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Saturday, 10 October 2026

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

 I am watching The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Three Wives Too Many season 2 episode 12, on channel 36 Sky Arts , this from 1964 TV show has influence many others, Anglia Television, seem to have notice it more ? Roald Dahi Tales of the Unexpected did very well, but I see The Twillight Zone seem to name for that ?


The Alfred Hitchcock Hour did indeed lay the crucial structural groundwork for the television anthologies that followed it.
You are watching a fantastic classic—Season 2, Episode 12, "Three Wives Too Many"—which originally aired on 3 January 1964. Starring Teresa Wright as a woman systematically poisoning her bigamist husband's other wives, it perfectly embodies the dark, drawing-room irony that made Hitchcock’s television work so iconic. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
There is a distinct creative through-line connecting the shows you mentioned, driven by specific television networks and writers:

📺 The Anglia Television Connection

Your observation about Anglia Television is completely accurate. Anglia was the British ITV regional company that produced Tales of the Unexpected starting in 1979. Roald Dahl’s series took heavy inspiration from Hitchcock’s tone. In fact, Roald Dahl himself actually wrote several scripts for Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the late 1950s and early 1960s (including the famous television adaptation of his short story "Lamb to the Slaughter"). When Anglia Television backed Tales of the Unexpected, they essentially revived the exact format Hitchcock perfected: a charismatic host introducing a standalone, darkly comic story that concludes with a sharp, cynical twist ending. [6, 7, 8]

🌀 The Twilight Zone vs. Hitchcock

While The Twilight Zone (created by Rod Serling) is often the first name people think of when it comes to vintage anthology television, Alfred Hitchcock actually did it first. [6, 8]
The Twilight Zone gets a massive amount of historical credit because it introduced science fiction, fantasy, and the supernatural to the twist-ending format. Hitchcock’s universe, by contrast, stayed grounded in realistic human malice, murder, crime, and psychological suspense. [7, 9, 10, 11]
Both shows frequently crossed paths. They shared directors, writers, and actors, and they even occasionally adapted similar concepts. However, the cynical, macabre domestic murder plots you are watching right now on Sky Arts are the direct ancestors of what Anglia Television later produced with Roald Dahl. [5, 8, 12, 13, 14]
Are you trying to find other specific episodes from The Alfred Hitchcock Hour that feature similar domestic noir or poisoning plots? I can also pull up a list of Roald Dahl's specific episodes from that era if you want to see his direct contributions to Hitchcock's show.



What other TV show, seem to be like both, a weekly story ?

If you enjoy the weekly standalone suspense, moral dilemmas, and sharp twist endings of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Twilight Zone, and Tales of the Unexpected, several other classic and modern weekly anthologies share this exact DNA.
Here are the best TV shows that match that format, divided by their classic and modern eras:
  • [Thriller] (1960–1962): Hosted by horror icon Boris Karloff, this series is perhaps the closest cousin to Hitchcock's hour-long format. It shifted between grounded psychological crime stories and genuine gothic horror, featuring weekly standalone tales of murder, deception, and the macabre.
  • [The Outer Limits] (1963–1965): If The Twilight Zone leaned into fantasy, The Outer Limits went full science fiction. It was a weekly standalone show that focused heavily on monster-of-the-week sci-fi, but like Hitchcock, it used its speculative premises to explore dark human psychology.
  • [Night Gallery] (1969–1973): Rod Serling’s major follow-up to The Twilight Zone. Every week, Serling would introduce distinct, macabre stories by unveiling a painting in an eerie art gallery. It focused heavily on dark suspense, the supernatural, and psychological twists.
  • [Tales from the Darkside] (1983–1988): Created by horror master George A. Romero, this weekly anthology delivered bite-sized, half-hour stories featuring a distinct blend of sci-fi, horror, and pitch-black twist endings very reminiscent of Roald Dahl's style.
  • [Inside No. 9] (2014–2024): This brilliant British anthology is the truest modern successor to Tales of the Unexpected. Every single week features a completely new story, a new cast, and a new genre (ranging from domestic comedy to intense horror). The only constraints are that every story must take place inside a location numbered "9," and every episode concludes with a devastating or brilliant twist ending.
  • [Black Mirror] (2011–Present): The definitive modern anthology. It took the satirical, paranoid spirit of The Twilight Zone and updated it for the digital age, focusing on how technology brings out the darkest aspects of human nature in standalone weekly stories.
  • [Cabinet of Curiosities] (2022): Curated by Guillermo del Toro, this modern Netflix anthology functions exactly like Hitchcock's old show. Del Toro acts as the weekly host, stepping out of the shadows to introduce a standalone tale of terror or psychological suspense directed by a different filmmaker each week.
Would you prefer to explore a classic 1960s show that matches the exact black-and-white aesthetic you are watching now, or are you interested in a modern British series like Inside No. 9?


