A B and C

   ‘A B and C’ is rather like ‘It’s Your Funeral.’ Both episodes take place over three consecutive days. We have no when the idea for the  experiment to get into No.6’s dreams was conceived, just as there is no way of knowing when Plan Division Q first came about. Or how long it took Number 2 to have Number 6’s whole life researched and computed. Perhaps only a matter of a couple of days. Nor how long it took Number 50 to go and seek help from Number 6, again perhaps it was only a matter of only a couple of days. What’s more both Number 2’s are put under pressure, to no fault of their own, because of delay. Number 2 of ‘A B and C’ has found Number 6 to be very difficult, that he’s no ordinary person, but if he had a free hand….. As for Number 2 of ‘It’s Your Funeral,’ he must find a way to get Number 6 interested enough to get himself involved with Plan Division Q! Both Number 2’s are not indispensable, seeing as one of them is only an interim Number 2 anyway! And both are guilty of underestimating Number 6. Enthusiasts for ‘the Prisoner’ are used to parallels being drawn between the series and other television series, feature films, and literature. But now we can see how parallels can be drawn between episodes within ‘the Prisoner’ series itself.

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Obey Me And Be Free!

  Did Number 6 upon attaining the position of Number 2, think that he could really organise a mass breakout? Did he really care for the people to be free? Or was it more likely that he thought that if he could organise the people into causing enough chaos and mayhem, that he could escape unnoticed?

   And how were the people to be free? How were they expected to leave The Village even if they wanted to? It was alright for Number 6, he could fly a helicopter, or perhaps take the jet boat. But what about the ordinary citizens, how were they expected to breakout of The Village? A few might get away in Mini-Mokes, but all most citizens could do, would be to run away, and that would beg the question how far? And it would be worse for the senior citizens in the Old people’s home, those in wheelchairs. And what about the patients in the hospital?

    “This is our chance.... this is our chance take it now. I have command, I will immobilise all electronic controls.... Listen to me......You are free to go.... You are free to go..... I am in command, obey me and be free.... You are free to go...free to go…free to go." That would be right. Free to go where, and how? In the end it’s just as Number 2 suspected, Number 6 lacked the administrative ability to manipulate a community such as theirs!

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It’s Your Funeral

    This episode appears to be somewhat of a self-defeating exercise, especially when one considers Number 6’s past record concerning ‘The General.’ Number 2 allowed Number 6 to be involved with that educational experiment, and look what happened then. But now, an interim Number 2 is quite deliberately involving Number 6, so really he should have expected the inevitability of him stopping Plan Division Q. The trouble was they couldn’t involve anyone else in giving the idea of an assassination plot against Number 2, because no-one else would be as believable as Number 6. He not being a known Jammer, which gave them their best shot in making the plan succeed. And yet plan Division Q was compromised from the outset, from the first thought of involving Number 6. There is a flaw in most plans, and this time Number 6 was it!

   ‘It’s Your Funeral’ relies heavily on outdoor scenes shot on sets at the Elstree film studios at Borehamwood. Together with a mixture of stock film footage, as well as film footage reused from previous episodes. And yet having written that, the citizens carrying the placards of their respective Number 2’s, was filmed in Portmeirion, but not the actual Appreciation Day ceremony, which is such a pity. And in one case, a future episode!!!

    That daily Activity prognosis report, which begins at 6:30 am with Number 6 taking a daily stroll through The Village, and the activity prognosis stretches through to mid morning, he’s very active. But when Number 8 commences her activity prognosis report on Number 6 {which contains the exact same details} his daily stroll through The Village doesn’t start until 10:19am. That’s almost 4 hours later than the first prognosis report, shown in a montage of activities!! What’s more once Number 6 has begun his stroll through The Village at 10:19, by 10:20 he’s seen leaving the Café to go to the kiosk to buy a bar of soap and a copy of the newspaper. So it wasn’t that much of a stroll through The Village. Unless it was simply from his cottage to the café! It would seem that when Number 8 is giving her activity prognosis report to Number 2, and using the same surveillance film footage as used in the previous montage, that compared with the differing start times of Number 6’s activities, it would appear that she is reporting something which has already taken place!

   Number 6 having retrieved the detonator from the Watchmaker, makes his way down the Bell Tower, and is confronted by Number 100. A fight ensues between the two men, and Number 6 intends to make 100 confess. But instead as Number 100 breaks away, Number 6 knocks him out, leaving him sprawled out on the grassy bank. Yet the original script called for the intervention of The Village Guardian.

Number Two, who is seen on the balcony overhearing the entire conversation with Number Six via the two-way radio communication in the arm of his spectacles, summons The Village Guardian The appearance of the white sphere restores Number 100’s confidence, and he breaks free of Number Six. His confidence turns to fear when the Guardian pursues him instead, overtaking him and suffocating him into unconsciousness. This scene must have been filmed. Because when the young man in the Piazza, during ‘Arrival,’ when instead of being still, moves about, is attacked by the Guardian. As he is being suffocated the image changes from that of a man wearing sunglasses and a striped jersey, to a man wearing a pink blazer. That man is Number 100 {Mark Eden} seen through the membrane.

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What’s that No.6 Up To?

