Number 2

    It strikes me that there is a distinct advantage with having a number of perpetually changing Number 2's. Because with every new Number 2, there has to be a "settling in period," which affords Number 6, and other prisoners a break between ordeals. Plus, there is always the hope that the new Number 2 will be an improvement on the previous.
   As it is with the THEPRIS6NER 2009 series, there is but one Two, which means Two is permanently nasty, and affords Six no such break in his ordeal!

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

   The Village of the first series, is a much nicer place to be, than the Village of the second series.In the first Village there is time for the citizens to relax and enjoy themselves in a wide range of organised activities. In the second series, the citizens are permanently on tenter hooks! Yes there is "Escape Resort," but only for the lucky ones. For those less fortunate there are the guided bus tours of the Village, of which seeing the Clinic is one of the tours highlights. The Clinic is where nasty things happen to the patients, and those in the tour bus do not look as though they wish to be reminded of the Clinic!

BCNU

Exhibition of Arts and Crafts

                        The Village

BcNu

The Therapy Zone

Looking At The Prisoner.......through The Georgian Window!

    Hero or anti hero? A good friend or your worst enemy? Whatever one might think about the Prisoner, as some have described him as being, a typical British hero, a character who represents everything about honour, dignity and spirit.

   Well that’s as may be, but the Prisoner isn’t British, he’s Irish-American. But we’ll let that ride for the moment. A typical British hero? Well I wonder about that, because we only see the Prisoner how he is in the village, with only glimpses of his other world. And what exactly goes to make a typical British hero, I’m not at all sure.

   Dignity, well of course the Prisoner retains his dignity, well apart from the time he split his trousers during that fist fight in ‘A B and C.’ And he does have a sense of honour, that had been drummed into him as a boy "That’s honour Sir" he tells the headmaster "You should teach it Sir!"

  As for his spirit, well wasn’t that broken at a very early stage, because "Everyone tries to escape when their spirits broken" as No.8 tells him in ‘Checkmate.’

   And what about that Irish-American? Well if one goes with the presumption that the Prisoner is a follow-on series of ‘Danger Man,’ that must clearly make the Prisoner-John Drake. In the 25 minute episodes Drake, named after a famous Admiral, has an American accent, and at times a damned awful American accent. Only in the 50 minute episodes does John Drake become British, and if so, then that Brutishness is fake - hence Irish-American.

   Okay, none of it is that clear cut, well it wouldn’t be would it. Otherwise none of us would be here, would we?

A Point To Ponder

    In the episode ‘Dance of the Dead’ No.6 is listening to the radio when a voice says "Tonight when the moon rises the whole world will turn to silver." At one point the voice asks "Do you understand? It is important that you understand."

   Well there was a time when I didn’t understand. But for a long time now, I have understood. Of course that message heard on the radio was not intended for No.6, but for the dead man, whose body was washed up on the shore in the cove down on the beach! And not, as some have said, simply another ambiguity designed to confuse us.

   Have you worked it out yet?

Speedlearn

    In the episode 'The General' citizens are forced to learn what others want them to learn, well isn't that the way it was at school? Well it was as far as I can remember, and that's a long way back to remember!

    No.2 saw Speedlearn as the most important human experiment ever to be conducted. Yet speedlearn has a fault, in that facts are all it provides the student with facts, when, but not what! As for the General, well the computer can only give back information when it knows the basic facts. Hence when No.6 asked it WHY? The General could not give an answer, because there were no basic facts.

    It seems learning by tedious rote in school is the best way after all. Mass education is all well and good, but what a world if we all knew the exact same thing, and answered using the exact same words and phrasing! You would have nothing but a row of cabbages as No.6 put it, knowledgeable cabbages, but cabbages nonetheless for that. There would be no thinkers, no creators, the heart would be ripped out of the human soul.

What was the question again?

Why?

   Why didn't No.6 try and escape during ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ ‘Its Your Funeral and ‘A Change of Mind?’

    Well taking ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ first, how was an escape possible in this episode? Escape was not on No.6's mind, nor to try and bring down the system from within, as some fans of the series think, but solely concerning himself with bringing down the sadistic No.2, in revenge for driving poor No.73 to commit suicide! there was no possible chance of escape during this episode, however there might have been half a chance at the end of its Your Funeral.

    The assassination/execution plot of Its your Funeral might have given No.6 the chance to escape, after all he had managed to get the explosive detonator away from the Watchmaker-No.50. The explosive hidden in the "Seal of Office" was still hanging around the new No.2's neck, a perfect opportunity you might think. But ask yourself this, if No.6 was to do a runner to the waiting helicopter, with the explosive detonator in his grasp, who would No.6 be able to trust in stopping the new No.2 from removing the "Seal of Office" from about his shoulders in the way No.6 had for the escaping - outgoing - No.2? There was only one person, the retiring No.2, but how effective he would have been against the new No.2 is doubtful.

    And as for any possible escape during ‘A Change of Mind’ is also questionable, even at the end after bringing down another No.2, with the help of No.86 who denounced No.2 for being an unmutual! And don't forget, even as No.2 was being chased back to the Green Dome by certain citizens of the community after being denounced as an unmutual, No.2 would have gained the security of his office within the Green Dome, to resume control over the village and its community. If only until his replacement arrived, making any escape impossible for No.6. And even if No.2 had been chased down by the ladies of the appeals sub-committee and taken off for "Instant Social Conversion" at the hospital, there was always the Supervisor in the control room to look after things until a new No.2 arrived in the village. Just look to the week of ‘Once Upon A Time’ for such evidence.

