Tales of the Unexpected

sellerbarry

Jasus, this show used to put the shxts up me. Remember the revolving tarot cards and the spooky music. Used to hide behind the sofa.(lol):eek:

Bog

Based on the short stories of the great Roald Dahl. The one with the flowers which were screaming in pain at being picked always left an impression on me.

DublinWriter

...or the one with Timothy West where his baby turns into a giant bee.

Quite a head-f*ck when you're nine years old.

Bearhunter

DublinWriter wrote: »

...or the one with Timothy West where his baby turns into a giant bee.

Quite a head-f*ck when you're nine years old.

That's the one that immediately sprang to mind when I read the topic. He'd been taking a lot of royal jelly or something, hadn't he? I seem to recall his missus was a saucy minx in that too.

Melodeon

This one!!!:

DublinWriter wrote: »

...or the one with Timothy West where his baby turns into a giant bee.

Quite a head-f*ck when you're nine years old.

It's the one I remember the best, but many of them were pretty unsettling.


OP, head for that sofa:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc46Gk-6qrA

sellerbarry

DublinWriter wrote: »

...or the one with Timothy West where his baby turns into a giant bee.

Quite a head-f*ck when you're nine years old.

Was 9 myself at the time. And my mother wondered why i had nightmares every Saturday night. Between that and The Twilight Zone, I don't know which was worse.:eek:

mrsdewinter

You'd know Dahl was a natural storyteller: I don't think I *ever* watched a single episode but every Monday morning without fail, at least one girl in my class in NS would have seen it and would be able to give a blow-by-blow account (and, yes, the royal jelly guy turning into a giant bee one is the one that stands out) of the previous night's episode and my hair would stand on end. After all these years, I must check them out for myself

Melodeon

Bearhunter wrote: »

That's the one that immediately sprang to mind when I read the topic. He'd been taking a lot of royal jelly or something, hadn't he? I seem to recall his missus was a saucy minx in that too.

The episode was 'Royal Jelly', and the wife was played by Susan George. A saucy minx indeed

deadhead13

DublinWriter wrote: »

...or the one with Timothy West where his baby turns into a giant bee.

Quite a head-f*ck when you're nine years old.

Yeah, thats the one that sticks out for me too. "Buzz, Buzz".

Bearhunter

And there was another one that disturbed me about a guy with a valuable painting tattooed on his back. He's broke, so you can kinda guess what happens...

Melodeon

Bearhunter wrote: »

And there was another one that disturbed me about a guy with a valuable painting tattooed on his back. He's broke, so you can kinda guess what happens...

OH, OH, that one was 'Skin', and it's available on YouTube (click through for the other 2 parts):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVqrxWHRcV0

sellerbarry

And whilst i watched it, i drank my supercan. Remember they came out eh?. Twice the size of a normal can.:D That and my big time bar. (sorted):D

Ann22

Yeah I used to crap myself too..'Royal Jelly' stands out in my mind also with your man who was saying 'zzzzzzz' between every word..and the bee baby at the end:eek:.
The one with the plants that screamed.
The episode where the man bet his little finger that he'd get 10 lights out of his lighter-'The Man from the South'.
The one with Joan Collins as a rich b*tch who got her head stuck in a big wooden thing-'Neck' was the name of that one.
I remember 'Skin' as well...there was a scene in it showing a flashback where a woman shows a butterfly tattoo on her boob(made an impression on my brothers, bare boobs were a rarity on tv in those days).
'Lamb to the Slaughter'-something about a woman murdering her husband I think.

bonerm

Never did see the show at the time, but I saw this ep a while ago and I thought it was really good/creepy.

FLYPAPER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-M3G2aITbs
+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQoqSnBgXT8
+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS2z29Kn1Qk

shivs

bonerm wrote: »

Never did see the show at the time, but I saw this ep a while ago and I thought it was really good/creepy.

FLYPAPER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-M3G2aITbs
+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQoqSnBgXT8
+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS2z29Kn1Qk

:eek:Just watched all 3 episodes (TV been taken over by the Masters). Am sitting and planking it - remembering the first time l watched these, aged 10.