by Anglia TV that like Tales of the Unexpected , but before that ?

The direct predecessor made by Anglia Television that was exactly like Tales of the Unexpected—but came six years before it—is [Orson Welles' Great Mysteries]. [1, 2]
Broadcast on ITV between 1973 and 1974, this brilliant weekly standalone anthology layout was the blueprint for what Anglia later did with Roald Dahl. [1, 3]

🎬 The Format

Just like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Tales of the Unexpected, the series featured a legendary, larger-than-life figurehead to host the show. [3]
  • The Host: A towering Orson Welles introduced and closed each episode. He appeared on-screen in extreme close-up, silhouetted under low lighting, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a massive cloak while smoking a cigar. [1]
  • The Behind-the-Scenes: Welles actually wrote and directed all of his uncredited introductory segments himself. He even filmed them directly out of Anglia's studios right there in Norwich. [1, 4, 5]
  • The Music: The show featured an incredibly atmospheric, haunting theme tune composed by John Barry (famous for the James Bond themes). [3, 6]

📖 The Stories

While Tales of the Unexpected relied on Roald Dahl's contemporary dark fiction, [Orson Welles' Great Mysteries] leaned heavily on classic, gothic literary suspense. Each 25-minute weekly episode adapted masterclass macabre short stories from authors like Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, and O. Henry. [1, 3, 7]
The show featured top-tier guest stars of the era, many of whom also crossed over into Hitchcock or Dahl's universes, including Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Donald Pleasence, and Joan Collins. [8, 9]
Would you like to know more about specific episodes from the Orson Welles series, or perhaps where you can watch classic archive clips of his famous Norwich-filmed introductions?


The story of how Anglia Television secured Orson Welles to host a series from their studios in Norwich is one of the most famously bizarre cultural crossovers in British television history. [1]
It came down to a perfect storm of Welles being completely broke and Anglia Television having unusually powerful connections to Hollywood. [2, 3]

💸 1. Welles Was "Skint" and Funding a Film

By 1972, the legendary Citizen Kane director was an exile from the major Hollywood studios. He was living in Europe and self-funding his highly experimental documentary [F for Fake]. [4, 5, 6]
He had completely run out of money, was struggling to pay a massive IRS tax bill, and was aggressively hunting for quick, lucrative commercial "payday" gigs—voiceovers, liquor adverts, or presenting jobs—to keep his film alive. [2, 6]

🤝 2. The Hollywood Connection in Norfolk

While Anglia Television was a regional UK broadcaster based in Norfolk, it had serious international clout. One of the company's founders was Sir John Woolf, an influential, Oscar-winning British film producer (Oliver!, The African Queen). [2, 7, 8]
Woolf used his immense industry connections to pitch the anthology series. Anglia had already hired massive stars like David Niven and James Mason to narrate their acclaimed Survival nature documentaries, so they were not afraid to aim high. At the suggestion of Welles' attorney, Woolf successfully sealed a deal to fly the Hollywood icon to Norwich. [2, 7]

