Panorama
1953–BBC OneDocumentary
The longest-running current affairs programme in the world, and a theme borrowed from Rachmaninoff.
Panorama kept one opening title sequence, 25 seconds long, across season 30.
At 25 seconds, it opens well under the 37-second median for documentary sequences in this catalogue.
The opening titles
Season 30
25sFan upload of the 1982 titles; counting a season per year from the November 1953 launch, that is the thirtieth.
More documentary opening titles from the 1950s
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
1 sequenceThe Lawrence Welk Show
Champagne music, bubbles in the titles, and thirty-one years of the same band leader counting in.
- Season 1
1 sequenceTo Tell the Truth
Three people claiming to be the same person, and the line that ends it — will the real one please stand up.
- Season 1
1 sequenceTruth or Consequences
A radio stunt show that reached television in 1950 and persuaded a New Mexico town to rename itself after it.
- Season 1
1 sequenceThe Sky at Night
The longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history, opening on Sibelius' At the Castle Gate.
- Season 1
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