Grim Tales is a British children's television program based on fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, featuring Rik Mayall as the storyteller dressed in his pyjamas and dressing gown. The twenty-two episodes were broadcast on ITV from 1989 to 1991. There was also a release on video and audio cassette, with the slightly different title Grimm Tales.
Synopsis
Mayall tells the tales in his own inimitable way from his armchair, designed by David Barrington Holt, complete with paws and ostrich legs. The set was designed by building designer Julian Cripps. The Stories are almost all interspersed with animation, often fairly abstract, and are directed by , with music by composed by Ged Haney & arranged by Clive Bell. The stories were adapted by Anne Caulfield and Anthony Horowitz.
Rumpelstiltskin Animation by Faulty Optics Theatre of Animation
: A miller boasts to a King that his daughter can spin straw into gold. The King promptly locks the daughter in a room full of straw, demanding she spin it all into gold or she'll lose her head. She bursts into tears, then a little green man appears saying he can spin it into gold in exchange for her necklace. He succeeds, but the King simply locks her in a bigger room, demanding the same. The little man appears again and spins the straw in exchange for the girl's ring. The King then repeats the deal with a still larger room, though this time if she succeeds he'll make her his wife. The little man reappears but the daughter has nothing left to give him. He then says he'll spin the straw in exchange for her next child, the daughter agrees, the straw is spun and she becomes Queen. Unfortunately, she has a daughter and the little green man appears demanding payment, she begs him not to, he compromises saying she can keep the baby if she guesses his name in three days. She tries dozens of wrong names-much to the little man's amusement. On the third day a soldier tells her she's seen a little green man dancing and singing a silly song about his name-Rumpelstiltskin. She gets the name right, the little man is so furious he stamps his foot so hard he can't get it off and pulls it off! She names the baby Phewww!
: Rik Mayall added a personal touch to this story by mentioning the names of his children in the list of the daughters guesses.
Sweet Porridge Animation by David Lodge Robert Clark Snapper
The Three Doctors Animation by Joan Ashworth Derek Mogford, 3 Peach Animation
: Three boastful Doctors stay at an inn, the innkeeper demands proof that they really are the cleverest Doctors in the world. They promptly cut off their own hand, heart and eyes, keeping them in a fridge, planning to use a special ointment to reattach them the next day. Unfortunately, the innkeeper's cat eats the organs. They are replaced by a thief's hand, pig's heart and the cat's eyes. After leaving the inn, one doctor finds himself pickpocketing, another wants to grunt and roll in mud, the third wants to eat mice and miaow. They all learn a bit of humility!
