What is the name of (and, preferably, where can I find a sound file of) that piece of music which signified “suburbia” in so many sketches or news items on British TV? You know … fri fri fri plum fri fri fri plum dub-a-dub dub dub fe fe faaaa? (Or, in musical notes, G4 G4 G4 G3 G4 G4 G4 G3 A3 B3 C3 B3 D3 C3 E3 G4)
Possibly “Puffin’ Billy?” You can listen to a clip here (track #16). In addition to being used as “suburbia” music, this was adapted into the theme for “Captain Kangaroo.”
Nope, but thanks anyway. This was played on strings, with a ghost glissandro* on each of the first three notes. I think it might have been used liberally in the Famous Five spoof by the Comic Strip team if that helps.
Are you sure about that SentientMeat? - the linked clip starts in the wrong place - listen right to the end of it and you get the part that I think you’re describing.
Here is a link to a clip that starts in the right place.
I’m pretty sure that it’s Housewife’s Choice, the theme from an old BBC Radio programme of the same name.
It was used extensively by The Comic Strip Presents in their “Five Go Mad” films, such as this one.
I have a bit of a tin ear, but the music in that clip sounds just like “Puffin’ Billy” to me.
Your ear is better than you thought: that is indeed Puffin’ Billy. I’m a kid who grew up hearing it on Captain Kangaroo.
Ah - you’re right - sorry.
The Comic Strip team seem to have used both Puffin’ Billy and Housewife’s Choice as alternating background music in those features, and I’d always assumed they were from the same piece. You can hear Housewife’s Choice itself starting from 04:11 in the clip I linked.
I should have known that. I used to play keyboards in a R&B/soul/funk band, and we’d sometimes open the first set with Housewife’s Choice - me on a string synth, quiet bass and drums accompaniment. We’d play 16 bars of that, cheesy as anything, then the drummer would do a two-bar link into Stevie Wonder’s Superstition, starting with the clavi/bass/drums, which kicked funky ass. It was hilarious to watch the faces in the audience go from incredulous bewilderment to big grins and shaking booties. 
Apologies to all, especially pink! I only listened to the first bit. Puffin Billy it is!