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Tales of the Unexpected Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
9 Episodes 1979 - 1979
Episode 1
The Man from the South
24 mins
Elderly Latin gentleman with a penchant for the odd wager, entices a young American to accept his offer. If the youth's lighter works ten times in a row, he gets a new Jaguar. But if it fails just once the old man gets chop off the youth's left pinky.
Episode 2
Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat
25 mins
Unable to show her dentist husband Cyril the fur coat her lover has given her Mrs. Bixby pawns it and pretends that she found the ticket. She gives it to Cyril to redeem on her behalf but is taught that two can play at her game when he comes home with rather less than she expected, and she sees that his dental assistant will be warm for the winter.
Episode 3
William and Mary
24 mins
Following the death of her husband William, Mary Pearl is shocked to learn that, at his request, a neurologist called Dr. Landry, has preserved William's brain. Even after death William manages to tell Mary what to do so she sets out to deliberately annoy the brain on her sideboard.
Episode 4
Lamb to the Slaughter
24 mins
When her policeman husband Patrick callously announces that he is leaving her, Mary Marney hits and kills him with the frozen leg of lamb she has bought for their dinner. Thinking quickly, she calls his colleagues, claiming that she came in from the shops and found him dead. Whilst they speculate over what kind of weapon killed him she considers how to dispose of the evidence.
Episode 5
The Landlady
24 mins
Arriving in Bath to take up his first job away from home young Billy Weaver decides to take a room with a charmingly maternal if eccentric landlady. Her dog and cat are both stuffed and the only other names in her guest-book seem vaguely familiar to him from the newspaper but he cannot think why. Sadly he will never find out as he drinks the landlady's poisoned tea and dies as the landlady plans to add him to her collection of stuffed creatures!
Episode 6
Neck
23 mins
Invited to a weekend house party by Sir Basil Turton and his younger wife Natalia, John Bannister is struck by the lady's infidelity. She tries to undo his pyjamas and is plainly having an affair with another guest Major Haddock. Jelks, Sir Basil's loyal butler, has also noticed and when Natalia gets her head stuck in an abstract sculpture he knows precisely how to cut her down to size.
Episode 7
Edward the Conqueror
30 mins
Elderly marrieds Edward and Louisa discover a stray cat in their garden. It reacts so positively to Louisa's classical piano playing that she is convinced the cat is the reincarnation of Franz Liszt. Edward grows tired of her obsession and decides to get rid of the cat. Louisa exacts revenge,
Episode 8
A Dip in the Pool
24 mins
On board an Atlantic liner gambler Mr. Botibol takes part in a sweep-stake betting on how long it will take the ship to reach its destination. Mr. Botibol decides that if he can slow the ship down a little he will win the sweep and that if he 'falls' overboard this will most definitely slow the liner down as he is rescued. However, he must first find somebody who will witness his fall and raise the alarm. Unfortunately he could not have picked a worse choice.
Episode 9
The Way Up to Heaven
25 mins
Mrs. Foster has a plane to catch in order to visit her daughter and first grand-child. Her husband is an inveterate and somewhat sadistic dawdler, who appears to do it on purpose in order to rile her. As a result she misses one plane but can catch the next flight in the morning. Mr. Foster attempts to slow her down again but when he is trapped in the lift she exacts a very final revenge on him.
