The Therapy Zone

A Closet Prisoner!

   This is the view of the cloakroom, seen in the final episode of the Prisoner.'

     Three things are evident about the cloak room, the effigy of the Prisoner known as No.6. The two wicker baskets, and the two racks of coat hangers, which to me are suggestive. But suggestive of what? Well that No,6 was far from the first Prisoner to reach this far, by surviving the "ultimate test." To me, these, swinging, coat hangers, could previously have held other prisoner's "own clothes" who had progressed at least this far, but with the ordeal of ‘Fall Out’ yet to come, and did they, like No.1 gain the opportunity to meet......No.1? And if they did unmask No.1, who then did they see? Presumably like No.6...... themselves!

   More than that, the number of bare coat hangers would suggest that the village has had a long and formidable experience of this process. And one final point, the Supervisor-No.28 said to the Prisoner "We thought you would feel happier as yourself." And don't forget, No.48 was also wearing his own clothes. So perhaps No.48 had been in that same cloakroom, a few moments before No.6.

    You might have wondered about the names, and numbers, of some of the people who receive billing in the Prisoner, or why some names do not appear. Or even to whom some of those names belong. It is possible to gain certain information by the study of the credits of the series, yet certain oddities and omissions sometimes occur.

    Arrival is the best place to commence. We see that George Markstein, as well as being credited as script editor for the series, is also credited as co-writer of the episode. However on the screen Markstein actually appears uncredited - as the man sitting behind the desk to whom the Prisoner hands in his letter of resignation. This cameo role is repeated in almost every opening sequence for almost every subsequent episode, including Many Happy Returns. Yet Markstein never recceives any recognition for this role. {Well it was a sort of Alfred Hitchcock moment for George Markstein, appearing in the Prisoner without actually being credited}.

    On the other hand , the Arrival credits contain the names of Peter Brace and Keith Peacock as 1st and 2nd Croquet Players. {It was originally intended from the original script that there should be two men on the lawn playing Croquet. But this scene was later cut, but apparently the Croquet Players remained credited in the end credits. Obviously someone forgot to tell the film editor in the cutting room!}. And there is an extra in Arrival - one Lillian Llewellyn sporting the badge No.61 - who greets the Prisoner with the words "Beautiful day" but receives no credit for.

   Arrival also introduces us to the female voice of the village announcer - Fenella Fielding, who was responsible for such public announcements as the ice cream flavour of the day, weather forecasts, while informing us that the Arts and Crafts exhibition is just six weeks today, and that "Your local council, and remember that it is your local council has a great new painting competition - seascapes!"

   On the music side to the Prisoner, Bob Dearberg is credited as Music editor, with Ron Grainer and composer of the title theme. Later on Albert Elms gets a credit for "incidental music," yet there seems to be a fair amount of overlap between their roles.

    Before leaving The Arrival as the episode was originally titled, it should be noted perhaps that during the famous and powerful opening sequence, where the Prisoner is seen running across the beach, actually features stunt man and co-ordinator Frank Maher and stunt double for Patrick McGoohan. {This because McGoohan twisted his ankle whilst running on the sand. Frank Maher did point out to Patrick that it's not easy running on sand, but McGoohan would do it. And so twisting his ankle, McGoohan had to allow Frank Maher to perform part of the beach scene.

   In subsequent opening sequences, the voice of the incumbent No.2 is not always heard. In some cases it is Robert Rietty who provides the voice of No.2 during the opening dialogue. Dance of the Dead has the voice of Robert Rietty who provided the diabolic voice and demonic laughter of No.2, but in point of fact it was Mary Morris who is No.2 in the episode Dance of the Dead. But then originally Trevor Howard was supposed to have been No.2 in this episode, but who had to drop out through illness. {The use of Robert Rietty for the voice of some No.2's can probably  be put down to trying to save production time. But it would have been more interesting to have had each individual actors/actresses voice used in the opening dialogue "Where am I? etcetera, etcetera.}

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