   Carrying out a spot of breaking and entering by the looks of it! It will be all the worse for him if he gets caught! It’s lucky for No.6 that the laboratory was situated somewhere in the woods. If the experiment had taken place in the hospital, it wouldn’t have made it so simple for No.6 to break in and discover what had been happening to him. While at the same time diluting the third dose of the doctor’s drug! There would have been far too many doctors and nurses about the hospital for Number 6 to try anything like that there.

   It’s also lucky for No.6 that there were no surveillance cameras, otherwise an observer may very well have witnessed his activities. Or at the very least his activities recorded on film. Mind you No.6 didn’t act as though there might have been surveillance cameras in the laboratory. He took close examination of the equipment, the box files, and the third dose of the drug quite freely, and never once appeared to look for any cameras. Perhaps because the steel door to the laboratory was unyielding, it was thought surveillance cameras were unnecessary. But if that was the case, how did Number 1 know to telephone Number 2, at the moment the experiment failed? Anyway No.6 got away with his spot of breaking and entering.

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Teabreak Teaser

   How would you classify ‘the Prisoner?’ Under which category would you file it?

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                          “A Seascape”

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The Village

    It took me long enough to find The Village. Oh I had known of it for a long time, but it was getting there you see. I had not always the means of getting there, but then one day I found the means. I didn’t resign my job or anything like that, well I wasn’t very important, and even if I had……Well lets be honest, when I did eventually resign my job no-one bothered to replace me! When I look back I like to think of myself as having been irreplaceable!
   But I was writing of The Village, oh I went there voluntarily, of my own free will. What I found was Shangri-la, Utopia, and I could not have been happier there. But time marched on, and eventually it was time to leave. Well I couldn’t stay any longer, but I always went back, and when I arrived it was as though I had never been away. In fact as the years went on, in those days I used to visit The Village as often as I could, and it was always like going home. And when it came time to leave, I would always linger for as long as I could, delaying the eventuality that I could not hope to avoid. But I always went back, and each time I arrived I was always made to feel very welcome.
    The Village was for me Shangri-la, a place of peace and tranquillity. A place where I felt more at home than actually being at home, a home from home. No, be honest, it was more than that. The Village for me had become a retreat, to get away from the ravages of the World. No, even that’s not it, but a place to get away from reality for a while!
   And then I met her there. If ever I was going to meet someone it would have to be in The Village. And it was extraordinary, because she felt exactly like myself. The relationship developed, and together we shared our Shangri-la, and we were happy to go there twice, thrice, sometimes four times a year. I suppose we grew dependent upon it, perhaps too much. And then something happened, we both felt that we no longer needed our Shangri-la, and never went back to The Village again. It had changed you see, it wasn’t as it once was. And I suppose we had changed as well, and no longer needed The Village, having made our very own Shangri-la.

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Thought For The Day

    ZM73 was on a mission that morning. He woke up, washed, shaved, dressed, had breakfast, took the letter of resignation he had written the night before and left the house. Something had happened to make ZM73, a man once loyal and devoted to his work make that decision to resign his job. He stormed along that darkened corridor of the underground car park, but where he went to after leaving the car park is unknown. In a building unknown ZM73 pulls open a pair of doors, and storms into an office. A balding man wearing spectacles is sat behind a desk. He is a bureaucrat of the Establishment. ZM73 paces up and down ranting at the man sitting behind the desk, who does no more then toy with his ballpoint pen. An envelope is taken from a pocket, ZM73 slams it down onto the desk stamping it with his fist, and upsetting a teacup in its saucer, and tea plate in the process. Then he storms out, presumably back to the underground car park.
    So what happens then? We know that there’s a black hearse waiting at the entrance to the car park. Waiting for a green, yellow nose Lotus Seven to emerge which it followed through the streets of London, before arriving in Buckingham Place. The two undertakers wait for the man living at Number One to arrive home. Did that bureaucrat to whom ZM73 handed in his letter of resignation, then telephone the Colonel to inform him of this recent event, if so, what action then did the Colonel take? Did he then contact Sir Charles Portland, and if so, what action did he take? Might this have resolved in setting two undertakers onto ZM73, ordered as they did to follow him home, and from there to abduct him? If so they were mightily quick off the mark, to be waiting at the entrance of the car park the way they were.
    Perhaps the advent of the two undertakers, and ZM73’s subsequent abduction had nothing whatsoever to do with his resignation. You will recall how ZM73 had been under close observation, the hidden cameras in his house. There was a click, something in the mirror, or was it over there? Yes, over there too! Whether or not it was his own people who had had ZM73 under such close surveillance in unknown. However it is doubtful that it would be the other side, as in the Russians. It is always possible that The Village is independent of both sides, however that seems just as unlikely, as Number 6 was under the impression that it’s run by one side or the other. More likely another department or other within  British Intelligence. MI5 would be favourite if that was the case. So, whichever department, for whatever reason, ZM73 at some point became destined for The Village. If not because of the reason behind his resignation, then perhaps because of the kind of calibre ZM73 was. Have him taken to The Village, put him in isolation, put him to the test and see what kind of man he is! It didn’t take them long to find out! What’s more ZM73 wasn’t the first. He followed in the footsteps of Cobb, Dutton, as well as Chambers who had become “late” of the Foreign Office. And for all that is known, perhaps even both the Colonel and Fotheringay. After all Number 2 of both ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ and ‘Once Upon A time,’ a man of the Establishment, of the House of Lords in the Houses of Parliament, had once been abducted to The Village as a prisoner. Sadly he resisted for so short a time. Well he was like Roland Walter Dutton, was without training in resistance to interrogation techniques, unlike ZM73.

