Van Der Valk Intro

[GentleGenius]

Blimey, that takes me back!

[saxon954]

SuperTruth77

No i didn't come here via some inferior thing that tries to pass for a comedy programme.

I came here following some of the great theme tunes to the classic series that came out when British television was equal to anything that could be put on in the west end of London.

It is only because television has deteriorated so much that we have Alan Partridge.

[thuleproject]

@saxon954

A ogni uccello suo nido é bello.

[Michael54635]

Pure class both the Music and Barry Foster, the actor who played Van Der Valk, wonderful memories

[Kelly14UK]

Christ Dutch weather is as boring as our Scottish lol No wonder drugs were legal haha

[murdag99]

Going to amdam on the 1st jan,love it,due in no small part to growing up watching this classic prog.RIP Barry Foster

[nufto]

don't care what anyone says van der valk rocks!

[MrDjc1970]

i had this along with Dr Who, Supercalifragerlisticexpialido­cious, Rupert the bear and a few other 70's hits on one vinyl record. Them were the days.

[Kelly14UK]

@MrDjc1970 God you must be in my age group. Remember Mary Mungo and Midge and UFO?

[scudo1905]

europes answer to the cortina. the ford taunus.

[ancientoneuk]

@scudo1905 Or it could be a Cortina 2.3S 2 door

[MrNeversaynever]

++++ i love holland.

[Sunflowers159]

That was one of my favourites back in my - increasingly - dim and distant youth!

[julianphilp]

kitty smiles kitty smiles lol

[lakmeister]

I walked those streets of the drugged crazed,whore ridden waterways of old Amstadam - only on a fact finding mission......honestly i did......

And had a mk 5 Cortina 2.3 Ghia V6 in Crystal Green.....Awesome!!!!!!!!

oh and the blonde in the window take it in the "Gary" for 50 euros!

[digitalbroadcaster]

A million cheers for those who post these golden nuggets and for YouTube for having storage space to hold all of my childhood memories!

Flashbacks. Priceless!

[mikjon67]

Holy cow! That just brought a shiver down my spine! Haven't heard this music for more than 27 years!

[barneyboscoe]

Nice to see Steptoe and Son on the intro.

[gmaccruyff55]

Dit is goot,ik denk...Neederland-Cruyff,Neesk­ens,Van der Valk.Tot zienz. van Glasgow.

[MickeyLove01]

he's the connection between this and The Sweeney

[Racksel04]

Aus Kindertagen - lange gesucht - prima!!!

[earth123ism]

remember this guy in frenzy

[shortandbald]

oooooooooooh god memories,,,,,,,,, thanks so much for posting this, found it by accident!

[Michele640]

I do remember this theme song, this mystery serial was also broadcasted in my Italy in the late 70es.

[Loverboy19691]

Is it me or did barry foster look like jon pertwee?

[slimatnight]

Brings back a lot of my youth... :-)

[slimatnight]

Brings back my youth :-))))

[caldertkd]

@slimatnight

me too

[Loverboy19691]

CLASSIC!!!

[mistofoles]

Theme tune written by Jack Trombey (Whoever he is/was)

[pearsedoran]

Eye Level, They dont make Theme's like that anymore. Any old slap up score of music is used now days !!!!

[ColdFusl0n]

Llo

[Grepple1234]

Van Der Valk: The toughest Dutch cop on TV.........EVER!

[bernie600bhp]

fantastic, simon park orchestra and eye level..ages since i heard this thanks

[Kela08]

aw bless! Loved this theme when a was a wee lassie

[gillsfan1666]

Working out of an East End police station in the mid 70's I and my partner received the first Mark 1V Cortina S in the yard. Less than an hour after receiving it I was chasing a stolen Jag across Hackney Marshes in the teaming rain, he went off the road I followed him at about 70 mph aquaplaning across three football pitches doing 360's for what seemed like hours . Loved that car, no matter what anyone says about them.

[wammbarro]

Alan Partridge AHA!

