Max Harris has had the most incredible musical journey, beginning in the 1930s with dance bands and as a jazz musician.

Following the war he joined the BBC Show Band, was an arranger for visiting American singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, and wrote jingles for commercials in the later 1950s.

Moving into the 1960s and beyond, Max composed many classic TV themes and scores including Strange World of Gurney Slade (1960) which reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart and became a Northern Soul standard, The Gold Robbers (1969), the BBC 1 science-fiction series Doomwatch (1970–72), New Scotland Yard (1972), Odd Man Out (1977) and the BBC serial A Horseman Riding By (1978).

Harris contributed the themes for several series featuring Ronnie Barker, such as Porridge and Open All Hours, and worked on the Dennis Potter serial The Singing Detective (1986).

His film scores include Baby Love (1969), the film version of On the Buses (1971), One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing (1975), and Carry On England (1976).

We’re very proud to have a number of Max’s works across a number of Standard Library albums, including classic TV themes on ESL176.