BBC Records was a division of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

founded in 1967 to commercially exploit the corporation's output for radio and television for both educational and domestic use. The division was known as BBC Radio Enterprises (1967–1970), BBC Records (1970–1972) and BBC Records & Tapes (1972–1989). Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, BBC Records released a wide range of recordings, primarily but not exclusively as tie-ins to the BBC's television and radio output. Some of these recordings entered the UK record charts (see below). Other ventures included a long-running series of

sound effects A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In m ...

recordings as well as original material from the

BBC Radiophonic Workshop The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce Incidental music, incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering ...

, and classical recordings from the

BBC Archives The BBC Archives are collections documenting the BBC's broadcasting history, including copies of television and radio broadcasts, internal documents, photographs, online content, sheet music, commercially available music, BBC products (includ ...

. To celebrate both the corporation's 60th and 70th anniversaries, compilation recordings were issued of key moments in the BBC's history. In the mid-1990s, licensing and marketing of the BBC's recorded output became the responsibility of

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetised BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

(formerly BBC Enterprises), and the corporation ceased the direct release of recorded material, instead licensing its products to other companies. BBC Worldwide was merged into

BBC Studios BBC Studios Limited is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Wor ...

in 2018, which now licenses the use of the BBC logo on commercial recordings.

Chart singles

As BBC Records

* 1977 (Theme for) '' Who Pays the Ferryman?'' - Yannis Markopoulos (No.11) * 1977 (Theme for) '' The Water Margin" - Godiego'' (No.37) * 1978 "Theme from The Hong Kong Beat" - Richard Denton and Martin Cook (No.25) * 1978 "The Last Farewell" - Ship's Company and Royal Marine Band of HMS Ark Royal (No.46) * 1979 "

Gandhara Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...

" - Godiego (No.56) * 1981 " Chi Mai" (theme for '' The Life and Times of David Lloyd George'') -

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...

(No.2) * 1981 " Heaven and Hell" -

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed ...

(No.48) * 1981 "I Wanna Be a Winner" - Brown Sauce (No.15) * 1982 "Tara's Theme from ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...

" - Rose of Romance Orchestra'' (No.71) * 1982 "BBC World Cup

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

" -

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

(No.61) * 1982 "Orville's Song" - Keith Harris and Orville (No.4) * 1983 "Come to My Party" - Keith Harris, Orville and Dippy (No.44) * 1984 (Theme for) '' Big Deal'' - Bobby G (No.46) * 1985 " Smuggler's Blues" -

Glenn Frey Glenn Lewis Frey (; November 6, 1948 – January 18, 2016) was an American musician. He was a founding member of the rock band Eagles, for whom he was the co-lead singer and frontman, roles he came to share with fellow member Don Henley, with ...

(No.22) * 1985 (Theme for) '' Howard's Way'' - Simon May Orchestra (No.21) * 1985 "Memory - Theme from the Musical" - Aled Jones (No.42) * 1985 (Theme for) '' Edge of Darkness'' -

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

and

Michael Kamen Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, record producer and musician. Early life Michael Arnold Kamen was born in ...

(No.65) * 1986 "Just Say No" - ''

Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British Children's television series, children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive school. The show began its ru ...

'' Cast (No.5) * 1986 "Heroes" - The County Line (No.76) * 1986 "Aztec Lightning" - Heads (No.45) * 1986 " Anyone Can Fall in Love" -

Anita Dobson Anita, Lady May (born 29 April 1949), known as Anita Dobson, is an English actress and singer. She is best known for playing Landlord, landlady Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' from the show's inception in 1985 until 1988. She ac ...

(No.4) * 1986 "It's 'Orrible Being in Love (When You're 8½)" - Claire and Friends (No.13) * 1986 " Always There" - Marti Webb (No.13) * 1986 " Something Outa Nothing" - Letitia Dean and Paul Medford (No.12) * 1986 " Every Loser Wins" -

Nick Berry Nicholas Berry (born 16 April 1963) is a retired English actor and pop singer. He is best known for his roles as Simon Wicks in ''EastEnders'' from 1985 to 1990, and as Constable, PC Nick Rowan in ''Heartbeat (British TV series), Heartbeat'' f ...