[SuperTruth77]

Thumbs up if you came here via the end of Alan Partridge MMM Episode 9...

[glapots]

@SuperTruth77 Abso-bloody-lutely!

[billboardnumber1]

@SuperTruth77 NO I came here since I was looking for an old vintage KLM Royal Dutch Airlines commercial

[robert100xx]

Time for a soothing schhmoke

[nommynupple]

how many of todays cop drama theme tunes today can you name that are worthy of a place in the pop charts?

[Coracle77]

Commissaris Van der Valk, Royal Dutch Police.

[zedster911]

so many memmories....

[palexandersquires]

I have got this single it is so jolly !

[EmmaLovelace]

So 5 people typed in to youtube Van Der Valk Intro, watched it then pressed dislike?

[wozvideo]

Does anyone know where you can buy the full version of this song on CD. There are lots of covers of this song but i want the original artist who is the Simon Park Orchestra.

[mrhomerbojangles]

@wozvideo If all else fails EBAY it.....

[GriefTourist]

for some reason this tune reminds me of xmas although the record wasnt in the charts at xmas

[wayneleon1000]

This tune always, without fail, reminds me of schooldays. School choirs always use to play this, God knows why? Hahaha.

[chrisdxuk]

@ingravegreen

Well I can't believe it, I never thought I would be surfing the internet and find Goodsway mentioned. Used to trudge down that road from the York Way Estate on my way to school in Somers Town in the 70s....

[ty3165]

van der valk was a skunk fiend

[bvivers]

@ty3165  - LOL

[loydcrucial]

This guy was dead cool, love the clothing dead cool 70's style.

[wackadnaze]

super show does anyone know of any full episodes here?

[ianloki]

God bless Holland.

[Banner1979]

I've got the entire series and started watching the 1977-filmed episodes. So far, they've been very good with the standout being Enemy where VDV becomes the target of a revenge campaign (this one).

[Mannion3223]

My dad had one of those cars. Sounded like a bag of spanners when starting on a cold morning, cornered like a tank but burned the miles on the motorway

[IntellectualAmy]

@Mannion3223 - Cortina MK4 - awful.

[stevealexR1]

@IntellectualAmy Ford Taunus in mainland Europe! hehe

[digitalbroadcaster]

@IntellectualAmy Agreed. My dad gave me his 'M' reg Mk3 Cortina when I turned 18 (now 47). I didn't want his MK4. 

[LostMoonOfBumholle]

@Mannion3223

I once knew a girl with a face like a bag of spanners, but on the plus side, she knew some great jokes and she always stood her round...

As to the Van Der Valk theme - brilliant, just brilliant.

[ah1701]

aaaaaaaaaah.......so many memories watching this on TV as a kid....circa late 1970´s. You have to admit - this HAS to be one of the most memorable theme tunes of ANY TV program - ever!! I remember like it was yesterday. In fact, they even used to play in my junior school when the classes were leaving the main hall after morning assembly. Absolutely brilliant!!

[mackinl]

great 2 door ford cortina/taunus

[sillybighat]

Love this show!!

[notsodutch]

I worked on the later episodes we shot in Amsterdam in the 90's. was great to work with the original cast characters..

Those episodes seem to have completely dissappeared! Any have any idea where they can be found? I looked but to no avail..

[EddieUKNL]

@notsodutch

The Van der Valk Dvd box set is out now. It has all the episodes including the last ones in the 90s

A quick search on amazon has it for under £20

[senorkaboom]

First time I heard this song it was on my birthday in December, 1973. I thought it was a new Christmas song and I was hooked on it from the start. I have, of course, learned that it is to a TV show out of England, and I enjoy the song now as I did then.

[Scampirat]

Thank you so much for posting this!! Van Der Valk was a classic series which stands the test of time better than most, Barry Foster was also one of the finest actors of his or any other generation! Great Stuff!