Be seeing you

Project Village

    “What are we going to do with him?"
    “I don’t know, the report was that Number 6 is dead, that Rover got him!”   
    “But he isn’t dead.”
    “No.”
    “One of us is going to have to tell Number 2.”
    “Well you have seniority.”
    “He isn’t going to like it.”
    “That Number 6 isn’t dead, what’s not to like?”
    “He’s not got a mole on his left wrist.”
    “What’s that got to do with the price of fish?”
    “Well nothing, but Number 6 did have a mole.”
    “Yes, but we surgically removed it, remember?”
    “Yes.”
    “So this guy is Number 6, and when you tell Number 2 he’ll be as pleased as Punch.”
    “Because he thinks Number 6 died.”
    “That Rover got him, yes.”
    “But “IT” didn‘t.”
    “Apparently not, and that‘s why he‘ll, be pleased.”
   Number 246 Picked up the telephone “Get me Number 2.”
                                                               Ø
    “Number 2 here………yes I know Number 6 isn’t dead, he’s just been stopped from escaping……….What do you mean you have him there? He can’t be there, he’s in his cottage……….You have Number 6 sedated at the hospital. Oh no…..I thought that Number 6, I mean it was reported to me that Number 6, that Rover had got Number 6 and that he was dead!…………                                             Ø
   “What are we going to do with him doctor?”
   “You’re asking me Number 2?”
   “You have him heavily sedated?”
   “Yes, but we cannot keep him in that state permanently.”
   “Why not doctor? It seems the easiest way out of this current predicament.”
   “Why not simply let him go. Return him to where he came from.”
   “That’s’ not possible, not with the knowledge he has about the Village, as well as his appearance.” considering his appearance.
   “I would have thought that because of his appearance it would make it impossible for him to remain in the Village!”
   “How long can you keep him sedated?”
   “Another twelve hours, then he’ll wake up naturally.”
   “Thank you doctor. I have twelve hours to extricate myself from this predicament, I need to think! If you want me I’ll be in my office.”
   “Yes Number 2.”
                                                Ø
   The pair of steel doors opened, and the Supervisor-No.106 walked into Number 2’s office.
   “I have a problem.”
   “Number 6 is dead, I know.”
   “No he isn’t.”
   “That’s your problem?”
   “Yes. It was reported to me by…well it doesn’t matter who by. But the fact of the matter is, it was reported to me that Number 6 was dead, that Rover had got him. It was on that information that I contacted you to de-activate immediately Rover pending further instructions.”
   “That’s right.”
   “But he isn’t dead, that’s the bad news.”
   “I would have thought that was good news. Number 1 will be pleased.”
   “He would be if he knew.”
   “So tell him.”
   “And what are we to do with the other No.6?”
   “We have two Number 6’s?”
   “That’s the problem.”
   “Well just let one of them go.”
   “I can’t do that. One is Number 6, the other his impersonator Curtis. How can I possibly allow him to leave the Village knowing what he does, and especially with that face of his!”
   “That’s tricky” the Supervisor thought for a moment “the man in the iron mask.”
   “He’s not here is he?”
   “No. Alexander Dumas, his novel ‘The Man In The Iron Mask.”
   “You want me to put Number 6 in an iron mask?”
  “No.”
   “Well I’m jolly pleased about that, he’d scream blue murder that he was getting unfair treatment.”
   “I suggest you do it to Number 12.”
   “Curtis? You want me to put Curtis in an Iron mask?”
   “Well no, not really. Just confine him.”
   “In the Bastille presumably.”
   “Well we do have a fortress, well a castle…..the hospital.”
   “We confine Number 12 to the hospital.”
   “It would solve the problem.”
   “And it might have been better if Rover had finished him off! No, the hospital is too public, and besides the extra security would attract attention. No, Number 12 must be confined on his own. In solitary confinement pending further instructions.”
                                                         Ø
   It was on a dark and stormy night that a doctor, accompanied by two male orderlies, entered Ward b of the hospital. In a bed at the far end of the ward, a patient with his head completely wrapped in bandages slept. The three medical men slowly approached the bed, the patient stirred in his sleep. Then swiftly the two orderlies took a firm grip of the patient as the doctor with a prepared syringe, injected the patient with a strong sedative.

