The Prisoner is a mystery wrapped up in an enigma, and try as we may, all we as fans, as aficionados have ever been able to do, is make of it what we may. We have been left, as others have come to find ‘the Prisoner,’ to analyse, theorise, surmise. To interpret, question, and yes even guess what or who is ‘the Prisoner.’
To try and understand the Prisoner, one must first break through the enigma that is ‘the Prisoner,’ or perhaps to simplify things, the Village. You see they like to know everything, No.2 tells us that much. Yes they had omitted the Prisoner’s date of birth from his file, but they knew what it was, it was but a ploy to entice the Prisoner to give away the first piece of information in the hope that all the rest would follow. But what rest? They knew all about the Prisoner. They had a complete file on the man. But what they didn’t know were the facts behind his resignation, and as No.2 said, they like to know everything!
The Village is run by one British department or other. It is a place where people turn up, people who know too much, or too little. It is International as it’s population is made up of people from many lands, and is itself on foreign soil. A British installation south west ofPortugal Spain Morocco
The Prisoner is the mystery, we know so little about this man who once put himself above the law. A man who held a position of a confidential nature, whose work was very often classified as “top secret!” You see, we appear to know more about this Prisoner than we think, and this veil of mystique and mystery begins to thin. It is known that the Prisoner worked for the British government, for a department headed by Sir Charles Portland, and recruited from somewhere within the British armed forces, either the Navy or Army Intelligence. That the Prisoner was engaged to be married to Janet Portland.
He lives in atNo.1 Buckingham Place
When it comes to the Village, I have known people who have said they would not mind being taken there. The only trouble with that is, there are a number of those who would wish to be on the side of the captors and inquisitors! No sane person would wish to voluntarily go to such a place as the Village, would they? But then isn’t that how some people who work there, arrived in the Village of their own free will, by recruitment. Recruited through Labour Exchanges and recruitment Agencies, only to find once they’ve arrived in the Village that there is no leaving the place. Well only for the selected few perhaps. One couple went to the Village of their own free will, they thought they would be perfectly happy there, the Professor and his wife. But life in the Village was not what they thought it to be. Each being manipulated against the other, at the hand of No.2 and a very attentive doctor.
Sometimes I think the mind creates it’s own places, so why not the Village? Was not the Village created in the mind of one Patrick McGoohan? Not only creating, but shaping and setting the Village in an isolated location. And by surrounding the Village with woods, the mountains, the beach, and sea beyond, he limited the possibility of escape. He then filled the Village with virtually nameless people, and gave them all a number. He set up surveillance, he saw what the Village Guardian could be. He set up the working parameters, along with every detail of the Village, and when that was done, he went and put himself in it! He made himself the boss, No.1, and showed the world what it was like to be ones own worst enemy, and demonstrated what self persecution was like. On a physical level he made himself a prisoner of the Village, and on a mental level a prisoner of ‘the Prisoner, this for the rest of his life. Because Patrick McGoohan created the Village in his own mind. And there’s no escaping that, is there now?
As for ourselves, we also remember the Prisoner, we do not forget him, we keep him in mind. And in all the 47 years of ‘the Prisoner’ people have written about the series, discussed, debated. Theorised, surmised, and questioned, and analysed. And yet all is still not clear to us, such as how did No.34 manage to smuggle a radio into the Village? Why No.6 didn't question how it wa possible for Nadia to make contact with her contact man Karel in the cave, whilst being a prisoner in the Village? Or how did the maid-No.66 manage to leave '6 Private' without the Prisoner seeing her? this is to name but a few, yet they demonstrate that there are still many unanswered questions that will ever remain a mystery wrapped up in an enigma that is ‘the Prisoner!
Be seeing you
To try and understand the Prisoner, one must first break through the enigma that is ‘the Prisoner,’ or perhaps to simplify things, the Village. You see they like to know everything, No.2 tells us that much. Yes they had omitted the Prisoner’s date of birth from his file, but they knew what it was, it was but a ploy to entice the Prisoner to give away the first piece of information in the hope that all the rest would follow. But what rest? They knew all about the Prisoner. They had a complete file on the man. But what they didn’t know were the facts behind his resignation, and as No.2 said, they like to know everything!
The Village is run by one British department or other. It is a place where people turn up, people who know too much, or too little. It is International as it’s population is made up of people from many lands, and is itself on foreign soil. A British installation south west of
The Prisoner is the mystery, we know so little about this man who once put himself above the law. A man who held a position of a confidential nature, whose work was very often classified as “top secret!” You see, we appear to know more about this Prisoner than we think, and this veil of mystique and mystery begins to thin. It is known that the Prisoner worked for the British government, for a department headed by Sir Charles Portland, and recruited from somewhere within the British armed forces, either the Navy or Army Intelligence. That the Prisoner was engaged to be married to Janet Portland.
He lives in at
When it comes to the Village, I have known people who have said they would not mind being taken there. The only trouble with that is, there are a number of those who would wish to be on the side of the captors and inquisitors! No sane person would wish to voluntarily go to such a place as the Village, would they? But then isn’t that how some people who work there, arrived in the Village of their own free will, by recruitment. Recruited through Labour Exchanges and recruitment Agencies, only to find once they’ve arrived in the Village that there is no leaving the place. Well only for the selected few perhaps. One couple went to the Village of their own free will, they thought they would be perfectly happy there, the Professor and his wife. But life in the Village was not what they thought it to be. Each being manipulated against the other, at the hand of No.2 and a very attentive doctor.
Sometimes I think the mind creates it’s own places, so why not the Village? Was not the Village created in the mind of one Patrick McGoohan? Not only creating, but shaping and setting the Village in an isolated location. And by surrounding the Village with woods, the mountains, the beach, and sea beyond, he limited the possibility of escape. He then filled the Village with virtually nameless people, and gave them all a number. He set up surveillance, he saw what the Village Guardian could be. He set up the working parameters, along with every detail of the Village, and when that was done, he went and put himself in it! He made himself the boss, No.1, and showed the world what it was like to be ones own worst enemy, and demonstrated what self persecution was like. On a physical level he made himself a prisoner of the Village, and on a mental level a prisoner of ‘the Prisoner, this for the rest of his life. Because Patrick McGoohan created the Village in his own mind. And there’s no escaping that, is there now?
As for ourselves, we also remember the Prisoner, we do not forget him, we keep him in mind. And in all the 47 years of ‘the Prisoner’ people have written about the series, discussed, debated. Theorised, surmised, and questioned, and analysed. And yet all is still not clear to us, such as how did No.34 manage to smuggle a radio into the Village? Why No.6 didn't question how it wa possible for Nadia to make contact with her contact man Karel in the cave, whilst being a prisoner in the Village? Or how did the maid-No.66 manage to leave '6 Private' without the Prisoner seeing her? this is to name but a few, yet they demonstrate that there are still many unanswered questions that will ever remain a mystery wrapped up in an enigma that is ‘the Prisoner!
Be seeing you
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