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Every episode from Series 1-9 of Roald Dahl's chillingly twisted drama series.
Top comments
Keeleyc
4 Nov 167#1
Omg this used to scare me when I was a kid
merrycherry
4 Nov 164#2
Classic theme tune
foxymeister
4 Nov 163#4
All of the episodes are on NOW TV too !!
Latest comments (24)
ravenh4wk
18 Nov 16#24
This has gone back up to £39.95 now
superpanda
6 Nov 16#23
The only one I can remember was Timothy West and the bees buzzing, something to do with Royal Jelly.
sabresonic
6 Nov 16#22
I know these will have lost their edge and will look a little dated, bought simply for nostalgia. I also remember watching these in the 70's in my pyjamas on a weekend. I bought Ripping Yarns a little while ago it brought back similar memories.
databar
5 Nov 16#21
Thank you erikf have now just watched first 2 episodes on
Now Tv
What a blast from the past
forgot the endings so really was a tale of the unexpected.
pfpf
5 Nov 16#17
brilliant, TOTU experts.
3 always stick in my mind, but they may not be TOTU but that era and style.
1. Some kid ends up gambling with an old guy that his lighter will light 10 times in a row, if it does he gets the blokes, car? if not the bloke cuts off the kids finger.
2. this one seems too horrific for TOTU but I'm struggling with what it was (tales from the crypt?). woman gets wish, wishes her husband who died in a car crash was back with her in the state he was 5 seconds before his death and to live forever. however he actually had an heart attack before the crash and now is in eternal "heart attack" state. trying to slice him up with a sword doesn't cure the problem etc etc.
3. group of blind people are abused by some carer, they set up all sorts of traps and kill the lights. razor blades, tight corridors and hungry dogs ring a bell!
any idea's guys? oh, on a upbeat note. Merry Christmas. :man:
PD101 to pfpf
5 Nov 161#18
The first one I remember well - details in the link/ below. The others don't ring any bells to me...
"Tales of the Unexpected" The Man from the South (1979)
A wonderful beginning
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
"The Man from the South" is the first of short stories by Roald Dahl, the celebrated English writer, to be adapted into the TV series "Tales of the Unexpected". It tells the story of two elder men getting acquainted on the sunny beach of a Jamaican resort. One is British, the other seems native or, at least, from another southern country, as one can infer from the accent. Occasionally, they find themselves chatting with a young American couple sitting on the next table. Cathy and Tommy are their names, and they have recently enrolled in a sailing school nearby.
As the native picks up a cigar, Tommy promptly offers him his lighter. But the man rejects it, saying that it does not work for cigars, especially outdoors in the windy weather. Tommy feels outraged and starts to brag about his American lighter and how it never let him down. Hearing this, the man comes up with a proposal of making a bet on the following terms: if Tommy manages to light the lighter ten times in a row, without missing one, he wins the native's white Jaguar. However, in case he fails, the man from the south may chop off his little finger.
Though as strange as it sounds, Tommy realizes that he indeed has nothing else to put on the bet, but the "useless" pinky finger of his left hand. After mulling over the suggestion the young man wishes to see the car, still lurching between taking the offer and declining it. Eventually, he accepts the bet and the four go upstairs to the native's hotel room. The British gentleman and Cathy unsuccessfully try to dissuade Tommy, by pointing out how this is a stupid and preposterous idea. The man, however, insists that it is a fair bet. Finally, he ties the hand of the young man to the table and holds above it a chopping knife borrowed from the hotel.
Tommy opens the lighter. The whole room is pervaded with fear and tension. Cathy threatens to leave, but Tommy gently asks her to stay. One can easily spot a strange glow in the sadistic eyes of the native. He is certainly enjoying it. When Tommy, all sweaty, has lit the lighter seven times and is about to burst into tears, an old lady unexpectedly explodes into the room and pours cold water on the wager.