The patient was then put on a trolley and wheeled out of the ward along the corridor and towards the double doors of the hospital to where a waiting village taxi was waiting, with a Red Cross trailer in tow. The patient was transferred from the trolley into the trailer, while the doctor climbed aboard the taxi, accompanied by the two burly male orderlies. The ambulance driver started the engine, and drove the taxi away from the hospital, and into the night.
                                                                Ø
It was a strange apartment that Number 12 woke up in the following morning. There were modest furnishings, a small kitchen, bathroom, and a lounge. All his private possessions were accountable, including the picture of his deceased wife Susan. Then he saw the telephone and picking up the red received attempted to put a call through to Number 2, except there was no tone. He asked for the Operator, but there was no reply. He tapped the received cradle several times, but the instrument was unconnected!
   Suddenly the door to his apartment opened and two people entered. The first was a tall lean gentleman carrying a furled shooting stick umbrella, and an old school scarf wound about his neck. The other was a young woman wearing a maids costume, she carried a breakfast tray which she placed on the coffee table before turning and departing the apartment.
   “This is your meal for the day. Your meal will be brought to you daily at noon
.“
   “Why does the maid not look at me?”
   “She will not speak to you either. Such are her instructions.”
   “The windows……”
   “What about the windows?”
   “They are shuttered! Is that so I may not look out upon the Village?”
   “No. It is so that people cannot look in!”
   “Tell me why the maid did not look at me?”
   “Your breakfast will be getting cold.”
   “It’s probably already cold if it travelled here on one of those tractor things!”
   “How perceptive of you.”
   “Why?”   “Well it’s the kitchens you see, they are so very far away……”
   “The maid, she would not look at me!”
   “I should think it was the mask. She may have found it rather off putting, disturbing even.”
   “Mask, what mask?”
   “Do not try and remove it. It is sealed to your skin! Bon appetite.”
   Number 2 left the small apartment, leaving the Prisoner to his cold meal, in the privacy of his own confinement.
   The Prisoner crossed the room to the mirror hanging over the mantelpiece. He could hardly believe the image which was reflected back at him. For over his face was a half black and white mask. He put his hands to the mask in a vain attempt to remove it. But there was no place for his fingers to gain a purchase in order to tear the mask from his face. The mask was indeed sealed to his skin!
   The Prisoner backed away from the mirror. He felt the statuette in his hand and the mirror smashed into a thousand splinters of glass. He sat down in a chair, buried his head in his hands and wept, then cried out for deliverance from this nightmare.                                        
                                             Ø
   And so it was that the Prisoner remained confined within the walls of his apartment for days, weeks, months on end. He was left with warmth, nourishment, and music. Music that could not be switched off, music that played all day, and half the night!
   The Prisoner saw no-one save for his personal maid, and the burly guardian who accompanied her, bringing his daily meal at 12 noon. They neither looked nor spoke to him for the short time they were in his apartment. He did one time make a dash for the door only seconds behind the burly man, who turned suddenly and pushed the Prisoner backing into the room, the cottage door of his cell closing and locking automatically. Another time the Prisoner set a trap, but on that occasion the maid and burly Guardian didn’t turn up that day with his meal.
   “I suppose you think that’s clever!” the Prisoner shouted out at the ceiling “You mean you’re still watching me! Isn’t that was waste of someone’s time? Am I not to eat today?”
   The Prisoner turned his attention to the two shuttered windows. He found them securely locked and there was no forcing them open. The shutters allowing daylight though, but not the Prisoner to look out.
   It became difficult for the Prisoner to keep himself amused and entertained. The television had been taken away, and he was not permitted newspapers. He set aside part of a wall for the keeping of a calendar. But soon became tired of the novelty aspect of this. He made one-way conversation with his two person warders. And would sit for hours visualising the Village in his mind’s eye. First the scene just outside the front door, then all around the apartment building. Finally further a field in the Village. He sat listening to the regular Brass Band Concert. He sat playing chess with the Ex-Admiral on many occasions. Then took up a square on the human chessboard as the black Kings Bishop. He worked out in the gymnasium, took a daily walk around the Village. Collected a newspaper from The Tally Ho vender, had tea and toast at the café, and called into the General Store on the way home. Such was the strength of his mental powers that the Prisoner’s imaginings seemed so real to him. He could even stand on the cliff top and feel the wind in his hair, the rain on his cheek……… Suddenly the door opened and his personal maid entered carrying his meal on a tray and set it down noisily onto the coffee table. This had the effect of bringing the Prisoner back from the windswept cliff tops to the confinement of his apartment.
  The Prisoner stood up, he made a rush for the maid who scurried towards the door where the burly Guardian stood. The Prisoner picked up the tray and hurled it at the departing maid. “God damn you all to hell!” he cried out in his torment.
                                                      Ø
   And then one day………They came for the Prisoner. He was removed from his apartment, a black hood had been placed over his head. It was only a short taxi ride, before descending beneath the Village to where the Prisoner did not know. He could only judge by the motion he felt, a sudden downwards motion.
   “He’s reported to have become very unstable” said the President “do you think he will co-operate?”
   “I’d have been surprised had he not become so after his extreme solitary confinement” said a Delegate “As for his co-operation, he’s played the role once before, so why not again. After all he has nothing to lose.”
   “And his instability may add something to the role” added another Delegate.                                                          Ø
   The reader of this will, I’m sure, be only too familiar with the proceedings of ‘Fall Out, so there is no need for me to make a description of them here. Save for the fact that the former No.6, who had been offered the prize of Ultimate Power, then presented himself to No.1. No.1 handed “sir” a crystal ball in which “sir” was shown his future. It was a future which “sir” rejected by allowing the crystal ball to slip between his fingers and smash on the floor into a thousand splinters. He then turned his attention to the robed figure of No.1. He tore away the black and white mask, then the ape mask, and stared into a face he knew very well. It was like looking into a mirror!
   No.1 gave a demented laugh, and continued to laugh maniacally as “sir” chased him around the Control Room of the rocket.
   It was their final chance you see, their final manipulation of the former Prisoner known as Number 6. And it didn’t work. The plan had failed like so many before it. It’s reliance on a man who was forced to play the role of Number 6 a second time, as if the first had not been enough. The treatment of Curtis, his enforced solitary confinement, forced to wear a mask, unable to even look out of a window upon the Village, had sent him schizoid. At the very least had left Curtis/12/1 maladjusted, at the worst psychotic. And like all criminals, he had the deep seated desire to climb upwards. In Curtis’ case. upwards into the nose cone of the rocket. And with one final maniacal laugh the fate of the man in the black and white mask was sealed.

-Be seeing you
David A. Stimpson

The Prisoner Under The Spotlight

It Is A Question Of Choice. Is the village real or merely a dream?

