Note: This program appears to be lost and no recordings exist.
Description
CBS Television Workshop was an American anthology series which aired on CBS from January to April 1952. The series is noted for featuring early television appearances of several well known actors including Audrey Hepburn, James Dean and Grace Kelly.
Note: The program was a live television series, but most episodes were recorded on kinescope. However, only about 90 of the 260 episodes survive today. Unfortunately the Roald Dahl episode “Poison” appears to have been lost.
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Description
Suspense was an American television anthology series that ran on CBS Television from 1949 to 1954. It was adapted from the radio program of the same name which ran from 1942 to 1962. Like many early television programs, the show was broadcast live from New York City. It was sponsored by the Auto-Lite corporation, and each episode was introduced by host Rex Marshall, who promoted Auto-Lite spark plugs, car batteries, headlights, and other car parts.
Part 4: “The Pig, the Bullocks, the Sheep, the Pony and the Nanny-goat”
Part 5: “Marvellous Medicine Nos Two, Three and Four”
Trivia:
After the initial airing, the BBC was inundated with mail claiming both Rik’s presentation and the story were dangerous and offensive. It remains a highlight for many viewers.
Jackanory was a long-running BBC children’s television series that was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the first story was the fairy-tale “Cap-o’-Rushes” read by Lee Montague. Jackanory continued to be broadcast until 1996, with around 3,500 episodes in its 30-year run.
What Dahl Did: hosted program during first two seasons and provided his short stories for adaptation
Please note: While there are 112 episodes of this program, Dahl was only involved with 33 of them as a writer or host. Only those episodes are detailed on this site.
A British anthology series featuring tales of horror, mystery and suspense. Most episodes featured a twist ending, and many of them were based on short stories by well-known writer Roald Dahl, who also served as the show’s host during its first two seasons.
Dahl’s First Introduction:
Dahl’s introductory words to “Man From the South”, which was the first episode:
“I ought to warn you, if you haven’t read any of my stories, that you may be a little disturbed by some of the things that happen in them. When I’m writing a short story, I’m haunted by the thought that I’ve got to hold the reader’s attention for literally every second, otherwise I’m dead. The one you’re going to see now is the first of a series based on stories that have taken me thirty-five years to write. I find them difficult to do well, so I work slowly. About two a year. This one was filmed in its real setting: Jamaica. I hope you like it.”
Reviews
“Fingering” by Richard Ingrams from the April 7, 1979 issue of The Spectator (UK) (read online)
Note: this review accuses BBC presenter Ronald Harwood of providing favourable reviews and promotion for the program, which he was involved in adapting. This resulted in letters to the editor, a retraction (of sorts) by Ingrams, and a subsequent rebuttal by a BBC producer.
Note: This album consists of many selections from composter Ron Grainer’s work, but the only track from Tales of the Unexpected is the theme!
Grainer notes: “The theme for the series is a cheekily innocent counterpoint to Roald’s wicked sense of humour.”
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Terry Fisk, a blogger and Grainer aficionado, emailed me and mentioned that other Grainer fans have been trying for years to get a full Tales soundtrack released. He also mentioned an intriguing bit of trivia:
Earlier this year an unconfirmed research tipoff said that Ron Grainer wrote a musical with Ned Sherrin and Caryl Brahms based on the “Kiss Kiss” book around 1965 but eventually abandoned it and recycled the melodies for other projects like “Comes The Time” their 1966 Eurovision song entry sung by Kenneth McKeller.
This series was hosted by noted filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and welcomed viewers to stories of terror, horror, suspense and twisted endings. The stories would often appear to end with evil triumphant – in strict violation of the television code of ethics. This situation was always resolved following the last commercial, when Hitchcock would return to explain what silly mistake or chance occurrence had finally done the villain in. When the show was expanded to an hour in the fall of 1962, the title was changed to The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
Several of Roald Dahl’s stories were adapted for this program, many directed by Hitchcock himself. “Lamb to the Slaughter” is undoubtedly the most famous and well-remembered.
Thirty-Minute Theatre was an anthology drama series of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973. It became a sort of a training ground for new writers on account of its short running length, and therefore it attracted many writers who later became well known.
