"Tales of the Unexpected" Royal Jelly (1980)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Herbert Wise

Writers:

Roald Dahl (writer)
Robin Chapman (dramatisation)

TV Series:

"Tales of the Unexpected" (1979)

Original Air Date:

1 March 1980 (Season 2, Episode 1)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Anthology | Supernatural Power | Famous Opening Theme | Cult TV

Cast

Roald Dahl	...	Himself - Introduced by
Timothy West	...	Albert Taylor
Susan George	...	Mabel Taylor
Andrew Ray	...	Percy Hayward

"What he doesn't know about bees, believe me, isn't worth knowing." Creepy Tales of the Unexpected episode.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Tales of the Unexpected: Royal Jelly is set on beekeeper Albert Taylor's (Timothy West) farm where he has 84 bee hives, he lives there with his wife Mable (Susan George) & their baby daughter Victoria. However all is not well as baby Victoria is seriously underweight & refuses to either drink or eat properly, Mable is beside herself with worry. Albert the bee loving cabbage realises that he may have the answer right under his nose & when bees want to fatten their larvae up they feed them royal jelly & what's good enough for the common bee & their young is good enough for Albert & his...

This Tales of the Unexpected story was episode 1 from season 2 that aired here in the UK during March 1980, directed by Herbert Wise this is quite a twisted little tale with a sting (sorry) at the end! The script by Robin Chapman was based on a story by Roald Dahl who explains it's origins in the stories introduction, he says he came up with the idea for a story about royal jelly after seeing a jar of the stuff in a New York shop window in 1959 & that after he had written the story Dick Van Dyke sent him some of it! Fact is indeed sometimes stranger than fiction... Anyway this one has a good central idea & I particularly liked the twist ending although since it was made for British TV it's done in the least graphic way possible, but the cop-out freeze frame works quite well. This only has two character's in it & to be honest the writing isn't the best as they never convinced as a couple & the dialogue is stiff & unnatural but the script serves it's purpose with a focused build up to a slightly perverse ending, oh & it's good fast paced fun too at only 25 minutes in length.

A lot of British TV is pretty low budget & this was on before my time really so I don't know how popular it was although having said that it ran for 9 seasons. The budget was probably still low & it sort of shows with creaky sets & basic production values, they have dated quite badly too with some horrendous fashions & decor I mean just check that TV set out! The acting wasn't great here, George is all hysterics although the buzzing sound Albert kept making seemed annoying & insignificant at first it actually turns out to be pretty creepy when the twist is revealed.

Royal Jelly as a one off horror themed TV episode is pretty damned good & well worth a watch if you can find yourself a copy, which probably isn't easy but life is full of challenges isn't it?