Reilly, Ace of Spies

Name: Reilly, Ace of Spies
Genre: Drama

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Sidney Reilly across twelve parts, and the serial that gave Sam Neill his first lead.

Reilly, Ace of Spies opens with a main title sequence of 64 seconds.

At 64 seconds, it opens well above the 50-second median for drama sequences in this catalogue.

It arrived on ITV in 1983, when The Sooty Show, The Bill and The Big Match were also on the network.

1 sequenceIMDb ↗

The opening titles

64s

Reilly's face dissolved over the liner, with the starring card across it.

1985–BBC OneDrama

An aerial pull-back over the Thames and the drum that answers it — thirty-two seconds that have barely changed in forty years.

1989–2001NBC / SyndicationDrama

Los Angeles County lifeguards, and at its peak the most-watched television programme on Earth.

1989CBSDrama

Basil Poledouris scoring a cattle drive from Texas to Montana — the miniseries that proved the western was not finished after all.

1985–2025Seven / Ten (Australia)Drama

Ramsay Street across forty years, and a theme song that survived every cast, network and cancellation.

1987–CBSDrama

Los Angeles fashion houses, and the most widely watched daytime serial in the world.

1982–1986NBCDrama

A narrated premise, a scanning red light and a synth arpeggio — the most efficient piece of eighties television branding after the A-Team's.