Tales Of The Unexpected - Series 7 - Complete [DVD]

The disc with the greatest variance of quality in episodes and product labelling by Network. What Network have called the seventh series is actually the seventh, eighth and part of nine. On the plus side one gets 3 discs of episodes. The gap between series seven and eight is one year and nearly two and a half between eight and nine, such that it really does feel like different programme; by having that one excellent episode does at least reinvigorate any trailing interest ready for the final release.

This release contains some of the best and most iconic episodes, and some of the very worst. Whilst the dramatic increase of US episodes initially is irritating, they do get better. This is a release to persevere with. Also some believe Dahl himself introduced every episode. He stopped doing that many series ago, but bizarrely two episodes here, he resurfaces (marked **).

Season 7 - all:
The Dirty Detail - An unpleasant study of why a man is what he is with an unfortunate ending 6/10
The Best Chess Player in the World is a top notch episode and must be a top 5 TOTU. 10/10
Proxy - is an ok US episode a plot based on US law that would not work in this country 6/10
Have a Nice Death - Looks and sounds too American but has the wonderful Simon Cadell in it. One of the few episodes on VHS and early DVD. Representative but a little cheap looking 7.5/10
Number Eight - A very good American episode about a Hitchhiker. The episode is as good if not better than the cliffhanger. Has Brad Dourif (Star Trek, LOTR) playing a suitably unpleasant character 8/10
Last of the Midnight Gardeners - An interesting episode about flawed characters 7/10
The Gift of Beauty - Dated and weaker US episode with an ok ending 5/10
Sauce for the Goose - Appauling attempt at black comedy. The honeymoon sequence is dreadful television. 2/10
Wet Saturday - Unpleasant and awkward viewing. Reasonable plot but without a properly done ending 4/10
Bird of Prey - Average US episode. Typical awkwardness but very good ending 7/10
I like it Here in Wilmington - Touches of an early The Sopranos. Entertaining 8/10
Accidental Death - Too drawn out for the twist of irony, but good characters 7/10
The Reconciliation - Slow an unusual characterisation with a nice ending 7/10
The Open Window - Good drama but not a particularly good twist 7/10

Season 8- all 4 episodes
People Don't Do Such Things - Insightful episode 7/10
In the Cards** - Intersting desperate character study 7/10
Nothin' Short of Highway Robbery** - Showing the worst of humanity, good twist 7/10
Scrimshaw - Unusual and slow US episode with a very clever final twist 7.5/10
** Introduction by Roald Dahl

Season 9 - episode 1 only
Skeletons in the Cupboard - Superb episode, twist and excellent cast 10/10

The average of all the marks is 6.85/10. On the basis that five stars is 8.0+/10 then this falls into the four star category. It gets nearly 1/10 more than the previous season. With more episodes, there are more poor ones, but the standard of most of the US episodes is good, and the UK episodes are, on average to the standard of the early days.

In my opinion this buy was a waste of money. I bought this 7th series purely to add to my collection. However, after watching these episodes once each I don't feel I want to watch any of these episodes again. I was bored to be honest. The only 2 out of the whole 20 episodes I found worth watching were "Number Eight" about a hitch-hiker, which makes you believe a killer on the loose is somebody else, until the end of the episode and "In the cards" about a card reader who foresees a chance to get rich - with an unexpected twist of fate. Despite some familiar faces such as George Peppard (Hannibal in the 80s series The A Team), Jane Asher, Patrick Mower (Emmerdale), Charles Dance (from the 80s film the Golden Child with Eddie Murphy) and Zoe Wanamaker (from the tv series My Family) the series no where near lives up to the reputation of the earlier series. Save your money or buy others from the series.

Not actually Series 7 at all. It is Series 7, Series 8 and first episode of Series 9. In general, too many soft-focus American episodes that aren't really like typical TOTU episodes at all; they aren't bad but I'm a bit of a TOTU purist. There are one or two gems, and Skeleton in the Cupboard (first episode Series 9) makes me want to see the rest of Series 9. Get this 'Series 7' DVD if you're a true TOTU fan but in general I was a bit disappointed.