The series is mentioned in an episode of The Ricky Gervais Show as being one of Karl Pilkington's favourite shows, with Gervais commenting that Karl was probably the only person in the world to whom the tales were actually unexpected (a reference to the show's reputation for using predictable twist endings)ĭahl had hosted a practically identical series for the American CBS network called 'Way Out in 1961, which was similar in concept and themes to Twilight Zone for 14 episodes on Saturday nights and also used some stories which would later be adapted for Tales of the Unexpected.Item: 384456694838 Tales of the Unexpected - The Complete Series DVD 19 Discs 112 episode Cult TV. The show included many sketches including a 'Tales of the Unexpected spoof' entitled "Tales of the Much As We Expected", which involved Cook as Roald Dahl explaining why he dropped the "n" in Ronald the sketch ends with the fireplace spreading over the room. In 1980 English writer and comedian Peter Cook starred alongside a host of celebrities in the LWT special "Peter Cook & Co.". In the US, John Houseman succeeded Dahl as the opening narrator.Įpisodes have been repeated on ITV3 in 2006, and Sky Arts 2 in 2011.Īll series have been released in DVD format. The series was cancelled in 1988 after the ninth series following reception from critics that the episodes were beginning to decline in quality.
The third and fourth series' featured two episodes apiece adapted from Dahl stories and a fifth, entitled The Surgeon, featured in the final series in 1988. The series three episode Parson's Pleasure was the final episode to feature an on-screen introduction by Dahl, although he did return to provide a brief voiceover introduction to the series four episode Shatterproof. The title reflected this change when it became Tales of the Unexpected – Introduced by Roald Dahl – Dahl ceased providing introductions for episodes after the programme had reached series three. The second series featured four episodes from other writers. Later episodes were set in different locations outside the United Kingdom, with many being made in the United States. This is exemplified in the story " The Landlady", the written version of which only hints at character Billy's fate, while the televised adaptation has a more resolved conclusion. Despite being produced on a low budget the series attracted guest stars of high calibre, such as José Ferrer, Joseph Cotten, Janet Leigh, John Gielgud, John Mills, Wendy Hiller, Denholm Elliott, Joan Collins, Rod Taylor, Ian Holm, Brian Blessed, Michael Gambon, Cyril Cusack, Julie Harris, Michael Hordern, Derek Jacobi, Siobhán McKenna, Anna Neagle, Elaine Stritch, Andrew Ray and Timothy West.ĭahl introduced all of his own stories himself, giving short monologues explaining what inspired him to write them.Īlthough many of Dahl's stories are left open to the reader's interpretation, the television series usually provided a generally accepted conclusion. The series originally adapted various stories from Roald Dahl's anthology books. The theme music for the series was written by Australian-born composer Ron Grainer.Īlthough similar in theme and title, the show is not related to the American anthology television series, Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected, which ran for one season in 1977.
The series was made by Anglia Television for ITV. Early episodes were based on short stories by Roald Dahl collected in the books Tales of the Unexpected, Kiss Kiss and Someone Like You. Each episode told a story, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, with an unexpected twist ending. Tales of the Unexpected is a British television series that aired between 19.
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