[broadband01]

the guy out of hitchcocks frenzy:O)

[TheBillfer]

@broadband01 yes it is great film that

[astonmerrygoldfan09]

Yes he was the murderer in Frenzy - but that just shows how sublime his acting was...anybody who can act that sort of part as convincingly and chillingly as he did is a GENIUS at acting...love Barry Foster!

[angielorimer]

I wish Amsterdam was this easy to drive around these days............and in those wonderful cars !!!!!

[skjoldborg]

Quite possibly the best music ever written. I heard it a few times in the early 70s and recently again and it seems to be hardwired in my head. Billions of years from now as the cosmos collapses into one singularity these notes will surely still be detectable as a faint background echo.

[christopertopham]

this was the very first single i purchased

[butchmclovin]

this was the one that started me watching cop show, the professionals and randall and hopkirk came second to this :)

[19Dermo19]

Aside from the best theme tune for a cop show ever, unlike similar UK shows of the 70s he never has to go after drugs or prostitutes cos it's legal. Genius.

[dracula0091]

this got to number one

[OverheardProductions]

Brilliant. I was just talking about this show to my (part-Dutch) daughter and 20 secs later had the opening credits to show her.

[odyjamess]

note the little rascal statue

coolest statue in the world

[wildenfree]

I could play this on my nans piano when I was 12..using one finger, its quite easy.

It was my first major pinnacle in life!

[Mackers1]

Sorry mine stops at 1.10 too

[mrhomerbojangles]

is it just my computer or my playlist but does this get stuck at 1: 10 or does it happen to any other persons who listens to it?

thanks for any help.

Regards

[didinultien]

It happens to me too

[sk8eranimal]

it happens for me too!

[Freddowasher]

I had no problems at all.

[MrMyarsesmells]

i dont usually leave a comment but this song im hearing with my ears, it fills my whole head with noises, ty vandevalk for voices in my head.thats all i have to say ty

[OnkelKiesi]

the suond is very britisch. I àm thinking on the Big Ben , The Tower Bridge and some one more.

[blackpoolprince]

'Britisch'? That's a new one one me, but, U're so right.. God bless the Queen, London, Big Ben...

[rarebutgreat]

They dont write theme music as powerful as this anymore

[locorojo25]

makes me want 2 go 2 amsterdam. and back 2 the 70s lol

[kinkkenny]

Maybe I was taking a bit of Artistic License with Dagenhams' finest. If Van D had driven around in the Merc he would have been mistaken for a pimp (as good as thr Merc is)

[ccccoolcal]

Yes I'm sure he used to go in there for some quality assurance and making sure the girls papers were in order.

[kinkkenny]

You can't tell me Van Der Valk didn't sample the goods when he was in the red light district.

[ballynafeighbluedog]

@kinkkenny i smpled them



[ConstanzeWeber]

@kinkkenny - or in the coffee shops for that matter!!!

[zozottine]

@kinkkenny

Weird mind.

[superbike1981]

@kinkkenny Or the "coffee" shops!

[kinkkenny]

The MK IV Cortina. None of the Dutch Masters can compare with Fords' Finest automobile.

[Monterey2am]

Couldn't agree more with kinkkenny. Looks like Van Der Valk is driving a 1.6 GL MK4 Cortina, a choice vehicle for the copper who gets down to business.

Talking about getting down to busines, kinkkenny is also correct is his astute observation regards the red light district.

Come on Van Der Valk, stop mucking about with the ladies and get down to the business of capturing villains.... or, do we need to get Jack Regan into do it for you?

[colong88]

Actually, the car would be a Ford Taunus, seeing as to how the Cortina name was only used for the UK when Ford merged its European offerings from the late 1960s onwards.

[landsberger64]

The Titles of the 11 DVD Series 1-5 boxed set are all the Channel 5 ones when they were reshown sometime in the early 2000s and not this one. It was tremendously atmospheric and one of the highlights of a young Ric's introduction to Van Der Valk, especially the gentleman riding along with his dog in the basket. I do wonder why they show the DVD with new titles - I thought it was copyright reasons, but the music is definitely the same, and I can't imagine you'd copyright a title sequence

[GRAZIERS77]

This music brings back the memories doesn't it ?