Roald Dahl's style emerges from the story line, from beginning to end. Here, the author has dealt with two primary human feelings: greed and temptation. As goes his well-deserved reputation, Dahl had definitely mastered the art of building up a tense situation, with disturbing outcomes and a clever end. If one takes a closer look, the plot calls into question the definition of madness. In this sense, it is hard to separate the behavior of both gamblers, so we could draw a line and label only one of them as insane. Naturally, such mental illness cannot be traced in isolated episodes. On the contrary, it may only be diagnosed from repeated occurrences. Luckily, the wife arrived just in time to stop the wager.
It is a nice story to start the series, although it falls badly behind Hitchcock's adaptation from 1960 - far more glamorous and mysterious, casting the superb Peter Lorre.
PD101 to pfpf
5 Nov 16#19
Great list of episodes and events - the other two don't seem to be included?
70 5 "Revenge is the Nuts (adapted from Blind Alleys)" Vault of Horror #20 (Blind Alleys appears in Tales From The Crypt # 46) Jonas McCord Shel Willens November 16, 1994
A sadistic caregiver at a home for the blind (Anthony Zerbe) gets his comeuppance by the many victims (Issac Hayes Bibi Besch Tim Sampson and Teri Polo) he abused and his brother (John Savage).
Great find OP!.
I posted this a few years ago,for about £22,and thought it was a bargain then,so I bought mine then.
Although the Roald Dahl episodes only cover the first 2 or 3 series,there are still many a great tale to be had in the rest of the series.
And best of all,the majority of the episodes were recorded in and around my home town.
I loved (and still do) watching these, especially Lamb to the Slaughter (the perfect murder) and Mrs Bixby and the Colonels Coat, awks or what, lol.
spatter
5 Nov 16#13
Most are not good......a few are great though.
Dickytwo
5 Nov 16#12
Yep that's the one I meant. A shock to the system compared to the others.
Agent004
4 Nov 16#3
Bought this for £18 in Sainsburys a couple of months ago and I've seen it recently in there, still brilliant after all these years :smile:
McGill to Agent004
5 Nov 16#11
The one in Sainsbury's currently isn't the complete series but a 'best of' whereas this is the complete series. Worth it for The Flypaper with Alfred Burke, a truly disturbing episode.
Dickytwo
5 Nov 16#10
Some good ones, some duds but a lot of famous actors in these. Creepiest one was the guy stalking the kid.
jamgin
5 Nov 161#9
Road Dahl. The man was a genius.
merrycherry
4 Nov 164#2
Classic theme tune
Mire Mare to merrycherry
5 Nov 162#8
Yep creepy stuff but not as disturbing as this vintage kids program: Picture Box
MM
mrscott31
5 Nov 16#7
The Vorpal Blade, starring Peter Cushing - great episode.
The_Hypnotoad
5 Nov 16#6
I bought this for like £40 about five years ago
It's great we play a game where we have to guess what the ridiculous ending to each episode is going to be, some are just off the rails ridiculous
CharlesCalthrop
5 Nov 161#5
The first few discs are the best but I rarely make it past the dancing woman who looks like Professor Vrooshka from Carry On Camping
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
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Opening post
Every episode from Series 1-9 of Roald Dahl's chillingly twisted drama series.
Top comments
Latest comments (24)
Now Tv
What a blast from the past
forgot the endings so really was a tale of the unexpected.
3 always stick in my mind, but they may not be TOTU but that era and style.
1. Some kid ends up gambling with an old guy that his lighter will light 10 times in a row, if it does he gets the blokes, car? if not the bloke cuts off the kids finger.
2. this one seems too horrific for TOTU but I'm struggling with what it was (tales from the crypt?). woman gets wish, wishes her husband who died in a car crash was back with her in the state he was 5 seconds before his death and to live forever. however he actually had an heart attack before the crash and now is in eternal "heart attack" state. trying to slice him up with a sword doesn't cure the problem etc etc.