🎬 3. The Reality of the Norwich Shoot

Welles regarded the regional television gig as entirely beneath him, but the money was too good to refuse. He arrived at Anglia's headquarters in Norwich in 1972 to film all 26 of his introduction and conclusion segments. [3, 5, 9, 10]
The shoot itself became a piece of local folklore:
  • The "One-Take" Maestro: Welles wanted to get out of Norfolk as quickly as humanly possible. He read his scripts rapidly and refused to do second takes or retakes for the cameras. [1, 3, 9]
  • The Sudden Vanishing: Local rumors circulated for years that Welles "mysteriously disappeared" mid-shoot. In reality, retired Anglia staff noted that he simply got incredibly bored, finished his lines at lightning speed, and abruptly left the city the second he was done to get back to his project in Europe. [3, 6, 11]
The bizarre true story of his brief, cynical residency in Norfolk was so funny that Sky Arts actually turned it into a comedy-drama episode of their Urban Myths series titled ["Orson Welles in Norwich"]. It starred Robbie Coltrane as a disgruntled Welles wandering around East Anglia. [6, 9]
Since you are watching Sky Arts on channel 36 right now, that Robbie Coltrane episode might actually be available on their on-demand player! Would you like me to find out how you can watch that specific dramatization of his time in Norwich?


Seem to remember, he needed money to do the projects he want to do, so needed to do adverts for money side, to fund them, and this

Your memory is completely spot on! That is exactly how Orson Welles operated during the later decades of his career. [1]
Because Hollywood studios refused to fund his avant-garde movie ideas, Welles became a fiercely independent filmmaker. To pay his crews, buy film stock, and keep his passion projects alive, he openly treated the advertising world as his personal "piggy bank". [1, 2]
The Anglia Television job in Norwich was just one slice of a massive, legendary era of Welles taking random commercial "payday" gigs: [3]

🫛 1. The Notorious "Frozen Peas" Adverts

Just a few years before his trip to Norwich, Welles recorded voiceovers for British television advertising Findus Frozen Peas and fish fingers. The behind-the-scenes recording session became legendary because Welles got into a furious, explosive argument with the ad director over the grammar of the script. The leaked audio tape of him shouting about the script lines became one of the most famous viral blooper reels in media history. [4, 5, 6]

🍷 2. "We Will Sell No Wine Before Its Time"

His most famous commercial hustle was as the television frontman for Paul Masson Wines. He earned an astronomical $500,000 a year (plus residuals) just to sit at a table, swirl a glass of cheap wine, and deliver his iconic catchphrase. Outtakes from these shoots famously show him so heavily intoxicated that he could barely slurringly deliver his lines, yet the ads successfully increased the company's wine sales by 30%. [7, 8, 9]

🐶 3. Dog Food and Photocopying

Welles was entirely unapologetic about it. He once famously turned down an invitation to a dinner party hosted by the author Gore Vidal because he had a early commercial shoot the next morning. When asked what he was selling, Welles dryly replied: "Dog food, I think it is this time. No, I do not eat from the can on camera, but I celebrate the contents." He also did ads for everything from Nashua Photocopiers to Carlsberg Beer. [1, 10, 11]
Every single penny from these voiceovers, the Norwich Great Mysteries series, and the wine adverts went straight into funding his famously unfinished films, such as [The Other Side of the Wind] and [F for Fake]. He acted as a commercial showman purely so he could maintain absolute creative freedom as a film director. [1, 2, 3]
It's amazing how his commercial hustle connects back to what you're watching. Since you're currently tuned into Sky Arts, would you like to know if that Robbie Coltrane dramatisation of his chaotic time filming in Norwich is available to watch next?


You can watch it right now via your Sky box or app! The Robbie Coltrane dramatisation is Season 4, Episode 4 of Urban Myths, titled "Orson Welles in Norwich". [1]
Because you are already tuned into Sky Arts, you can easily find it on-demand by pressing home on your remote and searching for "Urban Myths". [2, 3]

What to Expect:

