Tales of the Unexpected (TV Series) The Mugger (1984) User Reviews

It's a good watch, albeit a recycled story.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 21 February 2016]

Gerald Overton returns home victorious, having just become a Minister, he gives a brief interview with an attractive journalist and the pair exchange lingering glances. Gerald explains his priorities are law and order, power back to the ordinary man. Gerald is receiving poison pen letters in the post, he sets off for an important function walking across a bleak park, at the party he flirts with the seductive Mary Tregallas. He walks the same bleak journey home, and is knocked by a man, he spots his wallet missing

There is a lot of hate for this episode it seems, but it is better then most of the episodes in this disappointing seventh series, at least it boasts some quality production, great film work and a solid performance by Roy Marsden, always a charismatic actor.

I think this episode does unnerve the viewer a little bit, you jump once or twice watching it.

Doesn't deserve the negative reviews. I know it's not the most original story, but it is well made.

6/10

The very model of a Conservative Government minister

[safenoe · 7/10 · 15 November 2016]

This 1984 episode of Tales of the Unexpected was screened at the electoral peak of the Thatcher Government, with a landslide victory over Michael Foot's Labour in 1983.

The central figure is a government minister Gerald Overton, probably in the Thatcher Government, in a mugging gone wrong one could say. If this episode was rebooted you can imagine the "law and order element" with racial profiling (say the mugger being a minority if you know what I mean). I feel sorry for not only Gerald, but also his SPAD (special adviser) whose job would be in jeopardy as a result of Overton being too zealous.

Come off it!

[mickcsavage · 6/10 · 24 July 2022]

It's a very unusual man who has a night out at some hideously posh dinner-party, refuses the come-on of a high class tart, then walks home (getting mugged on the way) without realising he doesn't have his wallet on him, but - I guess - just about forgivable for the sake of the story.

But when we're invited to believe in a world where the Met Police are so efficient and competent, well, then we know we've just entered the realms of pure fantasy!

Interesting point made about the dangers of assumption, I suppose, but a fairly long-winded and irrelevant way of making it.

"I don't think I would walk through the park at night."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 26 January 2022]

Having just attained a ministerial post on a strict platform of law and order, Gerald Overton (Roy Marsden) finds himself on the wrong side of a mugging in more ways than one. Walking late night through a park, he has a brief encounter with someone walking the opposite way, and in the confusion, finds that he no longer has his wallet. Taking chase, he tackles the man (Mark Lewis) and gets back a wallet that will eventually be his undoing. The story is simple enough, so simple that it would have taken only fifteen minutes or so to dramatize, so it was padded out with a dinner party at which an attractive woman (Kate Harper) puts a strong move on Overton, only to get the brush off due to his sense of morality and loyalty to his wife. That didn't help in the end, as the police come calling, right after Mrs. Overton (Amanda Boxer) surprises her husband with the wallet that fell into their child's bed just before he left for the evening. Facing one of those 'you'll never believe it' situations, the law and order minister is about to experience the kind of punishment his new position would impose.

Poor start, poor middle but a decent twist ending.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 10 November 2007]

Tales of the Unexpected: The Mugger starts as new Government Minister Gerald Overton (Roy Marsden) heads for a party, there various guests ask him about his radical views on law & order. Gerald insists he is right & will give the power back to the innocent person, while walking back home through a dark London park a man (Mark Lewis) stumbles into him & then stumbles off. Gerald checks his pockets & realises his wallet is missing, Gerald chases the man, wrestles him to the ground & forcibly takes his wallet back. Highly satisfied with himself & thinking he has thwarted a mugger Gerald walks home where his wife Jennifer (Amanda Boxer) tells him that she has found his wallet in their sons bedroom & he must have dropped it before he went out, then there's a knock at the door from the police who inform Gerald that they have had a report of a vicious mugging & he fits the description...