[newalm]

In this intro clip, it looks like Van Der Valk is driving around trying to score some marijuana!

[alliekanga]

20 of us in a boozer and someone shouted Van der Valk and we'd all start humming this fantastic!

[weldon0m]

trust me ya dont wanna mk `anything` ford cortina...not unless ya wanna drive a bathtub with a gearstick the size of a baseball bat?

[yppij]

A great them tune. I liked it when the series first came out - I was six at the time. Too young to watch the programme but I remember listening to it when I was in bed whilst my parents watched it. The show was way ahead of its time when you consider all the crime novels that come out of scandinavia now (Henning Mankell et. al.) Not quite Holland but you get what I mean.

[colinphippen]

still love this music- and the car

[kinkkenny]

I wanted a MK4 CORTINA AT THE TIME

[samgrown47]

i always wanted a mk3 cortina but never achievd it!

[70sLOVE70s]

I had a Matt Monroe CD, still have somewhere I think....and it had a song on to this very tune... some of the lyrics were something like: Then she smiled then she smiled with laughter in her eyes and the world seemed to ? Fade Away ? ..a bit of guess work with the lyrics btw.... I just wondered if thats a real song..or not. cant find anything anywhere myself. yet love the tune

[hdje39m8]

It was just as i remembered it , not quite The Sweeney tho .

[mrhomerbojangles]

Funny you should say that.

if memory serves me I can remember a song on ( dont laugh ) top of the pops that was the theme tune to this and had words added to it.

May be it is just my imagination and my memory is going fuzzled.

Ha ! Ha !

But I am sure I have heard the tune with words to it as well,

Type in some of the words to the song in the Google toolbar and it should come up with the song.

Hope that is of some help

[dennykdoe]

Well, the name of this song is "Eye Level", if that helps.

[rokudori]

What about Oranjeboom lager commercial c.1980?

[mrhomerbojangles]

My dad appeared in several of these episodes. What classic they are.

Brilaint to watch wish they would re show them on tv.

Thanks for sharing and bring back some happy memories.

[pa0pvv]

Komt de serie ook nog in nederland op dvd uit? zou hem graag willen zien.

[Roseburg93]

pa0pvv . I won't attempt a Dutch translation in Babel Fish in case it comes out wrong ! But there is lots of Van Der Valk stuff at Amazon UK including a complete box set of all the series 1-5

[Helsingfors]

This programme made me want to work in an office...........only an office in the 80's......... poor me!

[silverstartrucker]

This brings back such memories, thank you.

[gregcjones]

fascist cunt

[c0011y5383]

I rided a prostitiue in Amsterdam once

[LostProphet1776]

good work, fella....

[PURPLEBEATTIE1]

lol.People of all colours are muslim.Just because you see a country to be white does not mean it does not have muslim people living there.I am not muslim myself but it is a wonderful religion

[dodshaun]

What an absolute classic.

I believe produced by the great Ted Childs

Great cinematography.

Great Music and a very underated Actor.

RIP Barry Foster

[carmencita66]

I want this series in back in TV so badly... thank you for the little time travel.

[LozzaBabie]

Holy crap, this was my primary school's bell (in Australia) for the end of recess and lunch. What a flashback.

[jsbach4141]

Which school? Our school also played music for the bell - I can remember Cat Stevens and Popcorn amongst other things...!

[mistofoles]

LOL!

[mistofoles]

Amsterdam in the 70s looked a brill place to be!

[kkjimbo]

Great theme thanks for posting, Flashing Blade remember it well every summer holiday it was on in the morning, 'its better to have fought and lost than not to have fought at all'

[EddieUKNL]

Just bought the Full set series 1-5 on DVD

I love amsterdam and would like to live there again in the future.

The police station where he was based in the early series is now a coffeeshop

[d988518x]

You've got to fight for what you want and all that you believeetc loved it

[menbee99]

i remmeber the flashing blade :)

[ikb64]

I might be an old git but there are some things that bring it back. oh dear. Please someone remember the Flashing Blade...