    Well you pays your money and takes your choice, as they say. I suppose the Village can be both, and open to any number of interpretations on various levels.

   On the surface the Village is quite the holiday camp and possibly a utopia for some, I wouldn't mind a fortnights leave there! Yet for others, those who refuse to give the information inside their heads, the village is a nightmare, and possibly one mans dream, one man's nightmare world from which No.6 is finding it difficult to wake from.

   But can such a dream really be sustained for any real length of time? Is it possible for so much to be in the mind of one man? To know everything which goes on in the village, even when No.6 is nowhere in the room, such as the time of the Educational Board meeting in The General. And how could No.6 possibly know for example, the conversation between No.2 and No.9 in No.2's office in the Green Dome during Arrival, he can't!

    If the Village is all in the mind, then No.6 must be mad, as suggested by No.2!

   For me, the Village is actual, it exists in solid form for its action and adventure, and from which there is no escape. Built by who knows, its location known, and run by which side, is also known. the village is as real in the mind as it is in substance. Because in substance we are able to watch the prisoner being put through his trial, and afterwards it remains in the mind for as long as we don't forget, but to keep the Village in mind! So really its both, and without any trace of the allegorical!

Be seeing you

Village Life!

   Fotheringay "I see you keep the people entertained."
   No.2 "That's right. It helps keep them out of trouble, their mind on other things."
   "Like the Exhibition of Arts and Crafts."
   "Yes."
   "I see you have a Folk music concert."
   "That's right."
   "And a display of Mime and Entertainment in August."
   "That's right Fotheirngay."
   "Any exotic dancers?"
   "Fotheringay, you should be ashamed of yourself!

BCNU

The Therapy Zone

Dance of the Dead

   It was the shock of the electric force-field which No.6 encountered on the steps of the Town Hall, Not the fact that it was the Town Hall, that

surprised No.6. This episode must follow that of  ‘Many Happy Returns,’ on the simple grounds of the one piece of real continuity between the episodes. That of No.6 having died in an accident at sea, which must have been reported after Many Happy Returns, the Gloster Meteor jet – lost at sea. This is confirmed by the amended body with the amended

wallet in his pocket “A small confirmation, of a known fact,” No.2 informs the Prisoner during ‘Dance of the Dead.’

   The Tally Ho – Feb 10^th / Is No.2 Fit For Further Term? I now feel that although this issue was used for both the episodes ‘The Schizoid Man’ and ‘A B and C,’ the date was not to have been noticed in the one episode, and the newspaper headline in the other. In this the use of the same issue of The tally Ho in two separate episodes makes sense. Well you cannot have two episodes running on the same day…or could you?

The Prisoners Double meaning

    It was written some years ago that incredibly many years on from the original screening of the Prisoner that some people have still not twigged onto the double-meaning behind the series, even though McGoohan blew the whistle on himself rather obviously for the final two episodes.

    the Prisoner works very well a continuation series of Danger Man, dealing with what happened to John Drake after he resigned. Of failing to see that No.6 and John Drake are the same character, a spy series where a man who resigns is abducted to the village to have the reason behind his resignation extracted, and coercion used against him to turn him towards the village, seeing as this man has a future with the village.

   But then the financial rug was pulled out underneath McGoohan, and so he abandoned the spy theme of the series, which most viewers had been following the stories on this surface level, and with the final two episodes swapped from symbolism to surrealism, then all hell broke loose. As the final episode was to reveal all, but which at the time revealed little or nothing upon the original screening of Fall Out. Because then it went and gone, leaving the viewer with only what he could remember at that time.

    There was a great deal to take in at the time, and so short a time to take it in, 50 minutes to learn what the Prisoner was all about. which side ran the village - the location of the village, seemingly at the end of the A20 close to Dover as some fans thought! Who was No.1, well you met with him and still didn't get it! Why did the Prisoner resign? Well you were told, perhaps you were not listening, listen again why don't you. Would the Prisoner escape? Well he was just as much a prisoner at the end as he was at the beginning, it was, after all, his future!

Living In Harmony

    Where mob rule is the norm, and illegal hangings are allowed by the Judge, as in the case of Cathy Johnson's brother. Illegally hung from a tree, instead of a gallows. In fact the towns people seem to dispense justice as the citizens in the episode ‘Dance of the Dead,’ even if it was the Judges boys who actually hung Johnson. Certainly the mob of the towns people have the same thing in common with the citizens of the village during the ‘Dance of the Dead,’ in the same way they scream and bay for blood of some poor victim!

Be seeing you

"We're A Two Pig Family!"

  Holes are appearing in the Village. No.2 describes them as an effect of the weather, ambiance anomalies, becasue people want something thay can believe in, so Two gave it to them. The holes are a nothing, it's oblivion, it's beyond all hope! So what does the Village Administration do to counter these ambiance anomolies? Pigs! Pigs are brought to the Village, and citizens are encouraged to "Keep a pig." Some families keep two pigs, they are a "two pig family." Why? Because it has been scientifically proven that swine breath has a stabilising effect on the atmosphere! Really! Aren't pigs renowned for rootling in the soil, digging holes, causing damage in the ground while they search for grubs and truffles?
    But then people love it, keeping a pig makes the citizens appear as though they are "doing their bit" for the Village. The citizens want to come together to make a difference, they volunteer for pig distribution duties, they love that. But at the end of the day, "keeping a pig" is nothing more than propaganda, for their own good of course, to stop the people of the Village from worrying.

Breathe in....breathe out....Village life goes on.

