Ei või iial teada The Memory Man (1979–1988) Online

Perhaps due to the good casting of this episode - Colin Blakely and Bernard Cribbins - 'The Memory Man' leads you to the twist without you spotting it, and the ending is done very well.

Colin Mearns (Blakely) makes a living helping people to remember whatever they've forgotten, even putting cards in shop windows to get punters for his course. One pupil, Mr King (Bernard Cribbins) turns up one day, agitated and in need to remember the number of a locker at a railway station and the combination to open it. But he has a strange effect on Mearns - is he really who he says he is? Moving along at a good pace, this episode has some twists and turns, and a decent supporting performance from Judy Geeson as Mearns' on-off girlfriend.

It's perhaps amongst the best of the later series episodes and is well worth watching.

Colin Mearns is the memory man, operating a small scale business helping people to improve their own memories. After attempting some small scale advertising, Colin's girlfriend Mary informs him she's been offered a job over four hundred miles away in Scotland, she's leaving his employ and his love behind. As Mary leaves Colin is visited by a customer, Mr King, who asks Colin to help him remember one thing, and one thing only, a 4 digit code to open a locker, containing some valuables, Colin sees an opportunity, having recognised King to be safe breaker Charlie Krebs.

I am a big fan of this episode, it's beautifully written, intelligent and darker then the normal, there's so much going on in it, lots of different strands.

You would think with the combination of Colin Blakely and the magical Bernard Cribbins that this would have been a fun light hearted affair, far from it, it's quite serious, particularly the ending.

A cracking, memorable episode.

Tales of the Unexpected: The Memory Man starts as the memory man Colin Mearns (Colin Blakely) is told by his friend & secretary Mary (Judy Geeson) that she has accepted another job since his memory classes aren't exactly a roaring success & they're skint. Then a potential client shows up, calling himself Mr. King (Bernard Cribbins) he asks Mearns to help him remember a three number locker identification code & it's four number combination. Mearns agrees but he remember King's face & recalls that his real name is Charlie Krebs, a convicted safe cracker & thief who has obviously hidden £160,000 of stolen loot in the locker but now can't remember the combination. Mearns sense an opportunity to get rich quick & convince Mary to stay with him but it seems he forgot one vital piece of information...

Episode 2 from season 6 this Tales of the Unexpected story was the first of two episodes to be directed by Peter Duffell & originally aired here in the UK during April 1983, personally I thought The Memory Man was a pretty good tale with a twist. The story by Henry Slesar was dramatised by Denis Cannan & is a neat little story, it has that Roal Dahl quaintness about it & a good twist ending as well which wasn't always the case with latter episode of Tales of the Unexpected. The character's are few & somewhat larger than life but with such a short amount of time there's not much the makers could do. A perfectly entertaining story with a twist that passes 25 minutes harmlessly enough, not the show's best but far from it's worst.

This one hasn't dated too badly although the notion that you can put an advertisement in a shop window for 20p a week seems rather amusing these days. You know I'm just not sure who would actually think a course to help people remember things would be popular, I've never heard anything like it & I doubt anyone would pay for it. That's one of the reasons why The Memory Man is so quaint though. Again there's a good cast here, Judy Geeson makes her second Tales of the Unexpected appearance after Poison from season 2 & popular British actor Bernard Cribbins know for his various roles in a couple of the Carry On films puts in a over-the-top performance.

The Memory Man is a perfectly watchable & entertaining time waster, it won't change your life & you may need the help of Mearns if you want to remember anything about it after a week of watching it but is passes the time pleasantly enough.