This Morning With Richard Not Judy.
And Yes Minister/Prime Minister for the ace Gerald Scarfe artwork.
And not a comedy but how could we miss out Doctor Who from a list of best opening sequences?
And some more not comedies - Rainbow, Jamie & the Magic Torch, Trap Door and Dangermouse.
Quote: Griff @ February 6 2009, 5:02 PM GMTWell if we're into non-comedies - which I suspect we're not - then what about Tales Of The Unexpected?
Now you're showing your age Griff!!!
I remember my mother watching this when I was a boy - It used to freak me out!
Porridge
Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
Blackadder II
Armstrong & Miller (BBC Series)
Big Bang Theory
HIGNFY is a good once. Clever with a cracking music.
Red Dwarf - especially the bleak ones for I and II.
Men Behaving Badly - funny with great music.
The Simpsons - hated it for a while, but back to really liking it now.
IT Crowd looks really nice too.
The Office ones work well.
Oh, and League Of Gents - funny and with TWO great theme tunes.
On the subject of opening titles, I do know that if David Croft had had his way, the opening sequence to Dad's Army would be very different. Croft had originally wanted to use actual war footage in the opening titles in order to set the context and situation. The BBC Executives didn't like the idea and insisted that they were changed. The opening titles we see today were created by a freelance animator called Colin Whitaker.
Two in Clover, a forgotten ITV sitcom starring Sid James and Victor Spinetti, check this one out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xat7vgCsXik
Although a poor sitcom, I do like the title sequence of The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj_W8Z5p2Go
Quote: Ian Wolf @ February 6 2009, 8:23 PM GMTOn the subject of opening titles, I do know that if David Croft had had his way, the opening sequence to Dad's Army would be very different. Croft had originally wanted to use actual war footage in the opening titles in order to set the context and situation. The BBC Executives didn't like the idea and insisted that they were changed. The opening titles we see today were created by a freelance animator called Colin Whitaker.
Thanks for that Ian. Good days work by Colin. The freelancers' are the best! 
Thanks, some great titles suggested there. Any others? Names of a few obscure shows would be good too!
(Our feature will obviously be on just British comedy, but there's no harm in listing the titles of any foreign shows or non-comedies you like as well. I like the Hustle opening! Simpsons is great too... but I've seen it so many times it has got on my nerves now, same with Family Guy)
Roman's Empire and Suburban Shootout both have great motion graphic title sequences. Shame about the show.
Quote: David Bussell @ February 6 2009, 4:23 PM GMTMy pick for the dreariest - From May to December. That f**king awful tune...
Someone's not seen The Old Guys.
Quote: Ian Wolf @ February 6 2009, 8:23 PM GMTOn the subject of opening titles, I do know that if David Croft had had his way, the opening sequence to Dad's Army would be very different. Croft had originally wanted to use actual war footage in the opening titles in order to set the context and situation. The BBC Executives didn't like the idea and insisted that they were changed. The opening titles we see today were created by a freelance animator called Colin Whitaker.
Was that not the closing credits rather than the opening titles?
Anyway. Dad's Army, excellent choice. (There's actually audience laughter over the titles on S01E01.)
On HIGNFY, there have been numerous animations, so are we talking about a specific one, or just the concept (AFAIK it's been the same theme throughout, by Big George).
I'm quite surprised that no one yet has mentioned The Office.
But aside from Dad's Army, got to be... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFox8A_SDHU
Oh, Mr Bean has a pretty decent opening sequence too. Hmmm...
The Royle Family and One Foot In the Grave both have brilliant opening sequences and theme tunes- I know they are quite obvious ones but in general shit sitcoms seem to have sequences of a similar calibre, though in saying that I love the opening sequence of Goodnight Sweetheart and some of their episodes were pretty bad.
F**k. How could I forget? The Goodies! There were at least 3 versions of the song alone, not sure about the actual footage. This version - the second - is the ringtone on my mobile.
Hark At Barker has interesting opening titles, in that it each episode always begins with a sketch from Ronnie Barker before it goes to the title sequence. Also, there is an extra joke/sketch after the closing titles.
The opening titles to QI have photos of two of John Lloyd's three children when they were babies - however, they were taken such a long time ago he cannot remember which ones. The theme tune to QI was intended to be the Herman's Hermits version of Sam Cooke's Wonderful World ("Don't know much about history. Don't know much about biology..."). This was used in the unbroadcast pilot, but then it announced that they could not use the song. As a result, Howard Goodall wrote the theme tune currently used.
Along similar lines, the theme tune to QI's radio spin-off The Museum Of Curiosity is one of note because Bill Bailey always ends it in a different way - for example, "The unexpected major chord", "The pointlessly extravagant flourish" and "The German minimalist composer".
End credits - iTunes?