THEPRIS6NER

You know, there's still all kinds of things to observe in THEPRIS6NER. I can now bring you a photograph of Two with his Butler.

  Okay, he's not a dwarf, but like that of his predecessor he's bald headed, and we never hear this Butler once utter one syllable. What’s more, unlike his predecessor, this Butler is not at the centre of things, but is often seen lurking somewhere in the back ground. And see, he does have

the look of Oliver MacGreevy who played both the electrician and gardener in ‘Arrival’ of the original series.

       This is Six searching 93's apartment, and you will observe that old habits die hard for 93, as his is probably the only Lava Lamp in The Village. Not the former Astro Lamp made by Mister Craven Walker back in the late 1950's and 60's, not even that same Lava lamp now made by Mathmos, but a modern day Lava Lamp, just like the one I have, made by.......well isn't that strange. I've just looked at the box the lamp came in, and there is no producer, or maker's name, no company name on the box, just the lamps name "Motion Lamp.!"

    That arch looks pretty familiar to me, doesn't it to you? The arch of the former No.6's cottage wouldn't you say, I would, and I'd be correct. As it was stated that the production set designers had lifted the interior of No.6's cottage, but not as an exact replica, just enough to make the mind think, and recognise that which has gone before.

Who Is Number One?

   This apparently is the oldest question in Village history. It was No.2-14 who over saw the reformation. I always thought that the first woman Number Two was Rachel Herbert. But apparently it was Lady Number Two the Great! But as for the question of "Who is Number One....... "There is no Number One. There never has been and there never will be. The concept of the Number Two is an act of humility, the title reminds us all that we are all public servants, even Number Two. No-one is Number One."

    There are a certain 'set of nods' given to the original series, and it must have been fun to reproduce certain elements, having a respect for what has become iconic, ‘the Prisoner.’ There was also the need for a Village logo, but apparently, according to ITV's Press Pack for THEPRIS6NER, it would have been wrong to use the original penny farthing although as we've seen, there is one suspended from the ceiling of the "Go Inside Club." And what's more Two Ian McKellen pays his own small homage to what was once the past!

    93, the "old man," of the McGoohan character's flat is lifted from the first series as a direct homage, but not a direct copy.

   The dark interior of the clinic is supposed to reflect the Control Room of the first series, but at the same time it represents the psychological influence of present-day interrogation.

    THEPRIS6NER is about memory and the subconscious versus reality. The Village is a benign place, it has an almost timeless quality, and that appears to have resulted in a retro sixties feel, which I picked up on soon into Arrival.

   There are not so many Village slogans in this series, as there are in the original. But there is one above the Village Shop "For All Your Needs."

   And here's an observation for you......as Two enters the Village Shop in the episode ‘Schizoid,’ not Village Store as I wrongly remembered it as being, there is a man who walks passed dressed identically to Two!

   The Village Shop puts me in mind of the Ship Shop in Portmeirion, because it sells Village maps, folded, and larger ones rolled up. The Village Shop sells 'T' shirts, aprons, crockery, almost anything but food and drink. I mean this is the Village shop for all your needs, but where are the wines and spirits, the toilet rolls, brushes? The milk, the ice cream, potatoes and aspirins? But at least the little shop bell has been retained ting-a-ling-ling.

DAS - BCNU