User Reviews

Tales of the Unexpected: Mr Botibol's First Love starts as William Botibol (Jack Weston) sells his failing company which makes him rich, well by 1980 standards anyway. He has always considered himself a loser & intends to use the money to make a success of himself & for some reason buys a piano & lots of classical music for reasons I don't get...

Episode 13 from season 2 this Tales of the Unexpected story was the second of eleven episodes from the show directed by John Gorrie & is quite possibly the worst Tales of the Unexpected episode I have had the misfortune to see. The story by Roald Dahl was dramatised by Kevin Goldstein-Jackson & is total crap, I'm sorry but there's no story here, there's no twist, there's nothing shocking or exciting or entertaining & it's an episode I just don't get & quite frankly I don't want to get it because it would still be a boring piece of crap. This is horrible & I can't quite believe this was based on a Dahl story because his stories are usually so good, oh well I supposed we all have bad days. This is total rubbish & a complete & utter bore from start to finish, the way William Botibol introduces himself by saying 'B is for Brooklyn, O is for Oliver... etc.' is so annoying & irritating it's untrue.

This hasn't dated that well, £200,000 isn't going to make anyone rich in the UK these days & you certainly wouldn't be able to afford a butler! The late Jake Weston not only makes his second appearance in Tales of the Unexpected after A Dip in the Pool from season 1 he plays exactly the same character who supposedly died at the end of that episode, as far as I know this is the only time the same character appears in two different episodes & it's stupid.

Mr Botibol's First Love is crap, even the introduction by Dahl is crap & forgettable as he doesn't say anything about the story on which it's based. I'm sorry but this is a waste of 25 minutes of anyones time, very poor & not what one expects from the show.

This is an odd entry for "Tales of the Unexpected", in as much as the character William Botibol (Jack Weston) had already appeared in a Season One episode titled 'A Dip in the Pool', spelling out his name to new acquaintances the way he did here, and also with a wife as part of his back story. To further the matter, his action at the end of that episode spelled his doom, so to resurrect him here was a puzzling decision. It's not like the lead character couldn't have had a different name, the story would have worked just fine.

Anyway, since we have Weston's Botibol to contend with here, I'll get on with it. The other reviews I've read on this board seem to be of two diametrically opposed opinions. I can't side with the ones that claim it's a worthless story, there's too much poignancy in the way Botibol approaches the sale of his business and laments over his life of failure. For someone like him, no amount of persuasion would be enough to convince him that he must have had some successes in life. He had the potential of a wonderful relationship within his grasp and squandered it, all because of a self centered notion that Irene Wrzaszcyzk (Anna Massey) was trying to put one over on him. Trying to understand how even her minimal talent at the piano was perceived by Botibol to be a threat is something I won't try to do since the idea is foreign to me. You would think he'd be ecstatic that he could now 'conduct' a real live person instead of a musical recording; you get the sense that Irene might have been willing to go along with it since she agreed to his initial suggestion in the first place.

What really got me though was Irene's last name. I always thought Carl Yastrzemski was difficult enough to pronounce, but 'Wrzaszcyzk'? I'm Polish and I'm still puzzled by it.

This strikes me as a complete waste of time. An odd bloke with no business acumen, is told as such by his solicitor, as he inherits what is left of his father's company. (£200,000 to be precise and with this he buys a large house and employs a butler - as other reviewer, Paul Andrews says, I wouldn't, even in 1980, put credence on having much more left to live on after wasting it this way - can't imagine the 'rock and roll' is going to help him).

He has some strange urge to pretend to be a concert composer/conductor (Oh, whatever!). He bumps into Anna Massey, who can amazingly play music - a bit! He stages a mock concert in front of her at his house, by playing taped music. He gets the strop with her for some reason and orders her out of it. And that's it! Particularly awful as the write-up on my TV channel says something like: 'Mr Botibol likes his music, but there's a sinister motive'. It was about as sinister as a rubber duck. Forget what other reviewers have said about a guy who dreams, and trying not to want 'want' the story to be - it wouldn't cut any mustard as an entertaining Tales of the Unexpected'. No twist, no point, no sense to it. Anglia TV who commissioned the story and the rest of the series must have owed Roald Dahl a favour, that's all I can say!

Mr Botibol sells Mr Clements his businesses, becoming a very wealthy man, humble, but tragic, believing himself to be a huge failure, the most unsuccessful man in the world. Mr Botibol is a big fan of Classical music, sadly possessing no musical talent himself, he has the idea of setting up a Concert hall in his house, with him as Maestro. Taking it further he heads to a Music shop and buys some great equipment, tapes, music and a Grand Piano, there he encounters Irene, a fellow music enthusiast, the pair strike up a friendship and soon she shares in his musical fantasy.

I think some of the other reviewers are missing the point of this story, it's all about poor Mr Botibol's downward plight, his thinking that he finally has something small to hold on to, and even that's snatched out of his hands.

I really like both the stories Jack Weston appears in, he cuts a truly tragic figure, I think this is my favourite of the two, he bounces so well off Anna Massey.

Like the Umbrella man in the sense that there's no mystery or suspense, it's just a really enjoyable little tragedy, loaded with sadness and emotion, it's beautifully done. 8/10

Mr Botibol's First Love is one of my favourite Tales of the Unexpected stories.

I remember watching it years ago and I've recently viewed it again last night. I came on here to find it has a rating below 5/10. That did surprise me as I expected people to appreciate what a tragic little story it is.

The other reviewers are right. There's no blood. There's no gore. There are no murders. But there is sadness and regret.

I expect the other reviewers are also in their teens and 20s. They don't understand the story because when one gets to be a middle aged man - or woman - there are a lot of moments of regret. The first thing you're honest about is yourself and your failings.

Mr Botibol admits he is a failure. He's mid-50s and the only 'success' he's ever achieved was almost running his late uncle's business into bankruptcy. At 55 years old Mr Botibol has so far managed to have never had a relationship with a woman. Yes, there are people out there like that who exist.

He leads a lonely life. His only comfort being a small mock concert hall in his house where the only performances are from Mr Botibol who acts out his fantasy of being a world famous conductor.

Then one day he meets Irene Wrzaszcyzk in a record shop. She's about ten years younger than him, but they share an interest in classical music and Mr Botibol invites her over to his house. Already he has thoughts in his head of marrying her. They both act out this fantasy of performing in the concert hall but Mr Botibol is shocked she can play the piano.

A failure all his life, Mr Botibol cannot see any future with this lady, so he tells her to go, forever. And now he's back to his lonely life. Until the grave probably.

The story might not mean much to some, but I loved it. It was poignant and engaging and both Jack Weston and Anna Massey give convincing performances.

Try understand what this story is about, not what you want it to be.