Documentary
Openings that state what the programme is and then get on with it.
Documentary accounts for 190 of the 2,618 shows here, with 200 opening title sequences from 1947 to the present.
More of them began in the 2000s than in any other decade — 62, against 33 in the 2010s.
Ten rebuilt their titles mid-run.
BBC One carries more of them than anyone else, with 21.
190 shows · 200 sequences
The ones that kept changing
All 10 in Documentary · every genre →
2 sequences
Big Brother (UK)
The eye, and a theme built out of the sound of the house — the format that made surveillance into a light entertainment brand.
- Season 1
- Season 8
2 sequences
Blue Peter
The world's longest-running children's programme, opening on a ship in full sail and a hornpipe.
- Season 45
- Season 64
2 sequences
Family Feud
Survey says — two families, a buzzer, and a theme rearranged for every host since Richard Dawson.
- Season 1
- Season 35
2 sequences
Grandstand
Five hours of live sport on a Saturday afternoon, held together by a man at a desk and the teleprinter behind him.
- Season 23
- Season 33
2 sequences
Ink Master
Tattoo artists competing on other people's skin, which raises the stakes over most craft contests.
- Season 2
- Season 5
2 sequences
Match of the Day
Barry Stoller's theme, unchanged since 1970, over whatever graphics the decade happens to allow.
- Season 7
- Season 62
Most looked up in documentary
Pick a decade above for all 190
1 sequence
Dancing with the Stars
The American Strictly, which runs two seasons a year and rebuilds its titles for most of them.
- Season 10
2 sequences
Survivor
The competition format that rebuilt American primetime, and rebuilds its titles for every location.
- Season 1
- Season 50
1 sequence
The Great British Bake Off
Bunting, a tent and a xylophone — twenty seconds of deliberate gentleness, and one of the most effective pieces of format branding on British television.
- Season 1
1 sequence
Clarkson's Farm
Jeremy Clarkson farming a thousand Cotswold acres badly, and the year-shaped structure the titles borrow from.
- Season 1
1 sequenceHell's Kitchen
Flames, a skull made of a chef's hat, and Gordon Ramsay shouting — the titles tell you exactly what the hour is.
- Season 1
1 sequenceRuPaul's Drag Race
Eighteen seconds that get remade every season — new logo treatment, new track, new set of queens.
- Season 1
1 sequenceAmerican Idol
The talent format that ran American primetime for a decade, opening on a spotlight and a logo that spins.
- Season 1
2 sequences
Top Gear
Twenty-one seconds of engine noise and a rock riff — a motoring programme that opens like a trailer for itself.
- Season 1
- Season 23
1 sequenceProject Runway
Designers given a day and a budget, and Heidi Klum telling one of them they are out.
- Seasons 1–4
1 sequenceMythBusters
Two special-effects builders testing folklore with explosives, introduced by a montage of the explosives.
- Season 1
1 sequenceStorage Wars
Abandoned storage lockers auctioned unseen, with the bidders introduced like a heist crew.
- Season 1
1 sequenceThe Biggest Loser
A weight-loss competition whose titles were rebuilt around whichever pairing the season had chosen.
- Season 5
1 sequencePawn Stars
A Las Vegas pawn shop, three generations of one family, and a guy they call an expert once an episode.
- Season 1
1 sequenceJersey Shore
Eight housemates in Seaside Heights, and the most watched series MTV has ever had.
- Season 1
2 sequencesFamily Feud
Survey says — two families, a buzzer, and a theme rearranged for every host since Richard Dawson.
- Season 1
- Season 35
2 sequences
The Price Is Right
"Come on down" — the longest-running game show in American television, opening the same way for fifty years.
- Season 1
- Season 36
1 sequenceThe Apprentice
Manhattan from a helicopter over the O'Jays' For the Love of Money, which is the whole thesis of the programme in one sample.
- Season 1
1 sequenceDeadliest Catch
Bering Sea crab boats, opening on the sea doing the thing that makes the programme's title literal.
- Season 1
1 sequenceTop Chef
Knives on a board and a countdown, in the cooking competition that took itself seriously first.
- Season 1
1 sequenceKeeping Up with the Kardashians
Fourteen years of a family photograph rebuilt every season, and ten seconds to do it in.
- Season 1
1 sequenceWelcome to Wrexham
Two American actors buying a Welsh football club, and a title sequence that treats the town as the subject rather than them.
- Season 1
1 sequenceThe Hills
The Laguna Beach spin-off that moved to Los Angeles, and the show that made the word scripted an argument.
- Season 1
1 sequenceMonday Night Football
The programme that moved American football into primetime, and gave it a fanfare to arrive on.
- Season 2
1 sequenceThe X Factor
Simon Cowell's format after Pop Idol, opening on a spotlight sweep and a fanfare rebuilt every few series.
- Season 1