So it doesn’t really matter who Number 1 is, or which side runs the Village? What difference would it make if we actually knew why the Prisoner resigned? As fans of ‘the Prisoner’ we desire information, information, information in the desire to become aficionados of a 1960’s television series. And yet in that craving for information, are we ourselves as bad as the Village Administration of which Number 2 is the figurehead?
We want to know all about the Prisoner and his Village, all about what took place both in front of and behind the camera during the production of the series. And there is a good deal of information out there, it’s all just a few clicks of the mouse away. But like the Village, what do we do with all this information? Put in a file, either electrical or of the cardboard variety. For myself I like information the old fashioned way, on paper. In my time I have printed off dozens of pages from the Wonderful World Wide Web onto paper so that I could bring my ESCAPE files up to date. Where are those files now? In the archive, a place in which almost everything I have collected over the years is kept. I used to keep the archive all about me, on display, on shelves in my study, pictures and posters on the walls. But there comes a time when, you take them down. Not that you’ve had enough or anything, but it’s no longer for them to be seen. These days I have minimised the amount of my Prisoner collection I have on display. However I do keep a number of files containing information on ‘the Prisoner’ in a cabinet, files of information which I use for reference on occasion.
I journey with a number of fans, friends, and people who email me wanting information, many of whom expect me to know the way, and very often I do. And yet there are times when ‘they’ show me the way, avenues I have not traversed in all my years of appreciating ‘the Prisoner.’ We discuss, we debate, we question. At times we agree, at others we disagree and that’s all part and parcel of it. What ‘the Prisoner’ has become, and what has made the series so enduring over the years. We also try and solve the conundrum that is ‘the Prisoner,’ sometimes we succeed, and at other times one simply has to leave things as they are.
You know, well obviously you don’t. But recently I’ve been carrying out some research into an aspect of ‘the Prisoner’ that I believe has been overlooked for these past 47 years. And the other week I thought that this particular conundrum had been solved……….I was wrong, and it was confirmed that I was wrong. So it’s file Number Six, paragraph ? Subsection ? back to the beginning, the file remains open on this particular aspect, and so the research continues, and so too the journey. I mean are we really expected to believe that No.6 spent 25 five days at sea, of which the final seven days he spent unconscious aboard his raft? It’s no wonder Thorpe was sceptical about his ex-colleagues story! I find it wholly improbable, and I sat watching it on television just like the rest of you. But then that’s television for you, it’s entertainment which on the whole is deceptive! Almost as deceptive as No.6 himself, or No.2. Who do you think No.2 might be? I cannot tell, for he frequently changes his persona, and at times he even chooses to show his feminine side, well twice he chose to reveal his feminine side. I’m not so sure about that time during the Carnival. It is said we do not know much about the Prisoner known as No.6, and yet we know even less about No.2. The Prisoner is also described as being “Everyman,” but could that not also apply to No.2, everyman and indeed everywoman, lest we forget that there are four female No.2’s who take the role of Chairman in the Village.
As for myself, I seem to have lost my way, and it appears that the only way out of this particular Prismatic reflection is to either take that leap of faith into oblivion. Or pull the pin of this hand grenade……………………………BANG!
“Hello Morag I’m back, put the kettle on would you.”
Be seeing you
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