The Third Man Theme sold strongly. Four other versions charted in the U.S. during 1950. According to Faber and Faber, the different versions of the theme have collectively sold an estimated forty million copies. Karas also performed "The Third Man Theme" and other zither music for the 1951–1952 syndicated radio series, "The Adventures of Harry Lime", a "Third Man" prequel produced in London. Orson Welles reprised his role as Harry Lime. "Whenever he entered a restaurant in those years, the band would strike up Anton Karas's "Third Man Theme", wrote Welles biographer Joseph McBride. The full soundtrack album was ready for release when "The
Lime Grove Studios success in the United States (where it was distributed by Universal Pictures). The studios prospered under Gaumont-British, and in 1941 were bought by the Rank Organisation. By then Rank had a substantial interest in Gainsborough Pictures, and "The Wicked Lady" (1945), among other Gainsborough melodramas, was shot at Lime Grove. In 1949 the BBC bought Lime Grove Studios as a "temporary measure"—because they were to build Television Centre at nearby White City—and began converting them from film to television use, reopening them on 21 May 1950. Lime Grove would be used for many BBC Television programmes over the next forty-two