We’re working on a playable version of our famous theme tune round, the My 70s TV Childhood Theme Tune Game, and we’re now close to beginning manufacturing. If you’d like to be the first to hear when it’s ready, you can add your name to the list at the end of this post.
If somebody annoyed you in the playground in the late 1970s, you might stamp your feet or try to come up with something witty. Your mum might give them a look, and your dad might say he’d have a word. But if you were David Banner, you turned green, grew several feet taller and threw a car through a wall.
The Incredible Hulk made its British television debut on ITV on 26 May 1978, and it quickly became part of growing up in 1970s Britain. It came from Marvel Comics, but it never felt like a conventional superhero show. There was no costume, no secret headquarters and no gadget-filled cave. Its hero didn’t even want to be a hero.
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the character in 1962, but producer Kenneth Johnson reshaped him for television. Bruce Banner became David Bruce Banner, and the comic-book spectacle became a serious drama about a scientist who, while researching hidden reserves of human strength, gave himself a massive dose of gamma radiation and became something he couldn’t control. The world believed he was dead. Reporter Jack McGee, played by Jack Colvin, blamed the creature and followed it from town to town. Banner wasn’t wandering. He was running.
Bill Bixby made it work. He brought warmth, intelligence and dignity to Banner, a decent man who kept helping people while his own life fell apart. Each week brought a new town, a new name, a new job and, quite possibly, a new shirt. Then there was Lou Ferrigno: around six feet five inches of bodybuilder, before anyone had added the green make-up, the wig and the white contact lenses. His Hulk rarely spoke, and he looked frightening without ever being truly evil, but he was absolutely furious whenever someone threatened an innocent person.
For British children, the America Banner hitchhiked across looked like pure adventure. We had buses, chip shops and the A1. He had huge cars, diners and highways disappearing towards the horizon. It was something families could watch together too, with mystery, crime, romance and human drama, and then, occasionally, a green bloke throwing a car.
Of course, there were the playground debates. Why did the trousers never burst? Where did a drifter find an endless supply of shirts? Perhaps we were overthinking it. We all knew the rule, though: “Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” I still find myself using that line today, although some of my younger colleagues look a little bemused when I do.
Watching as an adult, the thing that stays with me is Joe Harnell’s Lonely Man Theme, playing as Banner walks away with his suitcase from a place he might have liked to stay. As children, we mostly knew it meant the episode was ending. As adults, we hear the sadness. The Hulk could lift a car, but he couldn’t give David Banner a home.
It wasn’t perfect. Some stories were formulaic, some effects have aged, and the hiring process in every American town clearly skipped the references. But British childhood memories aren’t about perfection. They’re about how something made you feel, and The Incredible Hulk made a generation of us wait eagerly for that transformation.
Do you remember The Incredible Hulk? Did you try your own transformation, or read the Marvel comics? Leave a comment below or join the conversation in our Facebook group.
We’re working on a playable version of our famous theme tune round, and we’re now close to beginning manufacturing. Before we take that step, it would really help to know whether it’s something you might buy. There’s no commitment at all, but it helps us judge production numbers. If a fun family game based on classic British TV theme tunes sounds like the perfect gift for someone you know, add your name to the list below. Any profits go straight back into the costs of making the podcast.
Take care,
Oliver
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