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Quote For The Day

    “He’s not like the others."
                               {Number 2 - Dance of the Dead}
    Others, what others? Is Number 2 speaking about prisoners in The Village in general, or certain prisoners in particular? Certainly Number 6 isn’t like Roland Walter Dutton, he’s expendable. The new Number 2 of ‘Arrival’ said that no extreme measures were to be used against the Prisoner….yet. So if the treatment Number 6 received in these 16 episodes was not extreme treatment, what was? Because waking up to find your are someone else, that you're not Number 6 at all, but as someone who looks the very image of him, seems a bit on the extreme side to me! Then perhaps going that one step further by giving him a complete change of mind is! And “Degree Absolute,” just how many prisoners had made it to that stage of events? How many had been put through the psychological battle with a Number 2, as 6 had been, and actually survived? Not many perhaps, if indeed any.
    Number 2 saw, or was told, that Number 6 had a future with them. But as what? Someone like Cobb, turned and released from The Village only to be one of their many puppets? As a successor to Number 2 perhaps, he was told that he might be given a position of authority. And yet Number 6 was tested in that role and had been found wanting, and being 2, Chairman of The Village is the highest office. Unless Number 6 was being put to the test in order to see if he was worthy of a much loftier position, that of 1.

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The Village Festival

    What’s that like then, the English Village fete? Tombola, cakes, and a coconut shy, test your strength machine, and all manner of various stalls. Madam Engadines palmistry tent. Tea and refreshment marquee. Competitions and the like. With Number 24 providing part of the afternoon entertainment with her mind-reading act. The good citizens all going about enjoying themselves, eating ice cream, cream teas, candyfloss and toffee apples. But of course Number 6 missed all the fun, as he was undergoing condition at the time, while Number 12, went about impersonating  him and having a high old time. But sometimes I wonder if it wasn’t Number 1 impersonating Number 6, well who better? Yes of course by the time of ‘The Schizoid Man’ no-one knew who Number 1 was. But having the knowledge of ‘Fall Out,’ and that would tend to make a mess of the rest of the series when attempting to come to any sort of conclusion. Besides Curtis died, and if Curtis was Number 1, then there wouldn’t be any Number 1 for Number 6 to be brought face to face with! It might have been much better if the members of the Assembly had been a collective 1. Mind you, having the former 6 meet Number 1 on his own did help to bring about escape. Left alone in that Control Room as he was, made it easy for Number 6. He was in lucks way once more. Because had there been no one to one confrontation between 1 and 6, and thereby 6 having had to deal with the members of the Assembly as the collective 1, then there would have been no given opportunity for escape whatsoever.
   As it was escape was made easy, Number 1 dealt with, sealed in that nose of the rocket. Security guards scythed through, and the final escape aboard a waiting lorry. I’ve never figured out who that waiting lorry was intended for. Number 1 perhaps. Unless the escape was all a set up, organised by those behind The Village. The President had ordered the evacuation of The Village, if any of those delegates had an inkling that that lorry was sat there, why not take it for themselves, even the President? That’s ‘the Prisoner’ for you, the deeper you try to fathom it, the more unanswerable question are unearthed!

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No Alcohol Here!

    That’s just typical! They abduct people to The Village, want to know all about them, the knowledge in their heads to be protected or extracted. They use all kinds of mind altering, conditioning, hallucinogenic, sedative, and experimental drugs on people, but they won’t let anyone get drunk! Why? Perhaps if you get drunk they're afraid they’ll go and do something silly, like climb to the top of the Bell Tower and throw yourself off! I suppose that’s one way of beating them, but resulting in mere oblivion for oneself! Do you know when it comes to addictive drugs, they’ll fill people up with all manner of toxins. But ask for a drink and its “No alcohol here sir. Gin, whisky, vodka, looks the same, tastes the same.” Damn it all, you can't even get a cigarette, or at least they could once upon a time, in the General Stores. There used to be a cigarette machine just inside the door. But it was later taken away and replaced by a newspaper and magazine rack!
   Do you remember when there used to be cigarette cards? I think there were bubble gum ‘Prisoner’ Cards at one time, even ‘Danger Man’ bubble gum cards, but not cigarette cards. Too young at the time to have bought any even if there had been, cigarette cards that is. 

