Postcard From The Village

    Well they will soon be here again, fans of 'the Prisoner' for their annual Convention in March, as they turn the Italianate Village into the Village. A place where people turn up. People who know too much or too little. people who have resigned from a certain kind of job, the knowledge inside their heads of value to one side or another. Information which is to be extracted, or protected!
    Conventions today are not what they once were, more compact and bijou these days. Which I suppose makes the re-enactmants of the Election Parade and the chess match more realistic to the original visualisation in 'the Prisoner' series itself.
   But did you know that for decades, ever since 1969 in fact, 'the Prisoner' was a dirty word. The series was not well liked in Portmeirion, and hardly ever mentioned by those who own Portmeirion, or by those who worked there I shouldn't wonder. Perhaps because people began to come to Portmeirion because of 'the Prisoner' and not for Portmeirion's own sake, I'm sure that would not have gone down well in the Village. However in more recent years the owners of Portmeirion have embraced 'the Prisoner,' well that makes sound economic sense when it comes to tourism and generating visitor numbers to Portmeirion.
   In truth I had never heard of Poertmeirion until I had seen the name and address on the television screen at the outset of 'Fall Out.' And I dare say many other people can say that. Even then it wasn't until 1988 that I first stayed as a guest in the Italianate Village. Even though 'the Prisoner' was a dirty word in Portmeirion for decades after 'the Prisoner' was filmed there, I feel the series has been good for Portmeirion.

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