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Tuesday 28 February 2012

The Therapy Zone

   Fall Out - The Estate Agent's sign attached to the railings outside the Prisoner's London house, has the name of Lageu & Son, Estate Agents. This is something of an in-joke, as John Lageu was employed during the episode of Fall Out as the set dresser.
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     Hammer Into Anvil - In the original script, at the end of the episode, Number Six visits the grave of Number Seventy-three, and places a bunch of Daffodils upon her grave. This was omitted from the finished episode. The scene may have put too much emphasis on Number Six's sympathies. But even with no final visit to the grave, it becomes apparent that Number Six is taking on a role within the community. He is protecting the people from the abuses of society or at least enacting revenge against wrongs. This is most evident in episodes like It’s Your Funeral, in which he saves innocent citizens from cruel and inevitable punishment. Which prompts the question………why does No.6 care?

           The Prisoner
    "I wrote the last script first. All the other stories were meant to lead into it. When there weren't any scripts I just had to sit down and write one. Of course, we had script problems. Everyone does. I asked one top writer to work for us and he wanted £10,000 an episode. But we didn't have that sort of budget. My job is to entertain the public. I wish I'd had more time, that's all. But I still wouldn't have told the story in strict black and white. I don't want to explain everything. If it doesn't come off, then it's my fault. As far as I'm concerned it's explained. But I admit, a great deal is still left open. Don't expect a final pay-off. There isn't one. There's no big tying-up of loose ends. You still want to know its message? Then it's this: the most dangerous thing in the world is an attitude of mind."

   "I was nearly lynched in England when the last episode came out. Everyone wanted to know what it was all about. Was I on the communist side or on the British side, or what? They wanted all the answers tied up with ribbon and handed out. If there are answers, as such, they are contained in the last episode. Number One-the horror-figure hanging over it all - is revealed by the Prisoner himself. This was exactly a one-and-a-half-second shot. I cut it until there was just enough to get it, if you wanted to. I could have lingered on the shot for ages."

                                      Patrick McGoohan
Be seeing you

4 comments:

  1. Interesting quotes but are these from No3's forays into fan-club literature? Or are they credited as direct from a journalistic source? I've noticed that some quotes in the past, that stemmed from fan-club material, seem to have been concocted, or *assembled*, rather than quoted.

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  2. Hello Moor,

    The two quotes under the title of 'The Prisoner' are attributed to Patrick McGoohan, and were found amongst a large number of newspaper and magazine atricles purchased way back in the 1990's, and do not stem from any Fan-Club as far as I am aware.

    Regards
    David
    BCNU

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  3. Hello David

    The quote from McGoohan about "attitude of mind' is from 1968 in the Daily Mirror in an article by Clifford Davis.

    Sincerely

    Mr. Anonymous

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Mr. Anonymous,
      Good to hear from you, and thank you for the update.

      Best regards
      David
      BCNU

      Delete