Thought For The Day

    When you think about it Plan Division Q, the plan to assassinate/execute the retiring No.2, could have been staged at any time. And it just so happened that this interim No.2

had been seen fit to oversee Plan Division Q. However, there had been a number of interim No.2's while the incumbent No.2 had been away from the Village on leave, however improbable that might seem. So it might have been any interim No.2 who could have been in office at the conception of the idea of Plan Division Q. This interim No.2 for instance.

  However I suspect that had this interim No.2 been chosen, even though the actor playing the brief role is an actor in his own right, just like Derren Nesbitt, it might have given the episode 'It's Your Funeral' the look of 'The Chimes of Big Ben,' don't you think? When you consider his resemblance to Leo McKern that is.
   I'll be seeing you                            
                         

Exhibition of Arts and Crafts

 From my   "Something Dark and Dangerous This way Comes" period.

BcNu

The Therapy Zone

A B & C

    No.2 told the doctor-No.14 that he hadn't got a week, in fact he'd only three days in which to achieve a result, acquiring the reason behind No.6's resignation. No.2 also informed the good doctor that they had researched and computer the Prisoner's whole life, and had discovered that it boiled down to three people, ‘A B and C.’ Well if they had done all that, then why not simply ask the computer why the Prisoner had resigned, instead of going through all the rigmarole of ‘A B and C?’

   So much time spent researching and computing the Prisoner's whole life, was the probable reason as to why No.2 had so little time, three days in fact, in which to achieve the required result! He could also have been coming to the end of his term of office, according to The Tally Ho there was already doubt as to whether No.2 was fit for a further term!

Kathy Spelt With A 'K?'

   No, Cathy, the Saloon girl in Living In Harmony spelt with a ’C’. This because of Patrick McGoohan’s daughter Catherine, spelt with a ’C’.

Just Why Did The Man With No Name Resign?

    We know why the Priosner-No.6 resigned, and the reason behind that resignation. But what made this man with no name hand in both his badge and gun? Fed up with putting his life on the line? Having had enough of putting his life on the line? Having killed one too many men? Worried about coming up against a Kid who is faster on the draw, perhaps not as the evidence against this is perfectly clear. So perhaps as a Sheriff he did take against killing, seeing as the Judge had to make him kill!

Mob Rule

    Written in a previous blog here, was the mention of "Mob-Rule" in both Living In Harmony and ‘Dance of the Dead.’ Yet there is one further incident of "Mob-Rule" which takes place during ‘The General’ when the Professor is chased along the beach, finally to be caught by a mob of citizens who then manhandles the Professor back to the Village.

   Usually there are No.2's bully-boys who bring recalcitrant citizens back to the village, as in the case of the two prefects who round up the truant playing No.6 when down on the beach in The General. Another case of the mob being allowed to rule is witnessed during ‘A Change of Mind’ when No.6 is set upon by the ladies sub-appeal committee and other members of the community. Hit by ladies wielding umbrellas, No.6 is forcibly manhandled and dragged to the hospital to undergo the operation known as Instant Social Conversion. In such cases as these No.2 is prepared to allow mob-rule by the citizens to do his dirty work!

   And we must not forget the lynch mog, who "lynched" Johnson, Cathy's brother from the habging tree in 'Living In Harmony.'

Be seeing you

Tonight On The Video Channel

    This series is going along much too quickly for my liking! Tonight Darling, in which love is a manufactured thing, in a laboratory. A gene similarity, which has been replicated, and 4-15's genes are injected into Six, and makes him fall in love with 4-15 who has been brought to the Village in order to break Six's heart. But back in New York Michael has fallen in love with Lucy, who is 4-15 back in the Village!
    There is a danger in the Village, holes are appearing, no not in the script, in the Village! 147 loses his daughter 832 to one of these holes, lost forever. Two describes these holes as a nothing, they are oblivion! Six wants to go down one of the holes to rescue 832, but lacks the courage. If only he was strong enough, believed enough, then Six would find his way back to the "other place" through the hole.
    Six loses the woman he was going to marry to one of these holes, into which she hurls herself. While at the exact same moment Lucy in New York, dies when Michael's flat explodes because of an apparent gas leak. Just a minute.....in Arrival outside the Solar Cafe a chap sat playing chess has a transistor radio, and over the radio there is a report about a gas leak in New York which has caused an explosion, just before the Solar cafe explodes! That appears to be the same report about the apparent gas leak causing an explosion in Darling. who says THEPRIS6NER is uncomplicated?
   313 is also in love with Six, but Two gives her pause to think. Because how does 313 know that her love for Six is not itself manufactured through gene similarity? The more gene similarity, the more two people love each other!
   There are overtones of both 'A B and C' and 'Living In Harmony' of the original series about this episode. And I always think Two's sofa has a nice touch about it.

   At this end we have Two, so at the other end there must surely be Un-Two, that is someone who is not Two!

Breathe in...Breathe out.....More....Village!

Collectors Corner

    These days it's something of a rarity for me to add to my collection of 'Prisoner' merchandise or memorabilia, up until a few years ago I was always on the lookout for such material. This is probably because I have so much material in my 'Prisoner' archive, that it takes something rare, or special for me to add an item to my collection.
   Yesterday I added these three orgiinal pieces of THEPRIS6NER art work. I had seen them on ebay for some time, and yesterday I though that seeing as how I'm a huge fan of THEPRIS6NER, that perhaps it was about I should give them a good home.