[ikb64]

Is there anyone out there that remembbers the "Flashing Blade" ? The quintesential stay-in serial for all of us who never understood football?

[kirkbyla]

are you kidding it was youve got to fight for what you want or all that you believe every sat morning or that robinson crusoe thing with the waves and the catchy tune but that still gave me plenty of time to applause the red men

[radiateur93]

merci pour ce post, super van der valk, diffusion en france en 1976!!! serie culte et helas jamais rediffusée en france :(

[FAB1902]

What a great piece of music!...Just downloaded the Theme from dewolfeshop...dot...com

[dennykdoe]

Years ago, I was listening to a BBC program (rebroacast in the US), and this tune appeared; I remember being caught up with it and remembering the answer, which was the title--"eye level". That was many years ago, but thanx to Youtube, I've been able to listen to it again. Good clip, wonderful music. Simon Park orch. is great.

[Fuliginosus]

They play that on classical music stations from time to time. Not at all like something you'd expect on an old cop show.

[ukfm]

Cult British TV!

[umbarellafella]

ace thanks for post

[Roseburg93]

I loved this theme and series as a child and have loved Holland and the Dutch ever since. Even though all the actors were English !

[ikb64]

Lovely to find someone wsho appreciates possibly the finest cop show ever. And the theme music! I believe the original series were only re-run once, lunchtimes in 1982. They helped me through my A Levels.

[petclark1]

This was a big hit here in Canada...both the show AND the theme song...so much so that KLM

airlines used as the music in their commercials as it was so strongly associated

with The Netherlands.

[ikb64]

Hi Petclark1

Nice to know I am not the only one to wallow in the nostalgia of the early 1970s. I can't remember a single plot line but that wasn't the point. The ambience, the sublime theme music...oh well!

Ian

[capricious71]

Amsterdam looked better in those days.

[thekaratechop]

Fantastic tune and fantastic city

[123sj1954]

Great commemt...'Bin there...! & done that'..!

visited 'Anne Franks House...been to 'Vondel Park' & somked 'Dope'.... early 70's ..when I was a mere child of seventeen!!!! great times.

[bermudarailway]

Oh when Holland used to be Holland .

[RabCGiblet]

Barry Foster at his best. Makes you want to go all Dutch hearing this again.

[unicentre]

r.i.p barry foster

[jown1000]

The best theme tune.

[pianoenthusiast11]

And there is a Citroen Ami 8 at 1 minute 1 second...FAB car!!

[slappy6817]

Van Der Valk... The toughest Dutch cop on TV...EVER!!

[ikb64]

And he's up against some heavy competition :)

[slappy6817]

Well said, ikb64.

[ikb64]

Thanx! Didn't think anyone else was up this time of night, let alone thinking of old cop shows.

[slappy6817]

They are two of my favorite pastimes.

[barringtonbank]

I can not understand why this great theme tune lasts for only 1 minute and 10 seconds, when on the time it has got 6 minutes and 14 seconds.

[DorsetRose]

Me neither ..................

[seasonalspeccy]

I remember loving the theme tune, but I can't remember anything at all about the actual programme! Maybe I was a bit too young at the time...

[Squab1972]

Very cool intro

[ponrel]

brilliant mick esh winning

[burnt62]

Great program available on dvd ... look at E-bay ... great series. Thanks for posting

[jeremiah8mind]

Hats off to Pally81! this is an exquisite piece of orchestral assembly. I used to think watching the show, it was the Dutch national anthem...a testament to its quality. boy...this brings back sweet kid memories! The way the water fountain brings up the music tempo! fabulous nostalgia the 70s!

[Manticorator]

I have a very fade memory of this TV serial in Italy, but I've always remembered the VDV theme, even my mother loved it. It was nice, and it's nice to re-discover again such a fantastic score. God bless Youtube

[sambomcl]

My mate James sings this.

It's either that or Hetty Wainthrop Investigates.

Same thing really.