User reviews

Very much a mixed bag, as other reviewers have noted, some worth seeing again, others good only for filling in time. The currently top rated episode, Something You Have To Live With, I thought mostly dull apart from the unpleasant burglary scene in the middle, deserving no more than a 5. The aptly named Puzzle is worse, I found it a struggle to stick with it to the end, rating a lowly 2. My favourites, all worthy of an 8:

The Cat Brought It In. Whimsical drama in which a cat brings a pair of human fingers into a house. Edward Fox plays a posh chap, just for a change.

A Curious Suicide. This one gets in my good books because Nicol Williamson is my favourite British actor, it's more dour than my other two pics. It has to be said it isn't in the same league as his greatest films from the sixties: The Bofors Gun, Laughter In The Dark, and The Reckoning, if you are interested. I must protest about the general cast list in which Williamson is insultingly placed right at the bottom, below dozens of mediocrities and unknowns.

The Stuff of Madness. Drama about a rather batty middle aged couple. Mrs Waggoner (Eileen Atkins) has her late pets stuffed while her husband (Ian Holm) is obsessed with a mannequin with a passing resemblance to a former girlfriend. It would have made a suitably macabre denouement for Holm to die and also be stuffed, but sadly it didn't happen.

I am actually quite surprised to see this show being so unpopular. If you like Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected, this is largely similar. The series are based on Patricia Highsmith short stories: Slowly, Slowly in the Wind; Under a Dark Angel's Eye; The Stuff of Madness; Something the Cat Dragged in; The Birds Poised to Fly; Sauce for the Goose; A Curious Suicide; The Thrill Seeker; Something You Have to Live With; Blow It; The Day of Reckoning; Old Folks at Home. The show succeeds in displaying (at least to some extent) Highsmith's sinister atmosphere, delving into the darkest depths of human nature. It is true that some of the episodes are rather slow, but most succeed in keeping the viewer's undivided attention (isn't that the case with Tales of the Unexpected also). Some of the episodes are particularly well-done and creepy; with great musical setting; and perhaps the show's biggest asset is the cast of the best British actors.

Trash. Old Bates is reading his lines not that i ever liked him anyway and the stories were hideous and i do mean terrible. The one with Judas McShane was the only one that was any good. Nicol Williamson's ep started out okay but went down the drain. People were dubbed too, not sure what was up with that.