The Prisoner 2009 Remake Promotional Artwork

    This is a rare item related to the 2009 remake of the TV series The Prisoner, (the original of which starred Patrick McGoohan as Number Six, set in the village of Portmeirion) starring Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen.
    This is a very rare item. To coincide with the series, makers AMC wanted to produce some merchandise for the series. "Mood Boards" were requested to be designed by Robert Fairclough (Prisoner historian and author) and he created 3 different designs for the company. As the series ended up not being a success, the merchandising never followed and as such the designs were not required to be released into the public domain.
    There only exist 10 of each designs in A3 format Worldwide so buy now to avoid future disappointment. Each has been hand-signed by designer Robert Fairclough.       R.Davy

"You Only Think You Are Free!"

Caught On Camera

    I say, is that the Prisoner suit hanging up in the wardrobe? If it is that would be all very well, save for the fact that this is supposed to be No.12/Curtis' wardrobe!

BCNU

Who's That On The Telephono?

     No.6 "Curtis here, I'm on black."
     No.2 "What?"
    "Curtis here, I'm on black!"
    "Yes, I thought that's what you said. Why are you telephoning me on red?"
    "Are you on red then?"
    "Don't you know that I am?"
    "How could I know?"
    "No, I suppose you couldn't. The red telephone is reserved you see."
    "Who for?"
    "Number 1, as if it's anything to do with you!"
    "Number 1?"
    "Yes.......just a minute. You've just telephoned me."
    "Yes."
    "On the red telephone."
    "I suppose I did."
    "Then you must be............."
    "Look I've got some good news and bad news for you. Which would you like first?"
    "Oh the bad news, then you can cheer me up with the good."
    "Number 6 is dead!"
    "What?"
    "Rover got him!"
    "You shouldn't have done that."
    "Done what?"
    "Used the Village Guardian's name."
    "Why?"
    "Well people watching this will think it's "it's real name."
    "Isn't it?"
    "You're using the word as a euphemism surely. Look what's the good news?"
    "You still have me!"
    {Number 2 falls silent}
    "Are you still there?"
    "Yes. That is good news. Stay where you are Number 6, I'll send someone over right away!"
    "A? No, I'm not Number 6. Number 6 is dead, I just told you Rover got him. Hello, hello!"
    The telephono was dead, Number 2 was no longer there!
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The Therapy Zone

Fall Out: Could very well be simply another manipulation of No.6. He’s seated in the “chair of honour, as he witnesses two form of revolt until his inauguration, and the offer of ultimate power. He is bribed with the key to his own house, travellers cheques-a million, a passport - valid for anywhere, and petty cash. No.6 is then permitted his chance to address the delegates of the assembly, just as No.48 and No.2 had done. However in No.6’s case the delegates are not prepared to listen, further, they don’t want No.6’s words to be heard, and so shout him down “I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I”.

    Then he is given the opportunity to meet No.1, this in a last ditched attempt to break him, by bringing No.6 face to face with himself! Some would have it, that No.6 and No.1 are one and the same, the one the alter ego of he other. But it is impossible to actually come face to face with your other self, so No.1 must surely be a doppelganger for No.6, and in the village that could only be No.12-Curtis of The Schizoid Man. And if this is the case, it’s no wonder that No.1 seemed to be as mad as a Hatter, having been kept in isolation all that time. Well they couldn’t have Curtis roaming free in the village, not with the face of No.6!

It Was Asked......

    If Living In Harmony was an illusion, how were they able to return to Harmony towards the end of the episode. And why didn’t No.6 come across the town of Harmony before? Well the answer is a simple one, and put simply, the town of Harmony was no illusion, only the Judge, Cathy, the Kid and all the towns people were the illusion. And No.6 had come across the town of Harmony earlier in the series. During ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ and ‘The Schizoid Man.’

It Seems Ironic......

The Music Used My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean, My Bonnie Lies Over The Sea, Oh Bring Back My Bonnie To Me.

   In the episode ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’ because some people think that its body not Bonnie in the song, which incidentally is a nursery rhyme. Poor Janet Portland, her "Bonnie" really was, if not across the Ocean, then definitely across the Sea, and she has been waiting a long time for him to be brought back to her.

  But if it were Body and not Bonnie, then there’s irony in the fact that the Colonel wants his body back, as well as No.6!

  It’s All Been A Bit of A Trial!

    During the ‘Dance of the Dead,’ No.6 is put on trial for the possession of a radio. He doesn’t seem inordinately worried about this, probably because No.6 knew that they dare not risk damaging the tissue!

   No.6 is put on trial in the same way as Joseph K in Kafka’s The Trial. In that he knows not why he is under arrest, or why he is being put on trial. Yet the result is not the same. No.6 was threatened with a death sentence which the Village Administration dare not see carried out. Joseph K, was executed!

Be seeing you

Teabreak Teaser

    Why was Cobb's apparent suicide so necessary?

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Village Life!

    "Call the substitute, call the substitute, the substitute, the substitute , call the Substitute."

    No.6 "They use substitutes.....in a chessmatch?!"
    Pawn "That's nothing. Last week I was given off-side!"

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Exhibition of Arts and Crafts

This Isn't My Watch!

BcNu

The Therapy Zone

Fall Out

   Supervisor-No.28 "I look down on him because I hold a very important position."

The Butler "I wish I could get this blasted door open!"

The Prisoner "I look down on both of them, because I have survived the ultimate test."

Supervisor "I look up to him, because he is going to meet No.1"

The Butler "I look up to both of them, because I represent the little man in society. And I still can't get this blasted door open!"

The Prisoner "I wish I could go back!"