Oh if anyone knows any more links to episodes.......love to go back to my 10 yr old self - and am loving the whole- jolly hockeysticks/change at Swindon station and those phones!!!!!!!

Thanks folks

mikedublin

I think it was Tales of The Unexpected, which had a really scary episode about a ghost nun who had no face. That really gave me nightmares !

Ann22

That's 'Armchair Thriller' you're thinking of. It frightened the crap outta me too:eek:.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=747SKishQPg

h.gricer

It really does tell me how old I'm getting, next year will be the 25th anniversary of Roald Dahi death, a great short story writer of our times, he had a very calming presence, great company I'd say on a cold winter's night by the fire side telling stories of ''tales of the unexpected'' even if some of the stories where dull, Roald Dahi's introduction made up for that, this tale Parsons Pleasure is absolutely hilarious about a ''man of the cloth'' swindling people out of expensive funiture, but the twist at the end will give you the biggest laugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHIwo4bkX8c


Regards
h.gricer

nlgbbbblth

Complete box set down to £29.25 [they remove the VAT for non-UK customers] as part of Network's ITV sale.

Definitely worth it

http://networkonair.com/shop/681-tales-of-the-unexpected-the-complete-series.html

Beano

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

Complete box set down to £29.25 [they remove the VAT for non-UK customers] as part of Network's ITV sale.

Definitely worth it

http://networkonair.com/shop/681-tales-of-the-unexpected-the-complete-series.html

Thanks for that link. that price is excellent. I manage to catch the odd episode on Sky Arts 2 when i've got a day off work. Now i can watch them all at my leisure.

You are right that they knock off the vat but they do add a shipping charge so it brings it up to £34.

nlgbbbblth

Sorry, meant to point out the shipping charge. Around £4.20 or so I think. They've released loads of brilliant archive programmes. I have spent €€€€ from them over the last 10 years.

Beano

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

Sorry, meant to point out the shipping charge. Around £4.20 or so I think. They've released loads of brilliant archive programmes. I have spent €€€€ from them over the last 10 years.

I'd never heard of them before. I fear i may end up doing the same as you.

nlgbbbblth

Let us know if you want any opinions or recommendations on any particular titles. I bought a lot of stuff that I remembered but there were a few blind buys as well [mostly 1960s/early 1970s drama that I wasn't around for].

One thing about their orders is weight. Any package greater than 1KG will incur a £40 shipping charge if the destination is outside the UK. Just keep adding to the basket until you see the charge rise. The trick is to separate orders if you're buying a few things i.e. one massively bulky item in one order and four or five lighter titles [one / two disc sets] in another.

They've just renewed a deal with ITV so expect more stuff to emerge in 2015.

branie2

The opening credits were a bit risqué as well

Beano

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

Let us know if you want any opinions or recommendations on any particular titles. I bought a lot of stuff that I remembered but there were a few blind buys as well [mostly 1960s/early 1970s drama that I wasn't around for].

One thing about their orders is weight. Any package greater than 1KG will incur a £40 shipping charge if the destination is outside the UK. Just keep adding to the basket until you see the charge rise. The trick is to separate orders if you're buying a few things i.e. one massively bulky item in one order and four or five lighter titles [one / two disc sets] in another.

They've just renewed a deal with ITV so expect more stuff to emerge in 2015.

Have you ever had any problems with that site? I received a shipping confirmation email from them today but Microsoft said it was suspicious and asked me to confirm that they could be trusted. When i said they could it flashed up a message saying

Be careful! This sender failed our fraud detection checks.

Have you ever had any problems like that with them?

nlgbbbblth

Beano wrote: »

Have you ever had any problems with that site? I received a shipping confirmation email from them today but Microsoft said it was suspicious and asked me to confirm that they could be trusted. When i said they could it flashed up a message saying



Have you ever had any problems like that with them?