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CITIZENESS 66

    I suppose it was worth a try, but surely Number 2 didn’t think that the Prisoner would open to a woman, even one with a sob story! The Supervisor-Number 26 felt sure she was going to pull it off. Well they had barely got started, and using the maid to gain the reason behind the Prisoner’s resignation was only an opening gambit. After all the Prisoner had only been in The Village five minutes. And if it had worked, well Number 2 would have been showered in glory, and would have saved a great deal of time and effort. It really wasn’t the maid's fault, it was an important matter, and so the Prisoner had to be handled very differently. The maid played her part well enough, but if they thought a few tears would have any effect on him, well they misjudged him. Number 66 breaking down into tears told the Prisoner that they said they would let her go if only he would give her some sort of information. And that is the only chink in The Prisoner-Number 6’s armour, he can never resist a damsel in distress. Except Number 66 was no damsel in distress. In fact neither were Number 9 and Nadia Rakovsky, as for ‘B’ she seems far too resourceful. In fact as far as real damsels in distress go in The Village, there appears to have been only two. 73 who committed suicide, and Number 50, Monique the watchmaker's daughter. It could be said that Number 36 was in distress because all her weekly credit allowance had been used up, and so couldn’t buy a bag of sweets. But then 36 is of an age when she could no longer be called a “damsel!” Yet Number 6 did recognise her distressed state, and helped by buying her a bag of candy!
    The Prisoner-Number 6 soon saw off the maid 66, telling her that her services would not be required tomorrow. A maid service, Number 6 had a personal maid, two at times, one during the day and another who came to his cottage simply to make him his nightcap of hot chocolate. Pampered that’s what Number 6 was. If he had his own cleaning to do, laundry etc, he’d have had less time to think of escape, or to go poking his nose into business that did not concern him!

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Quote For The Day

    “And so the great day is nearly over” says Number 6 mockingly “came off rather well I thought. Better than planned. And now you can look forward to your own retirement, and I’m sure they’ll arrange something equally suitable for you, when the day comes. Be seeing you….won’t I?”

                                        {Number 6 – It’s Your Funeral}

   Number 6 left off with a question “Be seeing you….won’t I?” Possibly wouldn't, although it could be seen that this new Number 2 would have ideas of his own to get back at Number 6 for his interference. And yet Number 2 only had himself to blame. Had he studied the Prisoner’s file more closely he would have realised that any plan which involved Number 6 never succeeded. The fact is this new Number 2 had failed and therefore it is only to be expected that Number 6 would not “Be seeing” him the next day. Unless of course there was no-one to replace Number 2 immediately, as we do not know how long it is before any failed Number 2 is replaced. And yet in ‘Arrival’ Number 2 is replaced within hours, by the next day!

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Village Life!

    “What are those two blokes up to?”

    “It’s Number Two’s new drive.”

    “What’s that then?”
    “Keep Village tidy!”
    “Why the hard hats?”
    “Health and safety!”
    “Really! I didn’t think that emptying letter bins could be so dangerous!”
    “Well you know what Number Two said.”
    “No. But I know what Clough will have to say about such misuse of village property!”

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                                   “A Man Resigned!”

                                      “But To What?”

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File No.6

    At one time, in his former life, the Prisoner set himself above the law, just because he was on secret business, a matter of life and death apparently. Yet he wouldn’t say whose life! But one can see why the Prisoner had been recruited into the banking section of British Intelligence, the Bank where the Prisoner applied for a job in ‘Once Upon A Time.’ One, because he was good at figures, and two because he could be trusted not to talk, being prepared as he was to double his own punishment for the sake of others.

    It also means that one of his character traits which made him resign, his strong sense of right and wrong, is that which first helped him get the job from whence he resigned. 

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Thought For The Day

   The Diminutive Butler who for the most somehow manages to be in the centre of things, or at least palely loitering quietly in the background at other times. It’s possible that he had been in The Village for a long, long time, maybe he had always been there. That would have given him time to learn everything about it, and yet not use that knowledge to his own advantage. He had seen many Number 2’s come and go, who on the whole treated the Butler with respect, as he had served them with quiet and unquestioning loyalty. But in the end such is the price of fame and failure for the once Number 2, who was only second to 1. The once ever loyal Butler had changed his allegiance, and became as close to Number 1 as anyone can ever be!

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A Narrow Escape!

   That was a narrow escape for the Prisoner! It could be discerned that he is attempting another escape from The Village by helicopter, judging by the following ground shot. 

   This image seen on the screen is of the beach and cliffs just along from Portmeirion! Of course Mister X isn’t really attempting another escape from The Village, seeing as these images are taken from ‘The Girl Who Was Death.’ As Mister X looks down at the ground he would be looking at a grass field, and so should the television viewer. But instead a shot of the beach and cliffs at Portmeirion was inserted. Why, when for continuity reasons, it would have been simpler to have filmed the field below from the helicopter! As it is, it would appear that The Village is always closer than one might think!

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Bureau of Visual Records

   Is this a stunt far too dangerous? I wonder if the production team working on ‘the Prisoner’ would have got away with such a stunt today? It is written in Andrew Pixley’s ‘the Prisoner’ – A Complete Production Guide’ “To the crew’s horror, McGoohan did the shot of Number 6 grabbing onto the copter’s undercarriage and holding on for longer than had been agreed when planning the take.” But obviously the stuntman had to go further, sitting in the skid, holding onto the helicopter’s framework, and without any apparent safety harness!
   Just as a matter of interest Frank Maher used to tell the story of while they had the Alouette helicopter for filming at Portmeirion, he used to get a lift in from Porthmadoc sitting in the skid of said helicopter.