Be seeing you

The Prisoner Secret Revealed!

    The beautiful village in which The Prisoner is being held.... where is it?

    This question has tantalised viewers. They seem more interested in locating the spot on the map than puzzling out why The Prisoner , Patrick McGoohan, is in company with brainwashed people.

    Well it's a tiny village perched by the sea in Tremadoc bay.

    It's Italian bell tower, which dominates the typical North Wales scene.

   It is called.... PORTMEIRION. And thousands of people know where The Prisoner is being held.

    Portmeirion, with its privacy, is a far cry form The Prisoners village of all-seeing television camera spy-eyes. Those Mini-Mokes whiz about the village in the series, but in reality visitors leave their cars in the hotel car park.

   "The helicopter caused quite a stir and brought the locals out to see what was going on," said Miss Mary Roberts, secretary to Mr. Clough Williams-Ellis, the 84 year-old Welsh architect who designed Portmeirion."

    "Some of the local people were enlisted as extras in the crowd scenes. We were all invited to see the film at the cinema in Portmadoc. It was quite fascinating."

    "There were mixed feelings here," said Mr Williams-Ellis. All those under 50 welcomed the television people and thought it was great. Those over 50 regarded them as intruders."

    Portmeirion is still incomplete after 40 years.

    When the holidaymakers leave, the builders move in to expand the beauty of Mr. Williams-Ellis' ideas.

   Now the filming is over... the excitement has evaporated. The only people left in Portmeirion are the gardener, the builders and the half dozen families.

{appeared in the Sunday times 1968}

Medical Examination

   "Slippers" said the doctor on the occasion of the Prisoner medical.

"My size?" the Prisoner enquired.

"Naturally" replied the doctor.

   Well they would be wouldn't they, and used ones at that! They couldn't even find the Prisoner a new pair of slippers, given someone’s old cast-offs he was. Or was he, I shouldn’t wonder if this pair of used slippers were not McGoohan's own! Much in the same way that I shouldn’t wonder that the pair of spectacles No.6 found in the breast pocket of the white coat he wore in the episode Dance of the Dead, were not also McGoohan's own spectacles.

  If not, then a special pair would have had to be found, if not made, with the lenses as plain glass so that he could see properly. But if McGoohan were to have worn his own spectacles, that would have made sense. No messing about and saving both time and money at the same time.

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A favourite Scene in The Prisoner

    When No.6 gains entry to the Professor's house in 'The General, and he's caught by Madam Professor poking his nose in, as No.6 so often does. He admires the house, its elegant furnishings, the books. He's looking for a study of the General! And yet in his search, little did No.6 think, that while he was unveiling the busts modelled by Madam Professor, who describes them as simple finger exercises, he would unveil a bust not of the General, but of No.1!

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Thought For The Day

   No.1 is most important because he runs the Village, he’s the boss. And yet, he’s still a prisoner, perhaps more so than No.6. At least No.6 has a comfortable cottage. He can, to some extent, enjoy the confines of the Village. Has certain privileges, and even a form of freedom within the Village. But No.1, he does not live in the Village in a comfortable cottage. He cannot be seen in the Village, he is confined beneath the Village, perhaps living his life there in the rocket, and behind the anonymity of the mask!

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera

   Madam Engadine and her celebrated parties. The Prisoner was a regular attendant of these parties, I wonder why? And according to research conducted by No.2, it would seem that the Prisoner, having handed in his resignation, was going to make a bee-line for Paris so to attend one of Madame Engadine's so called celebrated parties!
   So what was Madame Engadines reasons for organising these regular parties? Was it for her own gratification, to be at the centre of society in Paris? Perhaps she was looking for another husband! And what happened to all her other husbands? Did they divorce her, or did they all die?! Perhaps Madame Engadine likes to bring people together!
   And the Prisoner, why did he attend these parties. Was it for business or pleasure?

    I should imagine that all manner of people were invited to attend these parties. Embassy Ambassadors. Possibly politicians, diplomats. People of influence and power. The rich and famous, the poor and infamous! People with information, and those looking for information. Such a party as this would be full of social intrigue, as well as international!  Take 'A' for example. He found what he was looking for, and he was saving himself money into the bargain! And then there is 'B', and with the Prisoner, that makes Madame Engadine parties a hive of spies and agents from all sides! If the Prisoner-No.6 was going to sell out, then I can think of no better place than one of Engadine's parties to make the first contact!   One other thing, have you noticed how many guests at the party acknowledge the Prisoner? He seems to have made many friends and contacts in Paris, and appears to be very well liked, and thought of. Unlike 'A,' an oily man, who can slip in and out of a party without hardly being noticed! Madam Engadine never liked the man, and the Prisoner has no regard for the man either, not since his defection! Yes, I'm quite sure you could meet all kinds of people at one of Madame Engadines celebrated parties.

Be seeing you

School Days

   "Those were the days, the days that are gone. The faces forgotten, the memories linger on........"

   Here he is, our prize pupil Number6 who has been found playing truant on the beach, and what's more he's been caught by the prefects! It seems that they don't want Number 6 to be late for the Professor's next lecture.

 

    Ist Prefect: “You had better come with us Number 6.”

    No.6: “Why?”

   Ist Prefect: “The Professor is about to give his next lecture.”

   No.6: “What's it about?”

   “What?”

   “The Professor's lecture.”

   “How should I know?”

   “Aren't you one of his students?”

   “Yes.”

   “Well then.”

   “I think its history.”

   “Do you think he'll make it?”

   “Who?”

   “The Professor, he's due to lecture in a few minutes.”

