAMISH MACBETH

The main titles for the BBC Scotland TV series Hamish MacBeth (1995-1997) starring Robert Carlyle.

HAWAII FIVE-O: 2010, 1996, 1975

Three different main titles for Hawaii Five-O: The opening credits for the brand-new version which debuts this fall; the pilot from the attempt to relaunch the show in the 1990s; and the theme as rendered by song and dance man Sammy Davis Jr.

MONK

Airing on the USA Network since 2002, Monk has the distinction of having two completely different Emmy-winning theme songs. Sleuth Adrian Monk battles his intense phobias to solve impossible crimes ...

We're All In This Together

More place for you to find TV themes online

Mark Little's MyThemes.TV

Representing TV themes from all over the spectrum.

Main Title Heaven

A growing collection of videos of classic main title sequences.

TV Theme Songs

TV themes

TV Themes WAV Files

TV themes

Classic TV Links Page

TV themes

retroCRUSH

Counting down their picks for the 100 greatest TV themes of all time.

Comic Book Resources: TV Themes

A fun assortment of TV themes from superhero- and comics-related cartoons and llive action series.