The Protectors (1964 TV Series) - Theme Tune - ABC Television (ITV)

The Protectors - no, not the more famous ATV/ITC series of 1972 starring Robert Vaughn but an earlier series that, for many viewers at least, has almost been forgotten.
This drama was produced in 1964 by ABC (the weekend regional ITV franchise holder for the North of England and the Midlands) and it was shown across the ITV network.
The Protectors featured three characters working for a security firm called 'Souter & Shoesmith (Specialists in Security)' run by an ex-insurance investigator Ian Souter (played by Andrew Faulds). He was ably assisted by former policeman Robert Shoesmith (Michael Atkinson) and Heather Keys (Ann Morrish). By placing ads in the paper to publicise their services using their telephone number, WELbeck 3269*, the team end up investigating a wide variety of crimes.
The theme tune is reminiscent of the Johnny Dankworth theme for the early series of The Avengers and the graphics are similar too. Presumably ABC was seeking to capitalise on the success of The Avengers as well as to compete with ATV's Danger Man. Michael Chapman, producer of The Protectors, said that the series was devised deliberately to stand in sharp contrast to The Avengers which dealt with crime in a stylish, fantasy world. "Our show is about three level-headed people who try to prevent crime from happening" he said.
(WELbeck was a genuine telephone exchange, named after Welbeck Street in Marylebone, London. WEL was 935 on the old British alphanumeric phone dials, hence it is now the London exchange number 020 8935 which covers parts of Marylebone and Fitzrovia).