Tales of the Unexpected: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Tales of the Unexpected is a British television series originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. The series was an anthology of different tales. Initially episodes were based on the short stories collected in the books Tales of the Unexpected, Kiss Kiss and Someone Like You by Roald Dahl. The stories were sometimes sinister, sometimes wryly comedic, and usually had a twist ending. The upbeat theme music for the series was written by the prolific film and television composer Ron Grainer.

Series details

• Title: Tales of the Unexpected
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Drama, Horror, Thriller
• Premiere date: 1979-03-24
• Final broadcast date listed: 1988-05-13
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: ITV1
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 25 minutes
• TVmaze community rating: 8/10
• TVMaze ID: 6084
• IMDb ID: tt0075592
• TVDB ID: 78710

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1979-03-24; final listed air date 1979-05-19; episode order: 9.
• Season 2: premiered 1980-03-01; final listed air date 1980-06-14; episode order: 16.
• Season 3: premiered 1980-08-09; final listed air date 1980-12-19; episode order: 9.
• Season 4: premiered 1981-04-05; final listed air date 1981-12-26; episode order: 17.
• Season 5: premiered 1982-04-25; final listed air date 1982-08-22; episode order: 18.
• Season 6: premiered 1983-03-30; final listed air date 1983-09-03; episode order: 14.
• Season 7: premiered 1984-05-12; final listed air date 1984-10-21; episode order: 15.
• Season 8: premiered 1985-03-30; final listed air date 1985-07-28; episode order: 4.
• Season 9: premiered 1987-12-18; final listed air date 1988-05-13; episode order: 10.

Source and licence

Adapted from Tales of the Unexpected on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.