10: Simply irresistible

From Season 1 Ep 6: Mr Irresistible/Bet a Million
Showing on UKTV Gold: Monday 23rd July at noon

We kick off our list with a quintessential Fantasy Island story which neatly presented the formula that made the show such a hit. Which is: person gets fantasy, fantasy bites person on the bum.

The person here was a chap called Chuck, who wanted to become "the most irresistible man in the world". On arriving at the island he was handed a love potion by Mr Roarke, and his life immediately turns into a sort of Lynx ad, with lust-crazed women flocking to him wherever he goes. But would you believe it – being universally fancied isn't quite the blessing Chuck imagined. And, rather ironically, being able to have anyone only serves to remind him of the joys of monogamy. Makes you think, don't it?

9: Charlie's cherubs

From Season 2 Ep 27: Charlie's Cherubs/Stalag 3
Showing on UKTV Gold: Tuesday 11th September at noon

Fantasy Island was created by the same TV wizards who gave us Charlie's Angels – and the two cult shows were playfully merged in this particularly quirky story.

It told of Amber, Ginny and Claudia, three beautiful, bored young ladies who desperately wished they could lead lives of danger and excitement – like their TV idols Charlie's Angels. So, being an obliging sort of man, Mr Roarke made it happen – and even gave them their own Bosley in the form of his diminutive assistant Tattoo. But what the girls didn't bank on was just how dangerous their mission would be...

8: The parent trap

From Season 1 Ep 2: Voodoo/Family Reunion
Showing on UKTV Gold: Tuesday 17th July at noon

Fantasy Island was open to children as well as adults, and one of Mr Roarke's most touching tasks involved helping two kids get their estranged parents back together.

The 14-year-old Ann and her 12-year-old brother Tony came up with a cunning plan to bring their mother Evelyn and their father Harry to the island: they told their divorced parents that both were needed to give their consent for the kids to participate in a "survival camp". But Ann and Tony didn't count on there being two flies in the ointment – namely, their parents' latest partners, who also arrived on the island. Luckily, those plucky kids were more than happy to completely ruin their parents' new relationships in pursuit of their goal. Cute.

7: The instant movie star

From Season 1 Ep 11: Over The Hill Caper/Poof, You're a Movie Star
Showing on UKTV Gold: Monday 30th July at noon

Everyone knows the old line about being careful what you wish for. Well, when we say everyone, we exclude the lady in this story, who had no idea what she was getting herself into when her fantasy came to fruition.

In one of the best moral-of-the-story-is type stories in the series, an attractive young woman named Shirley Russell came to the island in the hope of being turned into a movie star. Mr Roarke made it happen in an instant, and suddenly Shirley was faced with 5am wake-up calls, demanding directors, rabid press agents and scenes that had to be shot again and again and again. The moral being - next time, just ask for cold, hard cash.


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