Star Wars theme voted UK's favourite film soundtrack

John Williams' score took almost a quarter of all votes

Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill in a scene from 'Star Wars' movie released by 20th Century-Fox (AP)

John Williams’ Star Wars theme has been named the nation’s favourite film soundtrack by BBC Radio 3 listeners.

The Star Wars theme took almost a quarter of the votes, beating the musical accompaniment to films such as Grease, West Side Story and The Sound of Music.

Ennio Morricone’s score for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly came second, with Leonard Bernstein’s soundtrack to West Side Story named third.

Viewers and listeners from across the BBC's services chose the original Star Wars movie soundtrack, Episode IV: A New Hope.

Williams won an Oscar for his work on the film, which also included the well-known jazz-style “Cantina Band” scene.

He announced he will return to compose the score to the forthcoming Star Wars: Episode VII film, which is due for release in 2015.

Excerpts from the top 20 film scores will be played live in a countdown on Radio 3 later at 2pm today in a programme presented by Robert Zeigler from the London's famous Air Studios.

The station will also feature Williams talking about his writing next week in Composer Of The Week each weekday at noon and 6.30pm.

The shortlist of soundtracks was put together by broadcasters and movie music experts.

Top ten film themes as voted for by BBC Radio 3 listeners:

1. Star Wars (Williams)

2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Morricone)

3. West Side Story (Bernstein)

4. Lawrence of Arabia (Jarre)

5. Vertigo (Herrmann)

6. The Third Man (Karas)

7. Dark Knight Rises (Zimmer)

8. Grease (various)

9. The Sound of Music (Rogers & Hammerstein)

10. Apocalypse Now (Wagner)