29 - Tales of the Unexpected - The Memory Man

Tales of the Unexpected was a British television series that aired between 1979 and 1988.

Each episode told a story, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, with an unexpected twist ending.

Every episode of series one, and a number of episodes in subsequent series were based on short stories by Roald Dahl, collected in the books Tales of the Unexpected, Kiss Kiss, and Someone Like You.

Made by Anglia Television for ITV with interior scenes recorded at their Norwich studios, whilst location filming mainly occurred across East Anglia. The iconic theme music for the series was written by composer Ron ( Doctor Who, The Prisoner, Steptoe and Son) Grainer.

Later episodes were set in different locations outside the United Kingdom, with many being made in the United States.

On Saturday night April 16, 1983, Just after TJ Hooker, on ITV, the episode we watched tonight was aired.

"The Memory Man"Directed by Peter Duffell based on a story by prolific writer by Henry Slesar (By whom the term "coffee break" was coined) and Dramatised by Denis Cannan

The episode featured

Colin Blakely (The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, A Man for All Seasons)

Judy Geeson (To Sir, with Love, 10 Rillington Place, a couple of Star Trek Voyager episodes and still working today) John Biggerstaff (not known for much)

John Judd (Scum , A Bridge Too Far and The Prince and the Pauper (1996). Incedendly He has been married to Helen Shapiro since 1988)

And, the reason we are doing this episode, the late great, Bernard Cribbins 

Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records "The Hole in the Ground" and "Right Said Fred" and for his appearances in comedy films including Two-Way Stretch and the Carry On series. His other screen roles include the astronaut Vincent Mountjoy in The Mouse on the Moon , Albert Perks in The Railway Children, the barman Felix Forsythe in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (featured previously on General Witchfinders) and the pretentious hotel guest Mr Hutchinson in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Hotel Inspectors".

On television, he was a regular and prolific reader for the BBC series Jackanory, clocking up 114 appearances between 1966 and 1991, he narrated the children's programme The Wombles and he played the title role in the CBeebies series Old Jack's Boat.

In the 1966 film Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., Cribbins portrayed Tom Campbell, a companion to Dr. Who.

41 years later, he began appearing in the revival series of Doctor Who as Wilfred Mott, the grandfather of regular companion Donna Noble and a temporary companion to the Tenth Doctor.

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