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Prisoner!

    “You’re not allowed animals, it’s a rule!”
   And look at the remains of that ham sandwich, its much larger than the mere morsel Number 6 threw into this box!

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                             “ESCAPE!”

                     {In The Girliecopter!}

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Find The Missing Link!

   Number 2 set himself to find the missing link. Then he would refine it, tune it, and Number 6 would play their game. And if he failed..BANG!

   So what is this missing link? Number 2 intermittently asked the Prisoner why he resigned. So perhaps that is the missing link, after all the Prisoner’s resignation is the one detail missing from his file. So if Number 2 could discover that, he could refine it, tune it, and understand why the Prisoner resigned.
   Then again that missing link might have been that which makes the Prisoner different to everyone else. Why he seems to have a greater morality to everyone else. And what it is that makes him so loyal, that he would rather take the punishment himself rather than “spilt” on someone else.

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It's Your Funeral

    An episode which has something in common with ‘A B and C,’ in that it takes place over three consecutive days. Although it can be argued that Plan Division Q had been put into operation any number of days before, because Number 50/Monique took her time, in making her mind up in deciding to go and see Number 6. Thereby Plan Division Q had already been put behind {they were running late as it was} not that we are told just how much time had been lost.

   Number 6 had been selected because he would give credibility to the threat of assassination/execution of the retiring Number 2, without which the plan might fail. But the plan did fail, because of Number6’s involvement. More likely Number 6 was chosen as a communication medium because of the fear of Jammers. Number 6 was the one person Number 2 would take seriously. If anyone else had gone to Number 2 and told him of an assassination plot against him, he, or she, would have been instantly dismissed as being a Jammer!

    This episode is unique in the fact that it enjoys four Number 2’s, although only two appear “on screen.” One resembles a former Number 2 with his goatee beard. The other might be said to resemble the first female Number 2 by the attire she wears.

   This episode revolves around two ideas, an assassination and an execution, which are really one and the same. The fact is that they are about to execute a senior Number 2 who is set to retire. A man who has enjoyed a successful career, has been loyal throughout to The Village. So it’s no wonder the Village Administration wanted to hide its hand in executing a man who has carried out sterling work for The Village, in serving well its community.

   So how many people knew of Plan Division Q to execute Number 2? Number 1 obviously, the interim Number 2, the Supervisor, and Number 100 who had recruited Number 51 to carry out the assassination/execution. But might not others also be aware? Such as the Observers in the Control Room? After all the interim Number 2 and Supervisor-Number 26 were discussing the plan in earshot of others.

   This episode enjoys a most elaborate plan, which will eventually culminate in a “purge” of The Village. To rid the community of malcontents, which Number 6 happens to be top of the list. Would Number 6 be part of that “purge,” it would seem highly unlikely, seeing what importance pervious certain Number 2’s had placed on Number 6. And the case can be argued why bother with such an elaborate plan in the first place? Why not just “purge” The Village of its malcontents, who would know, save the residents? The Village administration is more totalitarian than democratic. So why the need for an over elaborate plan, why not just execute the senior Number 2, why not just carry out a purge of The Village anyway?
    There would be another result of such a “purge,” it would effectively control the population growth in The Village! Yes there would be outrage. Perhaps the people would be stirred into open rebellion. And the generally successful policy of confining its inmates with comfort would be disrupted for a time. Until The Village and its community settled down once more.

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Caught On Camera!

    ZM73 {for want of a better name} storms into an office. He paces up and down in a rage, ranting at the man sat behind the desk. The man remains passive, toying with his ballpoint pen. He remains unmoved even when ZM73 slams down his letter of resignation on the desk. He re-enforces this with his fist, which he brings down on the desk like a hammer. So much so that he upsets the teacup in its saucer, and tea plate. All three items rise from the desk, and when they come down onto the desk again, the tea plate breaks in two! It would appear that the rage and force shown by Patrick McGoohan in this scene during the opening sequence to ‘the Prisoner’ is about as real as one can get. Enough to lift the crockery off the desk and break the tea plate.

   I remember reading a question asked in an old Number Six magazine back in the late 1980’s I think it was, the question being “Why does the cup have two saucers?” I smirked at reading the question, because it was obvious to me that there were not two saucers, but only one. The other being a tea plate, which would have had two or three biscuits upon it, perhaps rich-tea, or digestives.

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Bureau of Visual Records

   Upon discovering that Engadine is an agent who also works for ‘C,’ or is ‘C’ which makes the man in the mask ‘D’ according to the doctor. She enquires if Number 2 will be bringing her to The Village. To which he says “Yes.”
   So did Number 2 have Engadine brought to The Village? The above picture would suggest that he did. The house, the garden an exact replica of Engadine’s own house and garden in Paris. What happened to Engadine is unknown. She may have died in The Village, or had been released. However it would appear that the house was not re-developed, but that the Professor and Madam Professor were moved in to the house and garden as it stood. Which the above picture, taken during one of Madam Professor’s art seminars, would suggest! 
   There was no need to recreate the Professor's own house, as with certain abductees, as he and Madam Professor went to The Village of their own free will.

