User Reviews

Tales of the Unexpected: Would You Believe It? starts in Jordan where two archaeological treasure hunters Tanner (Richard Johnson) & Miller (Nigel Havers) uncover a sealed tomb in the desert inside which they find a beautiful statue of a woman possibly thousands of years old & totally unique. Tanner believes they have hit the jackpot, he thinks if they can smuggle the statue out of Jordan & into Israel they will be able to sell it for at least a six figure sum & thus be able to retire. However getting it out of Jordan proves harder than first thought...

This Tales of the Unexpected story was episode 1 from season 4 & originally aired here in the UK during April 1981, the first of two Tales of the Unexpected episodes to be directed by Barry Davis (the other being The Colonel's Lady (1988) from season nine) Would You Believe It? is actually a great little tale with a twist & a really strong start to season four. The story by Robert Edmond Alter was dramatised by Julian Bond & works surprisingly well on most levels. It's a hard story to categorise since it's not horror or crime themed but more of a engaging drama with a surprising, clever & effective twist ending. A lot of criticism can be levelled at Tales of the Unexpected in general for too many episodes being far too predictable but I don't think that's the case here, I didn't see the twist coming at all & for a change it's nicely ironic & clever & is very satisfying. Not the most action packed twenty five minutes you will ever have in front of your telly but the superb ending, much stronger than usual production values, a certain amount of plausibility & a solid script with believable character's make Would You Believe It? one of the better entries into this generally hit and miss series.

Shot entirely on film the Brisitsh seaside actually makes for a largely convincing Jordan, I am almost positive that the budget to film on location in Jordan just wasn't there so they used a sandy beach somewhere in England but it really does look good. I'm not sure about the road Tanner & miller travel along though, all it is are just rocks placed on the ground at regular intervals to denote the position of the road! I'm not being funny but what if someone came along & moved some of the rocks? What if there was a sandstorm & all the rocks were buried in sand? In fact you could move a few of the rocks around & make your own road! I would have thought this was down to budget reasons & the fact that British beaches don't have roads running through them! Would You Believe It? was the second of three Tales of the Unexpected appearances for Richard Johnson & here he looks exactly like he did in Lucio Fulci's infamous Zombi 2 (1979) AKA Zombie Flesh Eaters here in the UK right down to the thick stubble! Nigel Havers is a very well known actor here in the UK with literally dozens of credits & the two put in really good performances, how they makers of this series got such good casts I will never know.

Would You Believe It? is one of the better Tales of the Unexpected episodes since it has strong production values, a good cast & a really unexpected & clever twist ending. Well, thats what I think anyway.

This was a most intriguing episode to kick off the fourth season of "Tales of the Unexpected". I thought it a little too convenient that all the Arab workers on the Jordanian archaeological dig suddenly vanished in order for Tanner (Richard Johnson) and Miller (Nigel Havers) to do their thing, but it's something I could let slip for the sake of the story. When the pair of archaeologists bring up their once in a lifetime find into the open, the sky suddenly turns dark, portending a potentially devastating outcome. With Miller attempting to stick with his ethical principles against Tanner's greed, the duo find themselves at a loss as they approach the Israeli border, hoping to make a quick getaway to expected riches. You don't have to know the Bible story of Sodom and Gomorrah since it's explained well enough just before the story's final resolution. It felt like salt pouring into an open wound.

Nigel Havers was almost just a boy in this and both male leads were very good in their parts. I suspect that the desert scenes were filmed on an English beach and not at some exotic location. I did spot Christopher Blake of "That's My Boy" fame. I did figure out what was going to happen with the statue but It was unexpected, and this does not happen often as many tales are "Tales Of The Fairly Obvious", that the statue would have been worth a fortune due to the identity of the person. In addition to the unexpected actually being so it was better made than most episodes mainly due to there being few interior scenes which always look very much studio made with unconvincing lighting.