Every Episode of Jim Henson’s Storyteller, Ranked

When you think of films that managed to conjure up a genuine fantasy universe that made you feel like you were right there in the world you were watching, very few examples actually stand out. For me, The Company of Wolves captured the feeling of a dark fairy tale kingdom like no other movie of the early 80s, while Labyrinth captured the light side of the coin exceptionally well. When it comes to TV, however, only one series really encapsulated my childhood passion for fantasy…and that was Jim Henson’s Storyteller. Delivered as an episodic group of fireside tales by one John Hurt at the top of his game, The Storyteller took a handful of already pretty great German and Russian folk tales and wove them into something truly magical. Anthony Minghella’s scripting across the entire series was outstanding, and the concept art and feel of the show completely captured viewers in the UK (my own memory was from Sunday afternoons). Here’s my list of the episodes in order of the effect they had on me.