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Hi-De- Hi Campers!

   What exactly lies behind the holiday camp atmosphere, where citizens lie about the beach sunning themselves, or building sandcastles, playing beach ball, dressed in bathing suits and bikini’s, citizens enjoying themselves!

   Whilst other citizens such as the Rook-Number 53 during ‘Checkmate,’ is at the hospital undergoing a medical experiment at the hands of the doctor-Number 22, pictured here.  As for the Rook-Number 53, well he’s being used in an experiment based on Pavlov’s experiments with dogs, yes it was dogs and not rats as suggested by Number2.

  Dehydrated, Number 53 is taken into a room where there are a number of water dispensers of different colours. The Blue dispenser is wired up to an electrical supply, and when Number 53 touches the tap he gets an electric shock! The other three water dispensers are of course empty.  

    A disembodied voice tells Number 53 that he’ll get water when he obeys! Then tells him to go to the blue dispenser, but he is nervous to touch the tap. When he does, Number 53 finds that the current of electricity has been turned off, and via the tap and his plastic cup, begins to satisfy his thirst.

   But there is yet more to come, as Number 8, in some hypnotic trance, is wheeled into the examination room by a nurse.

   Number 8 who is under hypnosis and believing that she is in love with Number 6 and he with her. Also in a locket which Number 8 believes to be a present from Number 6, because the locket contains a picture of Number 6, but also a reaction transmitter. This transmits Number 8’s emotions back to the Control Room, and when they have a whole range of Number 8’s emotions - fear, happiness, dread, apprehension, joy, so on and so forth, which will then be fed into the alarm system. If Number 8 has any apprehension, or fear that she is going to lose Number 6, if he plans to escape for example, then  Number 8’s emotions will send an alarm back to control. Out of the two medical experiments, this second one is perhaps the most unfeeling, just like the doctor performing the experiments!

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Resigned!

    “Is that the Colonel?”
    “Yes the Colonel speaking.”
    “Colonel I think we have a problem.”
    “What kind of a problem?”
    “ZM Seventy-three has just been in my office, he stormed in. Paced up and down, he was in such a rage, the things he said, the ranting, and then he slammed an envelope down on my desk, stamped down hard with his fist. Upset my teacup, saucer and tea plate.  
    “Have you opened the letter?”
    “No sir.”
    “Good, don’t. Have the letter sent to my office, and do not make mention of this to anyone, you understand?”
    “Yes Colonel.”
    “Get me Sir Charles Portland……..oh Sir Charles, I’ve just been informed that we have a bit of a problem.”
    “What kind of a problem Colonel?”
    “ZM Seventy-three.”
    “What about ZM Seventy-three?”
    “We’ve had him under close surveillance for some time now. As you know we lost both Chambers, Cobb, oh yes and Dutton, so we could not take further chances.”
    “And?”
    “ZM Seventy-three has just handed in his resignation………Sir Charles?”
    “I see.”
    “What do you want me to do?”
    “Do. What is there to do? We cannot let him just go like that, and he knows it. Take whatever immediate action you think fit Colonel.”
    “Very well Sir Charles. I’ll keep you briefed of course.”
    “You will not. I do not want to know any details, and as far as I am concerned this telephone conversation never happened.”
    “Fotheringay come in here.”
    “Yes Colonel.”
    “We have to take immediate action. Contact removals, give them this address, and tell them they will have to be quick.”
    “Yes Colonel….this address, its…….”
    “Yes I know, he has resigned. Now get on with it Fotheringay.”
    From the moment ZM73 drives out of the underground car park he is followed by two undertakers in a hearse. Through the busy London streets the hearse follows the green, yellow nosed Lotus Seven. At some point the hearse loses contact with the Lotus. But as the car turns into Buckingham Place the hearse is parked in the street, the two undertakers waiting.
   The Lotus pulls up outside number one, and the driver alights, crosses the pavement, mounts the steps to the house, opens the front door and enters the house, closely observed by one of the two undertakers. Once inside ZM73 collects his passport and airline ticket. Two suitcases are ready packed, but in one he adds two travel brochures.
   Meanwhile outside, one of the Undertakers approaches the house, he mounts the steps and makes entry into the house. He walks along the hallway to the door of the study on the left. From a pocket of his overcoat he takes a gas gun and places the muzzle to the keyhole and pulls the trigger. Nerve gas is them pumped into the room on the other side of the door.
    In his study ZM73 begins to feel light-headed. He looks out of the window, the skyscrapers begin to spin, and ZM73 falls back onto a couch unconscious!
    The Undertaker goes outside to help his colleague with the coffin which they take from the back of the hearse and carry along the pavement and into the house, closing the font door behind them. It has been a few minutes and the nerve gas in the study has dissipated. The door is opened, the coffin's carried inside and the lid removed, and the unconscious body of ZM73 is placed inside, and the lid replaced. The two undertakers then carry the coffin out of the house, and place it back inside the hearse, then slowly drive away.

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The Prisoner To Be released

    Network DVD are set to release the original Prisoner' soundtrack on Vynal LP record.

