Does Familiarity Breed Contempt?

    Once upon a time in 1967 the Prisoner burst forth upon our television screens here in Great Britain, then in 1968 it was gone! What was that all about we asked, especially Fall Out? There was no indication who the Prisoner was, why he resigned. Which side runs the Village, the location of the Village, and what the hell was that big white balloon all about? And it wasn't until 1976 that we got a second bite at the apple so to speak. But even then I was enjoying the Prisoner far too much to bother looking for answers. Oh I had questions, of course I had questions, left over from the 1967-68 screening. But the quest for answers didn't really start until I began to purchase the Channel 5 videos in November 1986, and in December that year I first subscribed to Six of One: The Prisoner Appreciation Society. It was then that I began to get answers, and learned to figure out the answers for myself. Fifteen years later I left Six of One, and once the dust had settled I began what would be an in-depth, three and a half to four year study of the Prisoner and all related material, so in-depth in fact that it would make your nose bleed!
    So how well have I got to know the Prisoner? I'd say I have got to know No.6 as well as one can get to know anyone without actually having come face to face with them. I'm familiar with him. I think I understand his nature, and that of the Village. I know the lines, who is saying what, and what will be said next and what the reply will be in any particular scene in the episodes of the series. But is that a good thing? Does familiarity breed contempt? That I know too much. Have studied the subject too much, which has in time, led to my writing about the subject everyday. I mean there's not a day goes by when I don't write, or even simply think about the Prisoner. That in itself is perhaps not a good thing. Oh don't get me wrong, I have many other interests, football, snooker, golf. Chess, reading ghost and horror stories. Crossword puzzles, walking. Tractors and combine harverters, stationary, submarines, to name but a few. But nothing has taken over my life like the Prisoner has done. Its my greatest passion, obsession, and maybe my megelomania which has held me Prisoner for the past 44 years.
   My favourite episode is Arrival. My least favourite episode is Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling. Favourite No.2 was Leo McKern, but now it's Ian McKellen.
    How often do I watch the Prisoner? Usually once a year. Currently I am watching THEPRIS6NER09, for the fith time since its UK premier, which is more then most fans will have watched the series I'll be bound.
   Do I know everything about the Prisoner? No, not everything. But I do have certain information, gathered in my research into the subject, which others may not know. Information which I am not yet ready to put into the public domain, until it is finally published.
   To be perfectly honest my interest in the Prisoner has always lain within what we see on the television screen, and at times that which we do not see. The production side of the series has never had a great attraction for me, although I have taken some little interest in the background stories to the series, together with the myths, and legends which in themselves help make the Prisoner what it is.
   There was a time when I could not watch the Prisoner without noticing something I had failed to observe before. I always had to have pencil and note pad at hand to make notes as I watched the episodes. But now that is all but at an end. Today I can sit and watch the Prisoner as pure escapism, and that can only be a good thing, just as long as what they do in the Village is being done to someone else!  I'll be seeing you.