More Village

    Appreciation for THEPRIS6NER or me began when ITV began to run the previews for the series towards the end of 2009. They triggered my imagination, and I couldn’t wait for the series to be screened by ITV. But I had to, and wait until April 2010. The week before the TV guides came out, and I was surprised to see that the TV Times didn’t have THEPRIS6NER on the front cover as many others did, such as ‘Total TVguide on the left. So I collected them all, in fact I was determined to collect anything and everything I could in connection with the series. I collected pictures, press reports about the series right from its conception. I read the daily blog reports on AMCtv while THEPRIS6NER was in production, and have  a copy of ITV’s press pack for the series, as well as ‘THEPRIIS6NER BFI Transcript, a discussion, answer and question time with members of the cast and production crew.

   When Sir Ian McKellen was interviewed on ITV’s ‘This Morning’ programme, I listened intently, I also recorded the interview for my archive. But I was disappointed that members of the press reported that THEPRIS6NER was a remake. It is anything but, as Total TVguide says on the front cover “The Prisoner A NEW take on the series.” I know one fan who years ago said a remake of ‘the Prisoner’ should never be made, well it wasn’t, a reinterpretation yes, re-imaging yes, a reinvention yes. And I took to it like a duck to water. Although the opening sequence did not grab me as the original had some forty-two years previous. And to be perfectly honest it took me a couple of screenings of ‘Arrival’ for me to get into it. What I thought were flashbacks of Six’s former life at the time…….well they turned out to be Michael/Six living two existences at the one and same time!

   VILLAGE MAP; this was drawn by Production Designer Michael Pickwoad who based the map on the city of Oxford. He describes the map as being a very childish map, which doesn’t actually tell you anything, because in The Village you’re not supposed to know anything!

MORE VILLAGE; reflects Two’s megalomania which gets bigger and bigger. And so to house more and more people Two has to build more and more houses, hence more Village!

    THE INTERROGATION CHAMBER; has sloping octagonal walls, the interior is dark, and a distinct nod to German expressionist films of the 1920's.

   "I wouldn't mind a fourthnights leave there!"

    TWO’S TIES; Two wears a number of ties throughout the series, and so as well as collecting diecast model cars seen in the series, I have been making a collection of Two’s ties whenever I come across them.

   "I wouldn't mind a fortnights leave there!" as Thorpe once said of The Village. The picture of people getting off the bus, look as though they might be getting on the bus to go on an annual democratic outing!

    Here the woman newly arrived in The Village as a newcomer looks happy to be there because she is about to begin a new life in The Village. Judging by the expression on her son’s face, that same cannot be said of him, he looks distinctly apprehensive about it. He has every right to be! But his mother, she wonders about Two, if he’s there, and will she get to meet him?

   PIPED JACKETS; are worn in The Village, of a more modern day design, many of which are quite subtle.

   THE BUTLER; Two does have a butler, however he tends to hover in the background. Like his predecessor we do not hear him speak {although he is heard to mutter something to Two} yet is not a dwarf, but more reminiscent of the gardener and electrician played by Oliver MacGreevy  in ‘Arrival’ of the original series.

    VILLAGE SALUTE; unlike the original series THEPRIS6NER-09 does not appear to have a salute when used in conjunction with the greeting “Be seeing you.” The nearest we get to a Village salute is when the shopkeeper 37927 bids the Prisoner “Be seeing you” and raises an open palm, like The Village logo.

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

Be seeing you