Blue Peter "Sailors Hornpipe" was used instead. The opening theme has been updated several times. The following is a list of all the versions of the "Blue Peter" signature tune, "Barnacle Bill" that have been used on the show : The debut of a new version of the famous theme tune "Barnacle Bill" is sometimes accompanied with an introduction by the presenters at the time explaining the reasons behind the new rendition. Mike Oldfield appeared on the programme around 1979, and his version of the theme tune was so popular with viewers that the producers decided to record it for use as
Blue Peter at the beginning and end of each broadcast; however, in recent years the traditional finale tune has returned, with Nial Brown rearranging the closing tune from 2004 to 2006, and Dave Cooke doing so as of January 2007. From September 2007 to June 2008 the closing theme was slightly extended and rearranged, once again by Dave Cooke. For the start of the September 2008 series "Barnacle Bill" was dropped as the signature tune after nearly fifty years of use and replaced by an arrangement of the very similar traditional dance tune "Sailor's Hornpipe". On 14 October (the same week as