| Tales of the Unexpected | |
|---|---|
 Title card | |
| Based on | Short stories by Roald Dahl |
| Directed by | Various |
| Presented by | Roald Dahl |
| Starring | Various |
| Theme music composer | Ron Grainer |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 112 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | John Woolf[1] |
| Producer | John Rosenberg |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company | Anglia Production |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV |
| Release | 24 March 1979 (1979-03-24) – 13 May 1988 (1988-05-13) |
Tales of the Unexpected (known asRoald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected for the first two series) is a British television series that aired between 1979 and 1988.[2] Each episode told a story, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, with an unexpectedtwist ending.[3][4] Every episode of series one, 12 episodes of series two, two episodes of series three, two episodes of series four, and one episode of series nine were based on short stories byRoald Dahl collected in the booksTales of the Unexpected,Kiss Kiss, andSomeone Like You.
The series was made byAnglia Television forITV[4] with interior scenes recorded at itsNorwich studios, whilst location filming mainly occurred acrossEast Anglia. The theme music for the series was written by composerRon Grainer.[5] The dancer in the opening titles was Karen Standley.[6]
The series has been repeated onGranada Plus,ITV3 andSky Arts.
The series originally adapted various stories from Roald Dahl's anthology books. The series attracted notable guest stars,[7] including:Susan George,Richard Johnson,Nigel Havers,Siân Phillips,Charles Hallahan,Joseph Cotten,[8]Janet Leigh,[9]John Gielgud,[10]John Mills,[11]Wendy Hiller,Denholm Elliott,[12]Joan Collins,[13]Rod Taylor,[14]Ian Holm,Brian Blessed,[15]Siobhán McKenna,Brad Dourif,Michael Gambon,[16]Derek Jacobi,[17]Anna Neagle,Elaine Stritch,[18]Andrew Ray,Harry H. Corbett,Zoë Wanamaker,Charles Dance,[19]Michael Ontkean,Peter Sallis,[20]Toyah Willcox andTimothy West.
Dahl introduced most of his own stories himself, giving short monologues explaining what inspired him to write them. Unlike other horror anthologies such asThe Twilight Zone,Tales of the Unexpected features few supernatural, science-fiction, or fantasy elements and instead usually takes place in entirely realistic settings (exceptions include the series one episode "William and Mary", the series two episode "Royal Jelly", and the series-four episode "The Sound Machine").
Although many of Dahl's stories are left open to the reader's interpretation, the television series usually provided a generally accepted conclusion. This is exemplified in the story "The Landlady", the written version of which only hints at character Billy's fate, while the televised adaptation has a more resolved ending.
Later episodes were set in different locations outside the United Kingdom, with many being made in the United States.
The second series featured four episodes from other writers. The title in those four episodes reflected this change when it becameTales of the Unexpected – Introduced by Roald Dahl. Dahl ceased providing introductions for some episodes during series three, and then stopped almost completely thereafter. The series three episode "Parson's Pleasure" was the final regular episode to feature an on-screen introduction by Dahl, although he did return to provide introductions to the series eight episodes "In the Cards" and "Nothing Short of Highway Robbery" and gave a brief voice-over introduction to the series four episode "Shatterproof" and narrated the eighth-season episode "The Open Window". The third and fourth series featured two episodes apiece adapted from Dahl stories, and a fifth, titled "The Surgeon", featured in the ninth and final series in 1988.
Dahl had hosted a similar series for the AmericanCBS network calledWay Out in 1961.[21] It was similar in concept and themes toThe Twilight Zone, and ran for 14 episodes[22] on Friday nights (as the lead-in forThe Twilight Zone). It used some stories that would again be adapted forTales of the Unexpected.
| Series | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 9 | 24 March 1979 (1979-03-24) | 19 May 1979 (1979-05-19) | |
| 2 | 16 | 1 March 1980 (1980-03-01) | 14 June 1980 (1980-06-14) | |
| 3 | 9 | 9 August 1980 (1980-08-09) | 19 December 1980 (1980-12-19) | |
| 4 | 17 | 5 April 1981 (1981-04-05) | 26 December 1981 (1981-12-26) | |
| 5 | 18 | 25 April 1982 (1982-04-25) | 2 January 1983 (1983-01-02) | |
| 6 | 14 | 9 April 1983 (1983-04-09) | 3 September 1983 (1983-09-03) | |
| 7 | 15 | 12 May 1984 (1984-05-12) | 21 October 1984 (1984-10-21) | |
| 8 | 4 | 30 March 1985 (1985-03-30) | 28 July 1985 (1985-07-28) | |
| 9 | 10 | 18 December 1987 (1987-12-18) | 13 May 1988 (1988-05-13) | |