(No.1) * 1987 "Sing for Ever" - St Philips Choir (No.47)

As an imprint of BBC Worldwide

* 1997 " Teletubbies Say Eh-Oh!" -

Teletubbies ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on t ...

(No.1) * 1998 " Everlasting Love" - Cast of Casualty (No.5) * 1999 "Sunburn" -

Michelle Collins Michelle Danielle Collins (born 28 May 1962) is a British actress. She is known for her role as Cindy Beale in the BBC soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (r ...

(No.28) * 2000 " Stay with Me (Baby)" - Rebecca Wheatley (No.10) * 2000 "No. 1" - Tweenies (No.5) * 2000 " Can We Fix It?" -

Bob the Builder ''Bob the Builder'' is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment which ran from to in the United Kingdom through the CBBC strand and later CBeebies. The series centres on the adventures ...

(No.1) * 2001 "Best Friends Forever" - Tweenies (No.12) * 2001 "Do the Lollipop" - Tweenies (No.17) * 2001 " Mambo No.5" - Bob the Builder (No.1) * 2001 "I Believe in Christmas" - Tweenies (No.9) * 2002 " Have Fun Go Mad" - Tweenies (No.20) * 2002 "It's a Rainbow" -

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

(No.15)

Chart albums

* 1972 '' The Last Goon Show of All'' - The Goons (No.8) * 1979 ''

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a dysfunctional fictional ...

'' - Cast/soundtrack (No.25) * 1980 ''

Not the Nine O'Clock News ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' is a British television sketch comedy show that was broadcast on BBC2 from 16 October 1979 to 8 March 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on BBC1, the show features satirical ...

'' - Cast/soundtrack (No.5) * 1981 ''

Vol.2'' - Cast/soundtrack (No.26) * 1981 ''The Official Album of the Royal Wedding'' - Various (No.1) * 1981 ''Hedgehog Sandwich'' - Cast/soundtrack (No.5) * 1982 '' The Kids from "Fame"'' - Cast/soundtrack (No.1) * 1982 ''The Memory Kinda Lingers'' - ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' cast/soundtrack (No.63) * 1983 ''Live'' - The Kids from "Fame" (No.8) * 1983 ''Sing for You'' - The Kids from "Fame" (No.25) * 1985 ''Voices from the Holy Land'' - Aled Jones (No.6) * 1985 ''All Through the Night'' - Aled Jones (No.2) * 1987 ''

Enya Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (born 17 May 1961; anglicised as Enya Patricia Brennan) known mononymously as Enya, is an Irish singer and composer. With an estimated equivalent of over 80 million albums sold worldwide, Enya is the best-selli ...

'' -

(No.69) * 1989 '' Atlantic Realm'' -

Clannad Clannad () were an Irish band formed in 1970 in Gweedore, County Donegal, by siblings , and (Moya) (in English, Brennan) and their twin uncles Noel and (Duggan). They have adopted various musical styles throughout their history. Beginn ...

(No.41) * 1992 '' The Evil of the Daleks'' - ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' soundtrack (No.72) * 1993 ''

The Power of the Daleks ''The Power of the Daleks'' is the Doctor Who missing episodes, completely missing third serial of the Doctor Who (season 4), fourth season of British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly part ...

'' - ''Doctor Who'' soundtrack (No.71) * 1993 '' The Paradise of Death'' - ''Doctor Who'' soundtrack (No.48) * 1995 ''Knowing Me Knowing You 3'' - Alan Partridge (No.41)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc Records Records 1967 establishments in England 1995 disestablishments in England British record labels Companies based in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Soundtrack record labels

Chart singles

As BBC Records

As an imprint of BBC Worldwide

Chart albums

See also

References