Avis des utilisateurs

Written by Elizabeth Taylor, no, not that one. I think the real life Moors murderers might had been an inspiration for this story which was published in 1972.

Schoolgirl Sylvia, Taylor is a well brought up but surly child. She hates her piano lessons but her grandmother who she lives with insists on manners and does not quiet understand young people at her age.

However a strange old man is following her about and she has an uncomfortable bus journey on the way to her house. The strange man insists on talking to her and asking questions. All this with a backdrop of a missing schoolgirl.

When Sylvia kindly gets off the bus, a kindly old lady intervenes and takes her back to her cottage for a cup of tea and to ring the police.

There is a macabre fairy tale quality about this story. Red Riding Hood, Hansel & Gretel. No wonder in his introduction Roald Dahl wished he wrote this story.

Schoolgirls are going missing, and Police are out searching. Young Sylvia is living with her Grandmother who doesn't particularly want her living there, she's hating everything, including her awful music lessons. After the latest lesson she heads home, but is aware of a man following her. On a bus journey he strikes up an uncomfortable talk with her, but she's rescued by a sweet, well meaning woman........

I am stunned this was written by Elizabeth Taylor. An insanely nasty story, which to this day holds up well, the sheer spite and true terror has not diminished in what's now approaching forty years, still a hugely relevant warning. That twist at the end is delivered in such a bleak way, it's horrible.

Filmed in Cambridgeshire, it's a particularly picturesque location, at such odds with the bleakness of the story.

Wonderfully well acted, young Lorna Yabsley is excellent as young Sylvia, Alfred Burke is incredibly nasty as Herbert, Pat Keen gives a top notch performance, her performance in this such a contrast to the funny one she gave in Fawlty Towers (The Annivesary.)

Even now I watch this with a total feeling of unease, a lump in my throat, and a discomfort. Tough viewing, but it is just outstanding, arguably the best episode of Tales.

No other score then 10/10

There are very few TV programmes that are capable of chilling me to the bone. This is top of that very short list!

The episode begins with news footage showing police dragging a river, looking for the remains of a missing 12 year old girl.

The recently orphaned Sylvia lives a miserable life with her cold and uncaring Grandma. Forced to attend piano lessons each day adds to the misery of Sylvia's lonely life. Returning home from a lesson one day Sylvia become aware of a somewhat seedy man looking at her. She returns home and reports the matter to her Grandma, who instantly dismisses Sylvia's worries and sends her to her room.

After school one day Sylvia boards the bus home, only to be horrified when the same man sits opposite her. As he begins to chat to Sylvia it becomes obvious that she is highly uncomfortable. An elderly lady intervenes and tells the man the has seen 'your type' before and he should leave the child alone. Becoming ever more scared Sylvia gets off the bus, running to a nearby phone box to call her Grandma.

What follows took me totally by surprise. And what the final 'unexpected' twist came I can honestly say that the hairs on the back of my neck stood up! I actually had a lump in my throat at Sylvia's pitiful plight.

My teenage sons have since watched this episode and were equally stunned by it. So much so that my eldest son pointed out the story (by Elizabeth Taylor) to his English teacher who had the pupils read it. Roald Dahl states in his introduction that he wishes he'd written this episode because 'it's so neat, and nice and spooky'.

Quite simply this episode should be shown to children throughout schools. 31 years after it's making and it is still chilling viewing. 10 out of 10!

Brilliant story with a great twist at the end, suspected it near the end but still a shock when it came. The reviewer who said there was never a serial couple of killers obviously never heard of Fred and Rosemary West or Myra Hindley and Ian Brady.

This is, bar none the creepiest, most skin crawling episode I have seen. I wanted to literally vomit at the end. Wonderful!

Just switched over the TV on a rainy Sunday morning to watch this episode. I'm now unnerved having watched this. This really is a nightmare of an episode. Tales of the unexpected? How about tales from the darkest region of a twisted mind.

A schoolgirl orphan finds the heartless reprimands from the women in her life almost unbearable, but things take an even worse turn when a man in black starts to follow her ...

This comes with a lot of baggage - probably too much for such a simple story. The bullying has a touch of Dickens, with inadequate adults punching down on an innocent child, but there doesn't seem to be any point to the rival pupil or the vicar, and at no point do you sense any potential for change - it's relentless, apart from a well judged passage of relief before the climax.

The performances are good, especially once the bus conversation revs up. And there's an excellent visual with the cows grazing below the cathedral, and a nice touch with the third tea cup. But the direction and story telling are a bit lumpy, uninterested in contrasts, plus the music is daft.

Overall - disturbing, but could do with a remake.

Thought I'd seen all of the Tales of the Unexpected but must of missed this one.

This is a truly Horrific and thought provoking episode without actually seeing anything of course.

When you wonder that people like this actually exist and do this kind of thing .

Anyhow schoolgirls are going missing and this young girl who has been orphaned and quite Obviously hates her current life and piano lessons gets followed by a creepy old man on a bus And thinks she has her wits about her but obviously some people are much cleverer and will use that To there advantage.

Chilling episode and must be shown to children to show them the dangers .

My wife hated this episode but 5 years later we saw it again and she said it stool with her. She said it is beyond scary

That is probably a sign that it is incredible

The girl's journey is well acted and constructed and it is obvious the inspiration is the moors murders of the time. Not sure how controversial it was at the time but it must have raised some eyebrows about what is tasteful ot not

It is a hard watch at the end and it stays with you. My feelings years after are the same that it is a classic and well deserving of it's position at top of the list of TOFE episodes.....

You have been warned.

I think this episode seems to have about the highest rating here of any of the series, and I find that totally extraordinary. I have just finished watching it and it seems to me that it is in extremely poor taste. It's not that I think that paedophilia should not have any place in drama but it's rather that it needs to be treated seriously. This whole series is about stories with endings which, as the title suggests , are unexpected but usually in a quirky, and often slightly humorous sort of way. This , though is not in that vein at all. It should have come with a warning. It treats a grave subject as if it were light entertainment. I am sure it could not have been made in the present day and I'm truly surprised that it's being shown.

The police are dragging the marshes for a missing school-girl and a sinister man is approaching other young girls. Young Sylvia is on a bus on the way home from school when a friendly old man begins to talk to her.

An absolutely creepy tale that benefits from the isolated bleak atmosphere and a rather nasty character called Herbert, who is stalking a young girl played by Lorna Yabsley. She senses that he's following her and things get worse on the bus where he starts chatting with her, and even knows she has music lessons and what her name is. Pat Keen plays the lady who comes to her rescue from the sinister man. Of course, the ending as that twist in the tale, though I did guess what it was.