Tales of the Unexpected (TV series)
Tales of the Unexpected | |
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![]() Title card | |
Created by | Roald Dahl |
Directed by | Various |
Starring | Various |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 9 |
No. of episodes | 112 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Producer | Anglia Television |
Running time | 25 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | ITV |
Release | 24 March 1979 (1979-03-24) – 13 May 1988 (1988-05-13) |
Tales of the Unexpected (Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected) is a British television series that aired between 1979 and 1988.[1] Each episode told a story, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, with an unexpected twist ending.[2] Every episode of series one, twelve episodes of series two, two episodes of series three, two episodes of series four, and one episode of series nine were based on short stories by Roald Dahl collected in the books Tales of the Unexpected, Kiss Kiss, and Someone Like You.
The series was made by Anglia Television for ITV with interior scenes recorded at their Norwich studios, whilst location filming mainly occurred across East Anglia. The theme music for the series was written by composer Ron Grainer.[3] The dancer in the opening titles was Karen Standley.[4]
The series has been contemporarily repeated on Granada Plus, ITV3, and Sky Arts.
Format
The series originally adapted various stories from Roald Dahl's anthology books. Despite being produced on a low budget, the series attracted notable guest stars,[5] including Susan George, Siân Phillips, José Ferrer, Joseph Cotten,[6] Janet Leigh,[7] John Gielgud,[8] John Mills,[9] Wendy Hiller, Denholm Elliott,[10] Katy Jurado, Hilary Tindall, Joan Collins,[11] Rod Taylor,[12] Ian Holm, Brian Blessed,[13] Siobhán McKenna, Brad Dourif, Michael Gambon,[14] Cyril Cusack, Julie Harris, Michael Hordern, Derek Jacobi,[15] Anna Neagle, Elaine Stritch,[16] Andrew Ray, Harry H. Corbett, Zoë Wanamaker, Charles Dance,[17] Michael Ontkean, Peter Sallis,[18] Toyah Willcox and Timothy West.
Dahl introduced most of his own stories himself, giving short monologues explaining what inspired him to write them. Unlike other horror anthologies such as The Twilight Zone, Tales of the Unexpected features few supernatural, science-fiction, or fantasy elements and instead takes place in entirely realistic settings (exceptions include the series-one episode "William and Mary", the series-two episode "Royal Jelly", and the series-four episode "The Sound Machine").
Although many of Dahl's stories are left open to the reader's interpretation, the television series usually provided a generally accepted conclusion. 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.
Later episodes were set in different locations outside the United Kingdom, with many being made in the United States.
Later series
The second series featured four episodes from other writers. 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 series-three episode "Parson's Pleasure" was the final regular episode to feature an on-screen introduction by Dahl, although he did return to provide introductions to the series-eight episodes "In the Cards" and "Nothing Short of Highway Robbery" and gave a brief voice-over introduction to the series-four episode "Shatterproof". The third and fourth series featured two episodes apiece adapted from Dahl stories, and a fifth, titled "The Surgeon", featured in the final series in 1988.
Way Out
Dahl had hosted a similar series for the American CBS network called Way Out in 1961.[19] It was similar in concept and themes to The Twilight Zone, and ran for 14 episodes[20] on Friday nights (as the lead-in for The Twilight Zone). It used some stories that would later be adapted for Tales of the Unexpected.
Episodes
Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 9 | 24 March 1979 (1979-03-24) | 19 May 1979 (1979-05-19) | |
2 | 16 | 1 March 1980 (1980-03-01) | 14 June 1980 (1980-06-14) | |
3 | 9 | 9 August 1980 (1980-08-09) | 19 December 1980 (1980-12-19) | |
4 | 17 | 5 April 1981 (1981-04-05) | 26 December 1981 (1981-12-26) | |
5 | 18 | 25 April 1982 (1982-04-25) | 2 January 1983 (1983-01-02) | |
6 | 14 | 9 April 1983 (1983-04-09) | 3 September 1983 (1983-09-03) | |
7 | 15 | 12 May 1984 (1984-05-12) | 21 October 1984 (1984-10-21) | |
8 | 4 | 30 March 1985 (1985-03-30) | 28 July 1985 (1985-07-28) | |
9 | 10 | 18 December 1987 (1987-12-18) | 13 May 1988 (1988-05-13) |
References
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Tales of the Unexpected (1979-88)". screenonline.org.uk.
- ^ "Tales of the Unexpected". TV.com.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Grainer, Ron (1924-1981) Biography". screenonline.org.uk.
- ^ Tales Of The Unexpected Episode Guide, a complete episode guide, last accessed on 14 May 2022.
- ^ "Rewind: 'Tales of the Unexpected' revisited". 19 January 2015.