  • The Plot: Set in 1972, the episode hilariously focuses on a completely "skint" Welles who reluctantly takes the Anglia Television gig to save his documentary F for Fake. [1, 4]
  • The Chaos: Pun-titled "F for Fakenham" behind the scenes, the story captures his total boredom with regional television, his refusal to do retakes, and a completely fabricated, tongue-in-cheek plotline where he forms a bond with an ambitious local journalist (played by Derry Girls star Saoirse-Monica Jackson) before abruptly "going missing". [4, 5, 6]
  • The Cast: Alongside Robbie Coltrane's magnificent, rumbling performance as Welles, the episode features Craig Ferguson playing his exasperated agent. [4, 5]
If you are streaming on a mobile device or a laptop instead of your main box, you can watch it instantly on the official Sky Urban Myths Page or stream it via the NOW TV Urban Myths Hub. It has a brisk 25-minute runtime—making it the perfect double-bill pairing with your episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour! [1]
Once you've had a chance to look it up or watch it, let me know:
  • Would you like me to track down the original 1970s archive clips of the real Orson Welles hosting the Anglia mysteries?
  • Are you interested in finding more British TV lore from that classic Anglia Television era?


I would love to! Seeing the real archival footage puts everything we just talked about into context.
Several full 1973 episodes of Orson Welles' Great Mysteries are preserved by archivists online, letting you see exactly how those hurried filming sessions in Norwich turned out.
Here is where you can look them up to watch the real thing:

📺 The Archive Clips & Full Episodes

🎬 What to look out for when you watch:

Pay close attention to Welles' actual face during the host segments. Because he refused to do retakes for Anglia Television, the directors had to hide his lack of eye contact and any potential script-reading by casting his face in extreme close-up and intense, low-key shadow. It was a brilliant cinematic trick to turn a rushed Hollywood actor into a genuinely terrifying, eerie narrator! [3, 4]
When you have a look at the archive clips, let me know:
  • Do you want to check out what other famous actors showed up in these episodes (like Peter Cushing or Michael Gambon)?
  • Would you like me to map out other classic TV shows shot right there in East Anglia?


Because Anglia Television co-produced Orson Welles' Great Mysteries with an eye on the American television market, they crammed the 26 episodes full of incredible talent. They blended iconic British heavyweights with major Hollywood stars who happened to be working in Europe. [1, 2, 3]
The guest lists for these episodes read like a who's-who of vintage cult television, horror, and prestige drama:

🎭 The Horror Royalty & Future Legends

  • Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee: The two titans of Hammer Horror both starred in separate episodes. Christopher Lee appeared in an adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Leather Funnel, while Cushing lent his signature eerie gravitas to a separate standalone mystery. [3, 4, 5, 6]
  • Michael Gambon: Long before he was Albus Dumbledore or starring in The Singing Detective, a young Michael Gambon appeared in the series. This was early in his career, when he was still making a massive name for himself on the London stage. [2, 3, 5]
  • Donald Pleasence: Famous for Halloween and playing the Bond villain Blofeld, he brought his unmatched, unsettling intensity to the episode "Cawser". [6, 7]

🎬 Hollywood Stars & British Icons

  • Joan Collins: She starred in the episode "The Dinner Party" as Jane Blake, a woman whose behavior threatens to ruin her accountant husband’s chances at a massive corporate board promotion.
  • Ian Holm: Decades before playing Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings, the legendary stage and screen actor anchored one of the show's suspenseful psychological pieces.
  • Dean Stockwell & Eli Wallach: To appeal to American audiences, Anglia brought in major US talent. Stockwell (Quantum Leap) and Wallach (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) both flew in to star in separate grifter and crime stories.
  • Patrick Macnee: Fresh off his global success playing the umbrella-wielding secret agent John Steed in The Avengers, Macnee brought a touch of classic British sophistication to the anthology. [2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9]

✍️ The "Quatermass" Connection

Anglia didn't just hire famous actors; they also hired legendary writers. They managed to get Nigel Kneale—the brilliant mastermind behind the terrifying Quatermass sci-fi series and the legendary ITV ghost story The Stone Tape—to write a completely original supernatural script specifically for the show. [6]
It is an incredible lineup for a show filmed right in Norfolk! If you'd like to keep exploring, let me know if you want to look at:
  • The specific ghost and horror writers (like Charles Dickens or Wilkie Collins) that Welles adapted for these episodes.
  • Other classic suspense or sci-fi shows shot in the East of England.
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Location: 1 Paradise Pl, Norwich NR1 1QY, UK

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