Jack Parnell spent more than a quarter of a century with ATV.

During that stint he supplied the music for everything from Sunday Night at the London Palladium and This is Tom Jones to The Muppet Show.

Onscreen the muppet band was led by a cheery baton-wielding muppet called Nigel, but Jack Parnell was the real conductor for music used in The Muppet Show, which was filmed in London.

Jack Parnell aldo got one of the world’s most celebrated drummers, Buddy Rich, on to the show. His appearance went on to became famous for the percussion duel with The Muppet Show’s own resident drummer, Animal, actually performed by Ronnie Verrell.

Jack Parnell developed his passion for drums when he was six. He first came to fame during his long stay in the Ted Heath band, which lasted from 1946 to 1951.

After he left Heath in 1951, Jack Parnell formed his own band. By now he was used to the idea of conducting and standing in front of the band, so he took on a second drummer, Phil Seamen. As a speciality the two played a synchronised drum feature together.

Watch this 1977 performance of Skin Deep by the Jack Parnell band, featuring its leader on drums with Ronnie \'Animal\' Verrell in tandem:

After he retired from ATV in 1982, Jack took up drumming again with the group Best of British Jazz with trumpeter Kenny Baker and trombonist Don Lusher, with whom he played for the next decade.

Jack Parnell retired to the Suffolk town of Southwold but carried on playing a couple of times a week with local bands well into his 80s.

Jack Parnell is survived by his third wife, Veronica, two daughters and three sons — two of them drummers. Jack\'s son Ric played drummer Mick Shrimpton in the legendary rock spoof film, This Is Spinal Tap.