- ^ "Tales of the Unexpected revisited » We Are Cult". 9 September 2016.
- ^ "Rewind: 'Tales of the Unexpected' revisited". 19 January 2015.
- ^ "Tales of the Unexpected revisited » We Are Cult". 9 September 2016.
- ^ "Rewind: 'Tales of the Unexpected' revisited". 19 January 2015.
- ^ "Tales of the Unexpected revisited » We Are Cult". 9 September 2016.
- ^ "Rewind: 'Tales of the Unexpected' revisited". 19 January 2015.
- ^ "Rewind: 'Tales of the Unexpected' revisited". 19 January 2015.
- ^ "Rewind: 'Tales of the Unexpected' revisited". 19 January 2015.
- ^ "Tales of the Unexpected revisited » We Are Cult". 9 September 2016.
- ^ "Rewind: 'Tales of the Unexpected' revisited". 19 January 2015.
- ^ "Tales of the Unexpected revisited » We Are Cult". 9 September 2016.
- ^ "Tales of the Unexpected revisited » We Are Cult". 9 September 2016.
- ^ "Tales of the Unexpected (1980)".
- ^ "CTVA US Anthology - "Way Out" (Talent Associates/CBS)(1961) hosted by Roald Dahl". ctva.biz.
- ^ "Tales of the Unexpected revisited » We Are Cult". 9 September 2016.
External links
- Tales of the Unexpected at IMDb
- Tales of the Unexpected at epguides.com
- Tales of the Unexpected at the BFI's Screenonline
- Tales of the Unexpected episode guide
- v
- t
- e
- The Gremlins (1943)
- James and the Giant Peach (1961)
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)
- The Magic Finger (1966)
- Fantastic Mr Fox (1970)
- Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972)
- Danny, the Champion of the World (1975)
- The Enormous Crocodile (1978)
- The Twits (1980)
- George's Marvellous Medicine (1981)
- The BFG (1982)
- The Witches (1983)
- The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me (1985)
- Matilda (1988)
- Esio Trot (1990)
- The Vicar of Nibbleswicke (1991)
- The Minpins (1991)
- Revolting Rhymes (1982)
- Dirty Beasts (1983)
- Rhyme Stew (1989)
- Some Time Never: A Fable for Supermen (1948)
- My Uncle Oswald (1979)
collections
- Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying (1946)
- Someone Like You (1953)
- Kiss Kiss (1960)
- Twenty-Nine Kisses from Roald Dahl (1969)
- Switch Bitch (1974)
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More (1977)
- The Best of Roald Dahl (1978)
- Tales of the Unexpected (1979)
- More Tales of the Unexpected (1980)
- The Roald Dahl Omnibus (1986)
- Two Fables (1986)
- Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: The Country Stories of Roald Dahl (1989)
- The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl (1991)
- The Roald Dahl Treasury (1997)
- The Great Automatic Grammatizator (1998)
- Skin and Other Stories (2000)
- Roald Dahl: Collected Stories (2006)
- The Mildenhall Treasure (1946)
- Boy: Tales of Childhood (1984)
- Going Solo (1986)
- Measles: A Dangerous Illness (1986)
- Memories with Food at Gipsy House (1991)
- Roald Dahl's Guide to Railway Safety (1991)
- My Year (1993)
- 36 Hours (1964)
- Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
- Danny, the Champion of the World (1989)
- The BFG (1989)
- Breaking Point (1989)
- The Witches (1990)
- Four Rooms (1995)
- James and the Giant Peach (1996)
- Matilda (1996)
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
- Roald Dahl's Esio Trot (2015)
- The BFG (2016)
- Revolting Rhymes (2016)
- Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (2017)
- The Witches (2020)
- Matilda the Musical (2022)
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)
- Wonka (2023)
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More (2024)
- The Twits (2025)
- The Bells of Hell Go Ting-a-ling-a-ling (1966, unfinished)
- You Only Live Twice (1967)
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
- The Night Digger (1971)
- Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
- The Honeys (1955)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (1998)
- Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka (2004)
- The Witches (2008)
- The Golden Ticket (2010)
- James and the Giant Peach (2010)
- Matilda (2010)
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013)
- Fantastic Mr Fox (2016)
- The Witches (2023)
- Bibliography
- Short stories bibliography
- Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories (1983)
- Gipsy House
- Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre
- Roald Dahl Children's Gallery
- Patricia Neal (wife)
- Olivia Dahl (daughter)
- Tessa Dahl (daughter)
- Ophelia Dahl (daughter)
- Lucy Dahl (daughter)
- Sophie Dahl (granddaughter)
- Phoebe Dahl (granddaughter)
- Felicity Dahl (second wife)
- Quentin Blake
- Wade-Dahl-Till valve
- Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse (2020)
- To Olivia (2021)
- Revision controversy