Wry
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| - | '''''Tales Of The Unexpected''''' is a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[television]] series originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by [[Anglia Television]] for [[ITV]]. | + | # Turned away, [[contorted]] (of the face or body). |
| - | + | # [[dryly|Dryly]] humorous; [[sardonic]] or [[ironic]]. | |
| - | The series was an [[anthology]] of different tales, initially based on short stories, collected in a [[Tales of the Unexpected (book)|book of the same title]], by the author [[Roald Dahl]]. The stories were sometimes [[sinister]], sometimes [[wry]]ly [[comedic]], and usually had a [[twist ending]]. | + | # [[twisted|Twisted]], [[bent]], [[crooked]]. |
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| - | The upbeat theme music for the series was written by the prolific film and television composer [[Ron Grainer]]. | + | |
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| - | ==Format== | + | |
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| - | The series originally adapted various stories from Dahl's anthologies such as ''[[Kiss Kiss (book)|Kiss Kiss]]'' and ''[[Someone Like You (collection)|Someone Like You]]''. Despite the low budget the series attracted guest stars of the highest calibre, such as [[Brian Blessed]], [[Anna Neagle]], [[Timothy West]], [[John Gielgud]], [[Elaine Stritch]], [[John Mills]], [[Julie Harris]], [[Wendy Hiller]], [[Joseph Cotten]], [[Derek Jacobi]], [[Janet Leigh]], [[Andrew Ray]] and [[Siobhán McKenna]]. | + | |
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| - | Dahl introduced all of his own stories himself, giving short monologues explaining what inspired him to write the story. | + | |
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| - | ==Later series== | + | |
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| - | Midway through the second series, episodes ceased to be written by Dahl and other authors' stories were adapted for all episodes following. The title reflected this when it became ''Tales of the Unexpected - Introduced by Roald Dahl''. From series three, Dahl no longer introduced the stories and the series continued this way until the end. | + | |
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| - | By 1988, critics felt that the quality of the series was starting to dip, and after the ninth series in 1988, the series was axed. | + | |
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| - | In the US, [[John Houseman]] succeeded Dahl as the opening narrator. | + | |
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| - | In 2006, [[ITV3]] began repeating the series. Series 1 to 8 have been released on DVD. | + | |
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| - | In 1980, 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 titled "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. | + | |
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| - | ==Way Out== | + | |
| - | Dahl had hosted a practically identical series for the American [[CBS]] network called ''[[Way Out]]'' in 1961, which was similar in concept and themes to ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' for [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054574/ 14 episodes] on Saturday nights and actually used some stories which would later be adapted for ''Tales of the Unexpected''. | + | |
| + | ====Derived terms==== | ||
| + | * [[wryly]] | ||
| + | * [[awry]] | ||
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- Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
- Dryly humorous; sardonic or ironic.
- Twisted, bent, crooked.
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Derived terms
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