No - have been using it [and its previous incarnation networkdvd] for 10 years. The shipping is handled by Sony DADC. The only think I don't like is their Verified by Visa pop-up - not sure if that's a site requirement or because of my debit card.

Just checked my last shipping email dated 1/12/14 and it was fine. Subject line [Network ON AIR] Shipped‏

Beano

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

No - have been using it [and its previous incarnation networkdvd] for 10 years. The shipping is handled by Sony DADC. The only think I don't like is their Verified by Visa pop-up - not sure if that's a site requirement or because of my debit card.

Just checked my last shipping email dated 1/12/14 and it was fine. Subject line [Network ON AIR] Shipped‏

Yeah i figured it was a false positive. cheers

rubadub

branie2 wrote: »

The opening credits were a bit risqué as well

very similar to james bond opening credits. There was a documentary on a while ago and they had the dancing woman talking about it.

http://www.roalddahlfans.com/tvshows/talepr.php

Star-studded and lavish Tales of the Unexpected may have been, but it also gave some "unknowns" a taste of fame. Best remembered of them was the dancer who performed for the opening title sequence dubbed by one newspaper as "the sexiest dance on television".

Karen Standley was a 27-year-old secretary and housewife from Berkshire, and took a day off to record the sequence.

"The moves were my very own," recalled Karen, who never danced professionally but got the job because her boyfriend at the time worked for Top of the Pops and was contracted to make the titles for Tales of the Unexpected.

She was seen only in silhouette on screen and for the recording had to wear a white body stocking and white tights, with white greasepaint on her arms and legs to achieve the necessary effect.

"The greasepaint kept melting under the hot studio lights," she said. "It was horrible and uncomfortable and it took three baths to wash it all off. But it gave me some money - nothing staggering, but I got a new outfit out of it."

"I was just told to look as sexy as I could and I made it up as I went along. I got a fair amount of fan-mail - mostly adolescents who wanted a picture of me. I suppose I was their fantasy woman."

Karen is now a mother of two and works as a receptionist in a hospital accident and emergency department.

who the fug

They did a couple based on Somerset Maugham short stories one I remember is the guy stuck in bed with a snake.

For the record I hate Roahk Dahl and his stories but liked that show

nlgbbbblth

The snake one was Poison, a Roald Dahl story. The Somerset Maugham stories were in the last series; think there were four in total. One of them was Mr Know All with Topol (why does he only have one name?) and another was The Verger with Richard Briers.

Mesrine65

branie2 wrote: »

The opening credits were a bit risqué as well

Mesrine65

chopper6

The first couple of series weren't great as a rule.

They tended to be low budget looking affairs with lots of dialogue.

It got much better when it was renamed "Ronald Dahls tales of the unexpected" with a brief introduction by the man himself.

Royal Jelly stands out as does the story of the vicar trying to purchase a priceless piece of furniture..based on the short story "parsons pleasure'

nlgbbbblth

chopper6 wrote: »

The first couple of series weren't great as a rule.

They tended to be low budget looking affairs with lots of dialogue.

It got much better when it was renamed "Ronald Dahls tales of the unexpected" with a brief introduction by the man himself.

Royal Jelly stands out as does the story of the vicar trying to purchase a priceless piece of furniture..based on the short story "parsons pleasure'

Dahl introduced most of the first and second series episodes. They used four stories by other writers in series 2 and finished Dahl's in the third series. That one you mention - Parson's Pleasure - is brilliant.

The US-set stories were enjoyable at the time but watching them on DVD 30 years on - not so good.

barneysplash

I liked the Tales of the Unexpected. My parents used to turn it off because of
the "racy" title sequence, ah simpler times

If you are looking for a good read, again from the great Roald Dahl,
check out his book of short stories for children called -
"The Wonderful story of Henry Sugar and Six More"

I had this and many more of his books when I was a child and I loved them.

Roald Dahl's books had a profound influence on my budding reading skills
and love of books that has come with me into adulthood.

I think his stories appeal to all ages so books written for children can be enjoyed by adults as well.