3. group of blind people are abused by some carer, they set up all sorts of traps and kill the lights. razor blades, tight corridors and hungry dogs ring a bell!
any idea's guys? oh, on a upbeat note. Merry Christmas. :man:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0717498/reviews
"Tales of the Unexpected" The Man from the South (1979)
A wonderful beginning
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
"The Man from the South" is the first of short stories by Roald Dahl, the celebrated English writer, to be adapted into the TV series "Tales of the Unexpected". It tells the story of two elder men getting acquainted on the sunny beach of a Jamaican resort. One is British, the other seems native or, at least, from another southern country, as one can infer from the accent. Occasionally, they find themselves chatting with a young American couple sitting on the next table. Cathy and Tommy are their names, and they have recently enrolled in a sailing school nearby.
As the native picks up a cigar, Tommy promptly offers him his lighter. But the man rejects it, saying that it does not work for cigars, especially outdoors in the windy weather. Tommy feels outraged and starts to brag about his American lighter and how it never let him down. Hearing this, the man comes up with a proposal of making a bet on the following terms: if Tommy manages to light the lighter ten times in a row, without missing one, he wins the native's white Jaguar. However, in case he fails, the man from the south may chop off his little finger.
Though as strange as it sounds, Tommy realizes that he indeed has nothing else to put on the bet, but the "useless" pinky finger of his left hand. After mulling over the suggestion the young man wishes to see the car, still lurching between taking the offer and declining it. Eventually, he accepts the bet and the four go upstairs to the native's hotel room. The British gentleman and Cathy unsuccessfully try to dissuade Tommy, by pointing out how this is a stupid and preposterous idea. The man, however, insists that it is a fair bet. Finally, he ties the hand of the young man to the table and holds above it a chopping knife borrowed from the hotel.
Tommy opens the lighter. The whole room is pervaded with fear and tension. Cathy threatens to leave, but Tommy gently asks her to stay. One can easily spot a strange glow in the sadistic eyes of the native. He is certainly enjoying it. When Tommy, all sweaty, has lit the lighter seven times and is about to burst into tears, an old lady unexpectedly explodes into the room and pours cold water on the wager.
Roald Dahl's style emerges from the story line, from beginning to end. Here, the author has dealt with two primary human feelings: greed and temptation. As goes his well-deserved reputation, Dahl had definitely mastered the art of building up a tense situation, with disturbing outcomes and a clever end. If one takes a closer look, the plot calls into question the definition of madness. In this sense, it is hard to separate the behavior of both gamblers, so we could draw a line and label only one of them as insane. Naturally, such mental illness cannot be traced in isolated episodes. On the contrary, it may only be diagnosed from repeated occurrences. Luckily, the wife arrived just in time to stop the wager.
It is a nice story to start the series, although it falls badly behind Hitchcock's adaptation from 1960 - far more glamorous and mysterious, casting the superb Peter Lorre.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tales_of_the_Unexpected_episodes
70 5 "Revenge is the Nuts (adapted from Blind Alleys)" Vault of Horror #20 (Blind Alleys appears in Tales From The Crypt # 46) Jonas McCord Shel Willens November 16, 1994
A sadistic caregiver at a home for the blind (Anthony Zerbe) gets his comeuppance by the many victims (Issac Hayes Bibi Besch Tim Sampson and Teri Polo) he abused and his brother (John Savage).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tales_from_the_Crypt_episodes
I posted this a few years ago,for about £22,and thought it was a bargain then,so I bought mine then.
Although the Roald Dahl episodes only cover the first 2 or 3 series,there are still many a great tale to be had in the rest of the series.
And best of all,the majority of the episodes were recorded in and around my home town.
Classic TV at it's best IMO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwSXhQ05b4Q
MM
It's great we play a game where we have to guess what the ridiculous ending to each episode is going to be, some are just off the rails ridiculous