Tales Of The Unexpected

Tales Of The Unexpected

For anyone of about 35 and upwards 'Tales of The Unexpected' is part of our childhoods and we all have an episode that we remember.

'Poison' is the one I can recall very clearly and I can even remember how I watched it (from behind a book) and the feelings that I experienced.

For Andrew it's probably 'The Sound  Machine' which concerns an invention that allows you to hear the sounds that plants and trees make when they are picked or cut down. Which is a very creepy idea .

For anyone who doesn't know what 'Tales Of The Unexpected' is, it's an anthology show featuring a different story each week. Many of the ideas came from short stories written by Roald Dahl and indeed he introduces many of the episodes.

In our video today we took a look at 'Taste' from 12th April 1980. It features Ron Moody as wine expert Richard Pratt, alongside Anthony Carrick and William Hootkins. Sporting an unlikely wig, Pratt is an extremely pompous and creepy character.

He makes a bet with Anthony Carrick's character, Mike Schofield, that he can identify a particular claret wine, but Schofield is so convinced that he won't be able to tell that he bets his daughter's hand in marriage.

Now even though this is the unenlightened late 70s / early 80s this feels very uncomfortable. To use your own child as a bargaining chip as almost a piece of meat is unacceptable and perhaps that is one of the points of the story, though I am not entirely convinced of that...

Ron Moody is superb in the role and does some very disturbing things with his tongue when trying the wine.

Other memorable episodes are 'Skin', which stars Derek Jacobi as a down-and-out with a very interesting tattoo, plus 'Neck' in which Joan Collins gets her head stuck in a sculpture and the last shot is of an axe wielded by Michael Aldridge overlaid by a scream.

'Lamb To The Slaughter' features Brian Blessed, Susan George and Michael Byrne as a man who is murdered by his wife with a frozen leg of lamb, which then she serves up to the policemen who arrive to solve the murder.

And of course the most remembered one is probably 'Royal Jelly' and in particular the last shot of Timothy West is seared in the memory of everyone of a certain age.

'Tales of The Unexpected' is well worth a look if you've never seen it and of course is available from Network and all other good (or indifferent) retailers.

Our video about 'Tales Of The Unexpected' can be zzzeen here.

(Written by Lisa Parker)