This first season of Tales of the Unexpected was made up exclusively of Roald Dahl’s stories (later seasons would include adaptations of Ruth Rendell and Jeffrey Archer, amongst others). Dahl also introduced each tale during the first few seasons, sitting by a fireplace all nice and cosy.
In this day and age, with the likes of M. Night Shyamalan making a career out of the twist ending, the stories presented here should really be called Tales of the Occasionally Surprising, but watching them again, what is really surprising is how many have stayed in my memory.
“The Man from the South”, “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “Neck” all brought back fond memories. The best stories are those with a healthy dose of black humour to go along with the twist ending and all of these fit the bill nicely.
The series featured a surprisingly starry cast. “Neck” gives John Gielgud a dry run for his butler role in Arthur while “Edward the Conqueror” sees Joseph Cotton go to extremes in order to dispose of the feline reincarnation of Franz Liszt. Other notables include Jose Ferrer, Joan Collins and Jack Weston.
They’re nothing special to look at, particularly those shot on video, but it’s the story that’s the main attraction. Julie Harris stars in the dullest of the tales, Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat (she made a second appearance in the episode “The Way Up to Heaven” at the end of the season) but even this features a wryly amusing, if unsurprising, conclusion.
The best of the stories though is the deliciously amusing (and amusingly titled) “Lamb to the Slaughter”. Susan George’s husband is murdered and Brian Blessed is the copper who’s leading the investigation. Both are very good, particularly George, but what makes this one such a joy is the ending. It’s not that you don’t see it coming, rather that you do, with the audience one up on the befuddled police.
Also memorable is Ron Grainer’s theme tune. Grainer is responsible (or at least partly responsible) for the greatest theme tune to a TV series ever – Dr Who – and he also wrote the opening music for The Prisoner. Tales of the Unexpected doesn’t come close to matching them and is, at least partly, memorable for not really fitting the series it introduces; it’s far too upbeat and jolly.
There’s nothing here that will give you sleepless nights but they will provide the odd surprise and more than a few chuckles and, for those of a certain age, they’ll doubtless bring back fond memories.
Horror and Western film buff, Marvel comic geek, music lover and occasional gamer. 