Tales of the Unexpected

One of those Series that is very difficult to review as a whole, largely due to the vast degree in quality between the episodes, on the whole though I'd say I love Tales of the Unexpected, it's a unique series, one millions remember very fondly, for good reason.

I always preferred the introductions when Roald Dahl was sat in his chair, he added to the sense of Theatre in his own inimitable style.

Fair to say the earlier Series were a better standard then the later ones, at the end they became a little sad and repetitive. The 'twist' was always the best bit, and in the first few series, the twists were big.

Highlights include Lamb to the Slaughter, Fat Chance, The way up to Heaven and Royal Jelly, but it's fair to say that the out and out best episode of the entire Series, is the opener to the third run, The Flypaper, truly one of the nastiest, most horrifying pieces of television ever made, even to this day it's intensely disturbing.

Is that possibly the most iconic set of opening credits and music ever put together, instantly recognisable, impossible to forget, I wonder the mix of emotions that tune creates for people.

No wonder Tales ran for nine years, a great series. 8/10

This old-fashioned British TV serial has a terrific atmosphere . The opening scene with the mysterious dancing woman,the skulls,gun and cards is quite impressive.The plot is strange:different actors play in every single episode which is based on a short story.Many of them are written by the well-known Roahld Dall.The episodes are called horror and triller but in fact there is nothing which can scare you.Yes , there are murders , secrets and twists in the tale,and sometimes a dreadful atmosphere but the violence and assassination are shown very stylish.There are episodes that are really interesting and the end is surprising : The Olderely World of Mr Appleby,Man From South,Edward the Conqueror and many others.Unfortunately there are also episodes which look naive and boring.The actors are excellent:many famous British stars act in this TV series.I must mention the music which is very good.

I'd never heard of this series then one day a couple years back I noticed an episode on youtube and watched it. I enjoyed it and watched another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And.. well, you get my drift. It became like a bag of chips, you can't eat just one, your hand just keeps drifting into the bag almost without thinking when you finish one then pull out another and start on it. Eventually over about a week I'd watched all 112 (I think it was 112 total) episodes. I liked it enough to compile my own list of what I think the top 12 Tales of the Unexpected (TOTU) episodes are. They are:

The very best episode of this series is called:

"The Flypaper"

The remaining top 12 TOTU episodes are (in order):

(2) "Number Eight"

(3) "Wink Three Times"

(4) "The Open Window"

(5) "The Way Up To Heaven"

(6) "The Luncheon"

(7) "Bosom Friends"

(8) "Scrimshaw"

(9) "Nothing' Short of Highway Robbery"

(10) "Who's Got The Lady"

(11) "Back For Christmas"

(12) "The Landlady"

I have to give a shout-out to the episode titled "The Luncheon" (which I've ranked the 6th best episode of the series). When I first watched it I didn't catch all of it. I had to re watch it a couple times to realize how clever this particular episode really is.

And, really I should give a shout-out to all these great top 12 episodes. "Scrimshaw" is so so well done. "Bosom Friends" still makes me shudder with a different kind of squirmy horror, you'll see what I mean, "Nothing' Short of Highway Robbery" with its delightfully surprising ending, the fun of seeing it coming in "Back for Christmas", the creepyiness of "The Landlady", the smoothness and coolness of "Who's Got The Lady", the delightfully confusingness till the end of "The Open Window", how crazy the man is in "Number Eight", the psychological twistedness of "The Way Up To Heaven", and finally the delighfully something completely different in "Wink Three Times" that gives this episode cake its icing.

And now here is something regarding the remaining 100 episodes in the series, there was one thing I noticed about this series, and that is that clearly a full one half of the episodes, 50 percent or better of the episodes have one common theme unifying them, and that is that half of the episodes of this series feature marital strife in one form or another. This series seems to have mined that particular mine field repeatedly as it's go-to plot structure when choosing which stories to script and film for the series. Thats not a bad thing, but one does eventually get tired of watching Ma vs. Pa and Daddy fussing with Mommy and Honey Bunch rubbing Honey Do the wrong way over and over and over. In these days of marriage equality, if one had this series to study and nothing else to study in order to learn about human marriage, one might not think marriage was all that great.

Watch my top 12 TOTU episodes. I suggest you watch these top 12 episodes NOT in ranked order from the top of the list down to the bottom of the list or vice versa, instead watch them in the order they were originally broadcast and you will find its more enjoyable to watch the series mature and unfold in that much better way. So, watch them in this order:

The Landlady (1979) s1e5 - **The Landlady** Ranked #12 in the Top Twelve TOTU Episodes

The Way Up to Heaven (1979) s1e9 - **The Way Up To Heaven** Ranked #5 in the Top Twelve TOTU Episodes

Back for Christmas (1980) s2e14 - **Back For Christmas** Ranked #11 in the Top Twelve TOTU Episodes

The Flypaper (1980) s3e1 - **The Flypaper ** Ranked #1, Best Episode of the TOTU Series

Bosom Friends (1981) s4e14 - ** Bosom Friends** Ranked #7 in the Top Twelve TOTU Episodes

Who's Got the Lady? (1982) s5e17 - **Who's Got The Lady** Ranked #10 in the Top Twelve TOTU Episodes

The Luncheon (1983) s6e10 - ** The Luncheon** Ranked #6 in the Top Twelve TOTU Episodes

Number Eight (1984) s7e5 - **Number Eight** Ranked #2 in the Top Twelve TOTU Episodes

The Open Window (1984) s7e15 - **The Open Window** Ranked #4 in the Top Twelve TOTU Episodes

Nothing' Short of Highway Robbery (1985) s8e3 - Ranked #9 in the Top Twelve TOTU Episodes

Scrimshaw (1985) s8e4 - **Scrimshaw** Ranked #8 in the Top Twelve TOTU Episodes

Wink Three Times (1988) s9e6 - **Wink Three Times** Ranked #3 in the Top Twelve TOTU Episodes

You can find that list of mine here:

Tales of the Unexpected - The Top Twelve Episodes.

http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070141474/

Enjoy!

I was in my teens when these were originally on TV. I think they used to follow the ten o'clock news .... I'm sure I should have been asleep, a school night and all that. They are a bit like a time capsule, fascinating reminder of 40 years ago. Phone acting is totally different when tethered by that curly cord. Kitchens were a bit utilitarian and plates were patterned. Each episode is a standalone story with a twist at the end. So many episodes, it's funny when a familiar face pops up, trying to put the name to the face. having paid no heed to the titles at the start as we're all too busy dancing along with the Princesses Di look a like silhouette. Some episodes a better than others. Some acting is a bit iffy and please don't get me started on any attempts at special effects. I've set the box to record the series. I am enjoying a mini binge of 2 or 3 episodes at a time. I can't just watch one..... my attention begins to travel back to this century during a 3rd. Loving them, but I think you need to have been there.

one evening my dad made me sit down and watch this show with the family and i thought what rubbish it seemed! however once i watched one episode i was hooked! ok so the storylines are silly but they are surprsingly entertaining. unfortunately granarda plus have stopped showing them!