Tales of the Unexpected (Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected) is a British television series that aired between 1979 and 1988.[1] Each episode told a story, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, with an unexpected twist ending.[2] Every episode of series one, twelve 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 by Roald Dahl collected in the books Tales of the Unexpected, Kiss Kiss, and Someone Like You.
Quick Facts Tales of the Unexpected, Created by ...
Tales of the Unexpected |
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Created by | Roald Dahl |
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Directed by | Various |
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Starring | Various |
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Country of origin | United Kingdom |
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Original language | English |
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No. of series | 9 |
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No. of episodes | 112 (list of episodes) |
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Producer | Anglia Television |
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Running time | 25 minutes |
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Network | ITV |
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Release | 24 March 1979 (1979-03-24) – 13 May 1988 (1988-05-13) |
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The series was made by Anglia Television for ITV with interior scenes recorded at their Norwich studios, whilst location filming mainly occurred across East Anglia. The theme music for the series was written by composer Ron Grainer.[3] The dancer in the opening titles was Karen Standley.[4]
The series has been contemporarily repeated on Granada Plus, ITV3, and Sky Arts.
The series originally adapted various stories from Roald Dahl's anthology books. Despite being produced on a low budget, the series attracted notable guest stars,[5] including Susan George, Siân Phillips, José Ferrer, Joseph Cotten,[6] Janet Leigh,[7] John Gielgud,[8] John Mills,[9] Wendy Hiller, Denholm Elliott,[10] Katy Jurado, Hilary Tindall, Joan Collins,[11] Rod Taylor,[12] Ian Holm, Brian Blessed,[13] Siobhán McKenna, Brad Dourif, Michael Gambon,[14] Cyril Cusack, Julie Harris, Michael Hordern, Derek Jacobi,[15] Anna Neagle, Elaine Stritch,[16] Andrew Ray, Harry H. Corbett, Zoë Wanamaker, Charles Dance,[17] Michael Ontkean, Peter Sallis,[18] Toyah Willcox and Timothy West.
Dahl introduced most of his own stories himself, giving short monologues explaining what inspired him to write them. Unlike other horror anthologies such as The Twilight Zone, Tales of the Unexpected features few supernatural, science-fiction, or fantasy elements and instead 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 conclusion.
Later episodes were set in different locations outside the United Kingdom, with many being made in the United States.