
Tales Of The Unexpected
Tales Of The Unexpected is a British television series originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. The series was an anthology of different tales. Initially episodes were based on the short stories collected in the books Tales of the Unexpected, Kiss Kiss and Someone Like You by Roald Dahl. The stories were sometimes sinister, sometimes wryly comedic, and usually had a twist ending. The upbeat theme music for the series was written by the prolific film and television composer Ron Grainer.
A young American couple on holiday meet a mysterious old gentleman who makes them a macabre wager.
Unable to show her dentist husband Cyril the fur coat her lover has given her Mrs. Bixby pawns it and pretends that she found the ticket. She gives it to Cyril to redeem on her behalf but is taught that two can play at her game when he comes home with rather less than she expected, and she sees that his dental assistant will be warm for the winter.
When her husband William dies Mary Pearl is shocked that his will stipulates that his brain should be kept alive and observing her from the lounge sideboard. She determines that, even though he is dead, she will continue to annoy him.
When her policeman husband Patrick callously announces that he is leaving her, Mary Marney hits and kills him with the frozen leg of lamb she has bought for their dinner. Thinking quickly, she calls his colleagues, claiming that she came in from the shops and found him dead. Whilst they speculate over what kind of weapon killed him she considers how to dispose of the evidence.
Arriving in Bath to take up his first job away from home young Billy Weaver decides to take a room with a charmingly maternal if eccentric landlady. Her dog and cat are both stuffed and the only other names in her guest-book seem vaguely familiar to him from the newspaper but he cannot think why. Sadly he will never find out as he drinks the landlady's poisoned tea and dies as the landlady plans to add him to her collection of stuffed creatures!
Invited to a weekend house party by Sir Basil Turton and his younger wife Natalia, John Bannister is struck by the lady's infidelity. She tries to undo his pyjamas and is plainly having an affair with another guest Major Haddock. Jelks, Sir Basil's loyal butler, has also noticed and when Natalia gets her head stuck in an abstract sculpture he knows precisely how to cut her down to size.
Elderly marrieds Edward and Louisa discover a stray cat in their garden. It reacts so positively to Louisa's classical piano playing that she is convinced the cat is the reincarnation of Franz Liszt. Edward grows tired of her obsession and decides to get rid of the cat. Louisa exacts revenge,
An American gambler on a trans-Atlantic liner goes into the pool that bets on how far ship sails each day. Expecting bad weather, he bets a low distance, but then the weather fines up. He must come up with a plan to slow the ship down.
Mrs. Foster has a plane to catch in order to visit her daughter and first grand-child. Her husband is an inveterate and somewhat sadistic dawdler, who appears to do it on purpose in order to rile her. As a result she misses one plane but can catch the next flight in the morning. Mr. Foster attempts to slow her down again but when he is trapped in the lift she exacts a very final revenge on him.
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Roald Dahl | Self - Introduced by |
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Julie Harris | Mrs. Bixby |
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Richard Hampton | Patient |
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Brian Blessed | Detective Sergeant Jack Nolan |
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Michael Byrne | Patrick Marney |
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John Gielgud | Jelks |
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Michael Hordern | Cyril Bixby |
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Don Fellows | Renshaw |
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José Ferrer | Carlos |
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Joseph Cotten | Edward |
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Bill Reimbold | Bill Wilson |
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Jack Weston | William Botibol |
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Peter Bowles | Major Haddock |
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Phil Brown | F. Milton Willis |
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Elaine Stritch | Mary Pearl |
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David Healy | Auctioneer |
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Mark Jones | Detective Sergeant Jameson |
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Michael Ontkean | Tommy |
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Roland Culver | Mr. Foster |
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Joan Collins | Natalia Turton |
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Vass Anderson | Huntsman |
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Pamela Stephenson | Cathy |
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Wendy Hiller | Louisa |
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Jana Shelden | Mrs. Renshaw |
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Anthony Bailey | Arthur |
Director | Michael Tuchner |
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Simon Langton |
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Rodney Bennett |
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John Davies |
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Christopher Miles |
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Herbert Wise |
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Donald McWhinnie |
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Writer | Roald Dahl, Ronald Harwood, Robin Chapman, KEVIN GOLDSTEIN-JACKSON | |
Producer | John Rosenberg, John Woolf, KEVIN GOLDSTEIN-JACKSON, Robert Bell | |
Musician | Ron Grainer | |
Photography | Ian Craig |
Nr Discs | 1 |
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Layers | Single side, Single layer |
Owner | Don Hawkins |
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Location | DVD Library |
Watched | |
Quantity | 1 |
Index | 3662 |
Added Date | Aug 06, 2015 18:05:58 |
Modified Date | Jul 16, 2024 09:19:09 |