Half the World Away was originally approached about using an Oasis song for a series about a working-class family in Manchester, he suggested "Married with Children" and was confused when "Half the World Away" was chosen. On tour in America when "The Royle Family" was first screened, he claims the penny did not drop until he returned to the United Kingdom to find the series a huge success and viewed it, feeling the song was perfect for the series. He now claims not to think of "Half the World Away" as an Oasis song, but rather as the theme tune to "The Royle Family".
EastEnders theme tune heard in October 2016. Simon May's 1984 memo to the producers giving a breakdown of the various versions of the theme he had prepared refers to this as the "romantic pre-empt". The full version of the theme was featured on the B side of the original 1985 BBC theme tune 45 and also included on the compilation album "Simon's Way" the following year. Additionally a slightly distorted version of the theme plays in "The Ghosts of Ian Beale", a Children in Need special (14 November 2014), when Lucy Beale leaves and walks into the white light during her father Ian