Later Series
The second series featured four episodes from other writers. The title reflected this change when it became Tales of the Unexpected – Introduced by Roald Dahl – Dahl ceased providing introductions for episodes after the programme had reached series three. The series three episode Parson's Pleasure was the final episode to feature an on-screen introduction by Dahl, although he did return to provide a brief voiceover introduction to the series four episode Shatterproof. The third and fourth series' featured two episodes apiece adapted from Dahl stories and a fifth, entitled The Surgeon, featured in the final series in 1988.
The series was cancelled in 1988 after the ninth series following reception from critics that the episodes were beginning to decline in quality.
In the US, John Houseman succeeded Dahl as the opening narrator.
Episodes have been repeated on ITV3 in 2006, and Sky Arts 2 in 2011.
All series have been released in DVD format.
In 1980 English writer and comedian Peter Cook starred alongside a host of celebrities in the LWT special "Peter Cook & Co.". The show included many sketches including a 'Tales of the Unexpected spoof' entitled "Tales of the Much As We Expected", which involved Cook as Roald Dahl explaining why he dropped the "n" in Ronald; the sketch ends with the fireplace spreading over the room.
The series is mentioned in an episode of The Ricky Gervais Show as being one of Karl Pilkington's favourite shows, with Gervais commenting that Karl was probably the only person in the world to whom the tales were actually unexpected (a reference to the show's reputation for using predictable twist endings)
Read more about this topic: Tales Of The Unexpected (TV Series)
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