LINK:  http://networkonair.com/shop/2129-prisoner-the-original-soundtrack.html


   "The brand new The Prisoner Original Soundtrack features tracks from legendary film and TV composers Ron Grainer, Albert Elms and Wilfred Josephs, and additional new tracks previously not available on vinyl. This version is presented in a gatefold sleeve and limited to 1000 copies. It will be released on 11th May 2015 and is available to pre-buy now"

Side One (duration 21mins approx.)
1. Arrival*
2. Once Upon A Time
3. A, B and C
4. The General
Side Two (duration 22mins approx.)
1. Standard Titles & Episode Opening
2. Free For All
3. Hammer Into Anvil
4. Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling
5. Living In Harmony
6. Fall Out
7 End Titles
 Composer Albert Elms, except for:  * Robert Farnon; Wilfred Josephs; Ron Grainer † Ron Grainer

    For Further details click on the link to network DVD below.

http://networkonair.com/shop/2129-prisoner-the-original-soundtrack.
html#sthash.zw1zwdvA.dpuf

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Teabreak Teaser

    How is the doctor, who conducts the Prisoner’s medical in ‘Arrival,’ able to decipher a computer print-out card just by looking at it?

BSEENU

No.6 Would Be Taken For Mad!

    With regard to recent comments about the possibility that ‘the Prisoner’ is all in ZM73’s mind {for want of a better name}, a dream, perhaps even a figment of his imagination. There are certain episodes which could fall into that category with ‘A B and C’ being a natural choice. But it doesn’t work when it comes to an episode like ‘The Chimes of Big Ben.’ That would mean, as Number 6, he was dreaming the plotting of his escape, as well as his own downfall. He might be under the illusion that he’s fooling Number 2, but he would be dreaming that Number 2 knows exactly what he’s up to, counter-plotting his escape if you like. As well as this, he introduced Nadia as a plant, and Karel who gave him the watch set at the wrong time, and set his arrival back in The Village instead of the Colonel’s office in London. And the fact that his watch said eight as Big Ben strikes that very hour would have come as no surprise to him. So in the end, what would be the point?

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                          “A Man Resigned!”

                            {Well Almost!}
BcNu

A Falling Out Amongst Friends!

    Number 48 was with them, then he went and gone. But what about Number 6? Had he once been with them? Certainly there was a falling out amongst former friends, but to what end…….escape? Had it not been for Number 6, he, 2 and 48 would have ended up somewhere in space, sealed in those orbit tubes aboard the rocket, and possibly Number 1 with them. But again, to what end, just simply to be rid of them? Perhaps the evacuation of The Village had been merely staged for the benefit of the four confederates who escaped aboard that lorry. Yes three of them managed to return to London, but was that the end? Or was it merely the beginning? We feel sure it was for the Prisoner because of the one word on the screen Prisoner. And the “late” Number 2, what of him? Surely such a man of his calibre would not be ignored by those behind The Village for long. Someone in the Establishment would recognise him for his worth, and have him abducted to The Village. The Butler, he wouldn’t have remained at No.1 Buckingham Place, he would leave soon after to begin his own journey. And writing of journeys, could the youth trying to hitch a lift on the dual carriageway really avoid a journey back to The Village? And that’s it you see, if the vicious circle begins again for the Prisoner, then it begins again for 2, 48, the Butler, everyone in fact who lived in The Village. So who or what decides that ‘the Prisoner’ is to begin all over again? Is it pre-ordained by some supernatural force or event? Such a vicious circle doesn’t give much hope of escape for anyone. But surely there was never any doubt about that.

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The Prisoner

    Perhaps ZM73 returned home one night and thought “I can’t stand this job another minute, I shall resign.” He wrote his letter of resignation, intending to hand it in the next day, and then went to bed. During the night, and with his intended resignation on his mind, he dreamt his entire experiences in The Village {as long dreams actually take only a few seconds so it is quite feasible}. When he woke up the next morning he remembered his dream. He thought “I don’t fancy that. I don’t think I’ll resign after all” and ripped up the letter. But later that day was abducted by two undertakers anyway!

    After all they were waiting for him at the top of Abingdon Street car park. So it would seem that his abduction was quite on the cards irrespective of his resignation.

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Quote For The Day

“Time…..”
“Oh time was it?”
“No it wasn’t time!”
“You couldn’t stand your job, so you needed time to think.”
                                     {No.6 and No.2 - A Change of Mind}

    Was that it? Is that what it all boiled down to? Not A B and C, but the fact that the Prisoner had become disillusioned with a job he couldn’t stand anymore, so he resigned! Well isn’t that what Patrick McGoohan did? Having become disillusioned with his role of John Drake, the fact that the ideas for ‘Danger Man’ scripts had all dried up. That and the fact that many of the episodes had become repetitive in their storylines. So McGoohan not being able to stand ‘Danger Man,’ which had made him a household name, chucked the job in because he wanted to do something else. Something that he didn’t know at the time, but which over time, would make a prisoner of him……‘the Prisoner!’

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Kill....Kill....Kill....

