User Reviews

Tales of the Unexpected: Wink Three Times starts 'Ten Years Ago' where the shy, but rich, Barbara Colport (Liza Goddard) has been talked into hiring a gigolo by her friend Holly (Caroline Goodall). Barbara hires a hotel room & her male 'friend' is meant to join her at some point later. Meanwhile a nerdy solicitor named Jeremy Tyler (Peter Davison) meets up with an old school friend Giles Wimbourne (Andrew Bicknell) who plays a silly practical joke on him, however what Giles, Jeremy & Barbara don't realise at this point is that the joke will have unexpected consequences...

This Tales of the Unexpected story was episode 6 from season 9 & originally aired here in the UK during April 1988, the second of three Tales of the Unexpected episodes to be directed by Paul Annett this is quite good but not for the reasons you may expect. The story by John Charters was dramatised by Paul Ableman & comes across more like a comedy farce where a series of unlikely events conspire to produce some farcical outcome, certainly when Peter Davison's character ended up in bed with a male prostitute it felt like it! As a Tales of the Unexpected episode I'm not sure who it's meant to appeal to & it's maybe another reason why the show never made it past season 9 but as a stand alone one off quirky little feel good tale it's not to bad & I actually quite liked it & found it somewhat amusing as well.

I'm pretty sure this didn't appeal to regular Tales of the Unexpected watchers as there's no crime element, it's not a thriller, there's no horror or supernatural elements either & it's not exciting but it's a neat enough little short story in it's own right. It's amazing who turns up in these things, here we have ex Doctor Who Peter Davison, TV personality & actress Liza Goddard along with the national institution that is Peter Baldwin better know to millions of UK TV viewers as Derek Wilton from Coronation Street!

Wink Three Times is an watchable 25 minute piece of nonsense that is harmless enough if taken on it's own merits, however as a Tales of the Unexpected episode it's not that great.

One of the most upbeat and light hearted episodes of Tales of the Unexpected, and in fact I always thought the series was an inspiration for Inside No. 9. And yes, watching this episode reminded me of the Inside No. Episode Zanzibar, so I wonder if the inspiration was there for sure.