Tales of the Unexpected

one evening my dad made me sit down and watch this show with the family and i thought what rubbish it seemed! however once i watched one episode i was hooked! ok so the storylines are silly but they are surprsingly entertaining. unfortunately granarda plus have stopped showing them!

Being a huge fan of anthology series, I'm always on the lookout for ones I haven't seen. I've had some hits (Twilight Zone, Night Gallery) and a few misses, (Thriller, most of Hammer House of Horror) but then I stumbled across Roald Dahl's 'Tales of the Unexpected'

Always being a short story, horror, and sci fi fan, I jumped at the chance to try some programs I had never seen. Having some familiarity with Roald Dahl's work, I was intrigued, having read that he was a cross between Alfred Hitchcock and O Henry. I sat back to enjoy the first story of the series, the fine, 'Man from the South' about a man who bets the little finger on his left hand that he can't light his lighter ten times in a row. Filmed on location in Jamaica, it is a very clever tale that sets the tone of future episodes. Now don't misunderstand, the episodes are not all 10's, but the majority are very, very good, including 'The Landlady', and 'The Flytrap' which is a CHILLER, all the while featuring a wonderful sense of storytelling along with some excellent actors, including Jose Ferrer, Joseph Cotten, and Joan Collins, to name but a few.

If you enjoy really well told tales that hold your attention and are genuinely entertaining, get the first two sets of this series, they really are a wonderful way to spend a few hours.

This series was on the air in the U.S. very briefly - about one year only, which is unlike the British series that lasted nearly a decade. I recall watching it, and seeing John Houseman introduce the episodes. The particular one I can recall seeing (I was on a date the night it was being shown) was shown in April 1983 and called THE MEMORY MAN. Colin Redgrave is an expert in helping people improve their memory by various ways, including hypnosis. He discovers that a new customer (Bernard Cribbins) is having problems with his memory, but also seems quite hostile to questions that Redgrave asks innocently enough. Soon Redgrave remembers that Cribbins had another name, and was involved in a violent robbery where he stole thousand of pounds. Redgrave is slowly using his knowledge of hypnosis to extract the information that Cribbins has forgotten (and so has sought Redgrave's assistance to recall). In the end neither man does too well out of the experience.

When Houseman introduced the episode, he tried to illustrate the problem of memory by shooting out one question after another. One he shot out was, "Who was the 14th President of the United States?" I amused my date by shouting out, "Franklin Pierce".

Many of the stories are by Roald Dahl, and I suspect, if they are watched, some of them would have to be compared with versions of the same stories (like "Mrs.Bixby and the Colonel's Coat") that originally appeared on Alfred Hitchcock Presents (in that case, and in "Lamb to the Slaughter", Hitchcock directed the television episodes). One wonders if the image of Hitchcock, with his plump person, and his delivery of his introduction, was behind the use of Houseman (with his plump person and delivery) as the host.

Tales of the Unexpected took the short stories created by Roald Dahl from the book of the same name and others and put them on the small screen. Later on, other writers would be used and Dahl would provide an introduction to each story. This introduction was eventually dropped in favour of a voice over.

The key to each story was in the ending which originally was usually totally unexpected. The content and the background to each storyline often involved murder, often without holding back some visualisation and this lead to it being broadcast late on Sunday evenings.

The series suffered from poor production quality. It is likely that the series was shot on video tape which is evident nowadays. The appearance of studio sets is apparent as there is a definite transition between the quality of lighting indoors and for shooting on location. Some of the stories were quite laboured as the introduction of the characters and initial plot creation were quick. This left a large gap of time until the unexpected outcome. The acting was sometimes slow with long pauses in an attempt to spin out time.

Despite it's faults, Tales of the Unexpected managed to attract well known names in asting for episodes and sustained an audience following for 8 years. The stories were varied in their creation and the eventual outcome but eventually the ending could be predicted. In 1988 the series was quitely axed and reruns can now be seen on digital channels in the UK.

If you can ignore the poor production, it is well worth seeing, even after all these years.

One of those Series that is very difficult to review as a whole, largely due to the vast degree in quality between the episodes, on the whole though I'd say I love Tales of the Unexpected, it's a unique series, one millions remember very fondly, for good reason.

I always preferred the introductions when Roald Dahl was sat in his chair, he added to the sense of Theatre in his own inimitable style.

Fair to say the earlier Series were a better standard then the later ones, at the end they became a little sad and repetitive. The 'twist' was always the best bit, and in the first few series, the twists were big.

Highlights include Lamb to the Slaughter, Fat Chance, The way up to Heaven and Royal Jelly, but it's fair to say that the out and out best episode of the entire Series, is the opener to the third run, The Flypaper, truly one of the nastiest, most horrifying pieces of television ever made, even to this day it's intensely disturbing.

Is that possibly the most iconic set of opening credits and music ever put together, instantly recognisable, impossible to forget, I wonder the mix of emotions that tune creates for people.

No wonder Tales ran for nine years, a great series. 8/10