Episode 14 from season 7 this Tales of the Unexpected story was originally aired here in the UK during October 1984 & was the penultimate episode of season 7, the fifth of five Tales of the Unexpected episodes to be directed by Peter Hammond this has a nice enough twist at the end but it's just not much fun getting to it. From an idea by Miriam Bienstock this was dramatised by Robin Chapman & has a moral message about politicians, crime, mistaken identity, taking the law into your own hands, not jumping to conclusions & the danger of media stereotypes. While this attempt at trying to say something meaningful is commendable it's just not very good, it's not very entertaining, there's no fun here & I'm struggling to see who The Mugger is supposed to appeal too. The twist ending is mildly effective & works quite well but it's difficult to categorise The Mugger, it's not a crime drama, it's not a thriller & it's not horror either, it's just some unconnected ideas & themes strung together to make an entirely forgettable 25 minutes which isn't long enough to develop the ideas that it tries to get across.

This one was shot entirely on film, probably 16mm so at least it looks quite nice & cinematic if nothing else. However like most Tales of the Unexpected episodes there's no style & it's utterly bland & dull. Roy Marsden is the only name actor in this one.

The Mugger is further proof that the later seasons of Tales of the Unexpected were drastically inferior to the earlier ones, this is just poor & I can't really see who it's meant to appeal to or who would enjoy it. Apart from a decent ending which can't save it this is forgettable stuff.

Tales of the totally expected

[tasscif · 1/10 · 28 February 2010]

This is almost a carbon copy of a scene from Neil Simons Prisoner of Second Avenue where the main character mugs a stranger after mistakingly thinking he has been mugged. This is a clear case of plagiarism and I am sure that if Niel Simon ever sees this episode he will sue the producers. To steal another's story is against the law. Although there are some differences such as in this story the main character is English and a politician who is passionate about law and order whilst "prisoner" is not and of course Simon,s play concerns other things the fact still remains that the plot of this programme has been clearly lifted from Simon,s play.

Excellent fable of the biter, bit

[michael-1151 · 8/10 · 25 August 2023]

Having been promoted to senior ministerial office responsible for law and order, Gerald Overton (masterfully played by Roy Marsden) is feeling pretty chipper. There is a strong hint he is something of a ladies man, as he arrives outside his house, he exchanges a meaningful, suggestive glance with a young, attractive television journalist, played by Amanda Goodman.

Upon greeting his wife, we discover amongst the congratulatory telegrams there are poison pen letters, understandably, his wife is nervous about his new, prominent position.

Playing with his young son at bedtime before going alone to a posh dinner party, something happens that provides the novel twist at the end, which I, for one, didn't see coming.

He walks across the park to the dinner party in his dinner suit (tuxedo, to Americans) which with its' poor lighting (the park, not the suit) and elements of menace, with trees rustling and strange joggers running past, is perhaps, somewhat risky, he nevertheless, makes it to the dinner.

The beautiful candles and table settings befit a high-flying minister, one vampish guest, makes it clear he is guaranteed more than her vote. It's, perhaps, a little cliched for a handkerchief drop, picked up by Overton, to convey this and BCU's (Big Close Ups) of their eyes, to confirm it.

Mary Tregallas (Kate Harper) offers him a lift and stops the car with a view to establishing an intimate but commitment-free relationship, which he rather bravely rejects, leaving her car and walking back across the park.

Such morality was missing from the Tory Government of the time, with more indiscreet bed-hopping than in the average up-market brothel.

The critical scene - Overton bumping into a drunk who appears to mug him and steal his wallet, followed by the brave law and order minister chasing him, apparently recovering the wallet and giving him a damned good thrashing, leads to the subsequent denouement back at his house - when police arrive and all is not what it originally seemed.

This is a well-directed episode (by Peter Hammond) entirely filmed and with good, perceptive morals: don't judge a book by its cover, don't tempt fate. I might also add, snogging a Tory minister is not a great idea - this was the era of 'kiss and tell', rather different from William Tell, not something that would ever be turned into an overture, other than one of sleaze.

A rather good half hours' or so's viewing, which has aged well.