FAQ

No. Although the series was originally envisioned as a show televising the stories from his "Tales of the Unexpected" and "More Tales of the Unexpected" short story books, the popularity of the show led to stories from other authors being used. The episodes based on other authors stories had no introduction at all and by the third series, the title of the show no longer included Dahl's name.

Neither did Dahl write the screenplays for the show. Dahl's stories were adapted by Ronald Harwood, Robin Chapman and Kevin Goldstein-Jackson.

There were 112 episodes spread over 9 series. Series 8 was only 4 episodes due to strikes at the time.

No episodes are missing and they are all available on DVD both by series and as a complete box set.

No. There are episodes filmed in the US using American acting talent. These episodes are generally easy to spot by the opening and closing credits being of a darker image of poor quality. It has been suggested that this was down to the conversion process involved between PAL and NTSC formats. This is unconfirmed.

Actually the above is only partially true. As the series went on, Anglia Television in the UK wanted to drop it after several years due to the cost and waning interest. However the series had proven a success on syndication in the US and when Anglia said they were going to stop making new episodes an American production team wanted to carry on making them so a deal was brokered where production carried on in the US for several more years under the same title but without UK input. The US made episodes were still shown in the UK but by then the showing times were down to the local ITV broadcaster rather than a nationwide time spot (and some ITV broadcasters dropped the show altogether by then).

Quite possibly. The original "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" show used some of Dahl's stories. Also, some stories used on that show were used on "Tales of the Unexpected". These include:

The Landlady, The Man from the South, Wet Saturday, Lamb to the Slaughter, Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat, Never Speak Ill of the Dead ("De Mortuis" in Alfred Hitchcock Presents)

The lady is Karen Standley whose profile can be found on IMDB. Contrary to popular belief, she wasn't naked when appearing in the credits. She is actually covered in a thick layer of greasepaint and is wearing a bodystocking.