''Strange Experiences'' is a British

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

, horror TV series starring Peter Williams as a storyteller who talks about the strange things that have happened during his life. The series aired on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

from 24 September 1955 to 15 June 1962. The series also included performances from

Peter Sallis Peter John Sallis (1 February 1921 – 2 June 2017) was an English actor. He was the original voice of Wallace in the Academy Award-winning '' Wallace & Gromit'' films and played Norman "Cleggy" Clegg in ''Last of the Summer Wine'' from its 1 ...

Michael Shepley Arthur Michael Shepley-Smith (29 September 1907 – 28 September 1961), known professionally as Michael Shepley, was a British actor, appearing in theatre, film and some television between 1929 and 1961. He was born in Plymouth, Devon. Shepl ...

Theodore Bikel Theodore Meir Bikel ( ; May 2, 1924 – July 21, 2015) was an Austrian-American actor, singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist. He made his stage debut in '' Tevye the Milkman'' in Mandatory Palestine, where he lived as ...

, John Wood,

Elspet Gray Elspet Jean Gray, Baroness Rix (née Gray; 12 April 1929 – 18 February 2013) was a Scottish actress, who first became known for her partnership with her husband, Brian Rix, and later was cast in many television roles in the 1970s and 1980s. ...

Hugh Latimer Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the ...

, Josephine Griffin,

Arthur Howard Arthur Howard (born Arthur John Steiner; 18 January 1910 – 18 June 1995) was an English stage, film and television actor. Life and career Born in Camberwell, London, Howard was the younger son of Lilian (née Blumberg) and Ferdinand "Frank" ...

, and Ian Whittaker.

Plot

A storyteller named Peter talks about the strange events that have happened during his daily life routine such as uncanny, supernatural or otherwise "strange" goings-on happening across every place he has visited in England.

Cast

* Peter Williams as Peter the Storyteller *

as Squishy Taylor, Chippy Criggs, Poor Man *

as Man * John Wood as Man *

as Querella * Josephine Griffin as Women *

as Man * Ian Whittaker as Dora's Son *Anna Turner as Women * Frederick Treves as Man * Michael Balfour as Man *

David Oxley David Oxley (7 November 1920 – 30 October 1985) was an English actor who made many film, television and stage appearances over a 28-year period. He is best known for portraying Gilles de Rais in '' Saint Joan'' (1957), Sir Hugo Baskerville in ...

as Man

Episodes

The series ran for a total of 29 episodes that aired on

Associated Television ATV Network Limited, originally Associated TeleVision (ATV), was a British broadcaster, part of the ITV (TV network), ITV (Independent Television) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on week ...

from 24 September 1955 to 15 June 1962. All the episodes of this series survive. 22 of the episodes are available to watch at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

and additionally selected episodes are available to view on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Production

Before the series premiered two of the episodes from the series were shown in the 1955 TV movie/TV play ''Fcb TV Show No.1''. The episodes "Safe and Sound" and "The Knife Thrower" were shown in the TV movie/TV play to give some idea of how an evening's viewing might appear on the forthcoming I.T.A. channel in London. Both of the episodes where eventually given a separate release on television by themselves for the series ''Strange Experiences''.

Critic reviews

The series itself received very positive ratings and reviews from critics with one critic calling it a good but strange series.

DVD release

Two of the episodes have been released on DVD or Blu Ray: "Grandpa's Portrait" and "Old Silas" were included on a

DVD and Blu Ray titled ''Short Sharp Shocks Volume 3'' which was released on 9 October 2023.

References

{{reflist

External links

''Strange Experiences''
at

IMDB IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

Strange Experiences
at

Television shows produced by Associated Television (ATV) 1955 British television series debuts 1962 British television series endings British fantasy television series Dark fantasy television series British horror fiction television series 1950s horror television series 1960s horror television series