   “I know. I was about to tell you that!”

   “I'm psychic, I read minds, just like Number 24.”

   “Look are you coming with us peaceably, or do we have to use force?”

   “Your pal doesn't say much does he.”

   “He's the strong silent type.”

   “And you're the intellectual one.”

   “Look come on, get in the taxi.”

   “No.”

   “Why not?”

   “Because I'm going to stand up to you school bullies!”

   “Why you snivelling little creep!”

   “Names can't hurt me.”

   “Look No.6, give us your dinner money and we'll say no more about it you odious little tic!”

   “Get *&"!!?*!”

   “Look Number 6 there are two of us......”

   “Yeah, and I know origami!”

   “Look, we don't want any trouble from you Number 6.”

   “Then why come looking for it?”

   “Think you're tough don't you. Just because you're Captain of the boxing team!”

   “I can shoot and fence as well you know.”

   “Look be reasonable No.6. Let us give you a lift back to school.”

   “No. I'm going to stop here and have a smoke.”

   “Park Drive or Woodbines?”

   “I smoke Senior Service!”

   “Not No.6?”

   “Are you trying to be funny?”

   “No.2 smokes Players No.6, he went into the General Store and ask for twenty No.6!”

   “Your not trying to be funny!”

   “That's what the shopkeeper said! I mean it was bad enough that time when there were just two of you in the Village.......................”

   “Lets go”

   “Where?”

   “Back to the Village. The Professors due to lecture in a few minutes.”

   “But I thought you didn't want to go.”

   “Anything’s better than standing here listening to you taking the **(! out of me!!”

   “Look mister. We're not school bullies. We're Prefects.”

   “Same difference!”

   “Get in. You'll be late for school!”

   “Shall we sing the school song as we go?”

"These are the days, the days that are gone...........................................”

The Therapy Zone

    We know where No.6's sympathies lie, but if he's looking for any sympathy in the village, he'll be a long time getting any! In the village any citizen can be placed in the following categories For, indifferent or Against so let us see how things work out in the case of No.6, without being too paranoid, and taking most things into account.

FOR

No.2-Mary Morris Dance of the Dead 'This man has a future with us."

No.2-Leo McKern Once Upon A Time 'I was a good man, I am a good man. But if you get him he will be better."

Mrs. Butterworth-Georgina Cookson Many Happy Returns 'No! You mustn't go like that."

No.2-Peter Wyngarde 'No, he's far too important for that."

Monique/No.50-Annette Andre Its Your Funeral who needs No.6's help to stop the assassination plot, for the sake of her father.

INDIFFERENT

No.2-Leo McKern the Chimes of Big Ben

No.2-Eric Portman Free For All

No.2_Andre Van Gyseghem Its Your Funeral

No.2-Kenneth Griffths the Girl Who Was Death

No.2-Clifford Evens Do Not Forskae Me Oh My Darling

Doctor No.14-Sheila Allen A B & C

AGAINST

No.2-Guy Doleman Arrival

The new No.2 George Baker Arrival 'If you don't give us what we want, we'll take it!"

No.2-Colin Gordon A B & C Takes any risk to get what he wants!

No.2-Anton Rogers The Schizoid Man cunning

No.2-Georgina Cookson Many Happy Returns calculating

No.2-Patrick Cargill Hammer Into Anvil sadistic

No.2-Rachel Herbert Free For All malicious

No.2-Deren Nesbitt Its Your Funeral cold and calculating.

No.2-John Sharpe A Change of Mind vicious

No.40/the doctor-Duncan McCrae Dance of the Dead

No.22/the doctor-Patricia Jessel Checkmate

No.8-Nadia-Nadia Gray The Chimes of Big Ben

Fortheringay-Richard Wattis The Chimes of Big Ben

The Colonel -Kevin Stoney Arrival

Cobb-Paul Eddington Arrival

Thorpe-Patrick Cargill Hammer into Anvil

The gardener checkmate

No.24/Alison-Jane Merrow The Schizoid Man

No.66/the Prisoners personal maid Arrival

Martha{Mrs. Butterworth's housemaid}

    And I'm sure that you could add further names to these categories. Betrayal is the name of the game in the village. Acts of betrayal are not only carried out by those enemies within the village, but also by friends who are brought to the village! I wonder which act of betrayal against him, No.6 finds most hurtful? By the likes of No.24-Alison for example, someone he doesn't really know. Or by old friends and colleagues, such as the Colonel and Fotheringay? I know which must surely hurt the most..... Damn you Fortheringay! And to think they were at school together!

   During an interview carried out with Prisoner cameraman Jack Lowen at the 1996 Prisoner convention at Portmeirion and this is what he had to say when asked: Was the Prisoner a nightmare to work on? Jack Lowen: No, it was quite fun to work on, but I was only on it for a relatively short time because someone had already left. To me the Prisoner was going to be something that went .. Danger Man.

    Was the character in the Prisoner John Drake?

    Jack Lowen: Oh undoubtedly. In McGoohan's mind anyway. The way it was written - the way he was doing it - it was him having resigned literally. He'd resigned in real life from being John Drake and this was what happened because of it.

    So would you say that George Markstein's story that it was going to be John Drake, but they did not want to pay Ralph Smart royalties on the character of John Drake, was correct, so that is why he became Number 6?

    Jack Lowen: Well, I expect that came into it. But let's face it, the way Pat then worked on the series, to have everybody with numbers and nobody having names, it didn't need to be John Drake. He didn't need to use a name. The name had already gone in any case.

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