    Number 2 tried to do it in ‘Once Upon A Time,’ to make Number 6 kill, kill, kill. But lucky for him 6 still couldn’t do it. But if he had killed Number 2 with that fencing foil, what then? Number 6 and the Butler locked in the Embryo Room with a dead body until the time lock released the door, for how many days that would have been.
    Anyway he’d never killed before, well only on the rare occasions, and it was always with reluctance that John Drake ever killed anyone, even when he was really in harms way. As an act of survival, self-preservation. And yet Number 2 did eventually make Number 6 kill. He put him in a dangerous environment. He gave him love, he took it away, and he made Number 6 kill. But not in an act of self-preservation, but in revenge for the death of Cathy. But it had gone against the Prisoner’s belief, his moral code to put that gun belt on. To go out into the street and face that psychotic killer…….the Kid.
    The Man With No Name had been the fastest on the draw the Judge had ever seen, the last he was likely to see, because the Sheriff then resigned! Is that why he had handed in his badge and gun at the outset of ‘Living In Harmony,’ because he had grown sick of killing, facing up to any two-bit gunslinger out to make a name for himself? Is that why the Prisoner resigned? Having become fed up putting himself in harms way, in dangerous situations. John Drake was forever having to do that, and more than not, having to survive by his wits, and killing only as a last resort. It took an extraordinary situation to make Drake kill, that’s why Number 2 failed that time. Although the Prisoner was supposed to have killed in the war, but killed for peace, that can only beg one question, which war might that have been, the Korean War perhaps?

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The Social Group

    What happens is, they sit around in this social group and talk about each others problems. Take Number 42, she was declared as being disharmonious simply because she ignored Number 10’s greeting. She pleaded that she was composing poetry at the time, and failed to hear the greeting. Well what about that 61? Number 6 greeted her soon after leaving the Town Hall, “Beautiful day Sixty-one,” and she totally ignored him, and she didn’t have any excuse, she deliberately ignored Number 6. Therefore 61 should also be posted as disharmonious!
    The trouble with Number 6 is, he’s a disruptive influence, and all they want to do is help him. He won’t be helped though. He even rejects the help of the ladies sub appeal Committee, of which Number 42 is soon an active member.
    Number 6 shows no contrition, why should he, he’s done nothing wrong. The Committee is merely a tool of Number 2’s, who desires to steal the good citizens minds, and not give them back.
    Number 86 said that she was once posted disharmonious, that must have been really terrible for her. But she was helped by the Social Group, now it is she who runs that group. It must be that the group was very busy, seeing as there were so many disharmonious unmutuals in The Village. Well the interim Number 2 of the previous episode said that there are malcontents in The Village, and that Number 6 is top of the bill! Its possible that these malcontents which the interim Number 2 made mention of, are the enemies within, which a former Number 2 referred to in his article calling for an increase in vigilance. So with this interim Number 2 knowing about these malcontents, perhaps Number 2 of ’Hammer Into Anvil was not so paranoid after all!

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Thought For The Day

    The President heaps praise upon the former Number 6, as he has vindicated the right of the individual to be individual. Sir as he became known is an individual, he’s on his own. However it would seem that the delegates of the Assembly {who represent each section of society} appear to be rather intolerant  towards individuals. Although each delegate represents an individual section of society, and yet hide behind a mask of anonymity. Prior to the charge against Number 48, read out by the delegate for Anarchy, the delegates fell for 48’s singing and dancing about, and actively joined in. It was only the President who was able to regain power, and the delegates returned back to “normality.”
   So with the delegates intolerance towards individuals, there is no position on the Assembly for a representative for “Individuals.” So imagine that the former Number 6 had accepted, not the transfer of so called “ultimate power,” but The Village. He might well have ended up being assimilated into the Assembly as a new member, and what better position to give a man who has recently vindicated the right of the individual to be individual, than as a delegate who represents “Individuals” within society. Who speaks out for the need to be special and better than anyone else {as Number 6 seemed to think he was} otherwise one is no longer individual.

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

             The Face of Sincerity!

BCNU

The Village Guardian

   Metaphorically speaking Rover can represent ones own fears. When confronted by Rover the victim is confronted by what he or she fears the most. The Prisoner once confronted those fears on the beach, but was eventually suffocated by them! Such is the nature of The Village Guardian. Poor old Curtis, he became nervous because he was afraid of what Rover would do to him, and that’s why Rover attacked and suffocated him. Curtis’s fear brought about his own downfall. But imagine Rover’s problem had Curtis not become nervous at all when he gave Rover the password “Schizoid Man.” That instead of becoming afraid and running, Curtis had actually the nerve to hold his ground. Thus faced with both 6’s standing there resolutely, giving the password firmly and with confidence. Perhaps then a second Rover could have been summoned to the scene and then both 6’s herded back to the Green Dome, or subdued by suffocation!

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The Village

    Was The Village really evacuated during the ‘Fall Out?’ Yes we see people running about The Village, and away along the beach, and two security guards racing through The Village in a Mini-Moke. However we do not see people actually boarding the helicopters, only a number of helicopters taking off from different points of The Village. Might it not be that the apparent evacuation was staged, and is nothing more than another manipulation of community for the benefit of Number 6, thereby giving the opportunity for escape for 6 and his three confederates. This in the safe knowledge that as in ‘Many Happy Returns,’ the Prisoner would soon be returned to The Village!

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Bureau of Visual Records

    Seeing as how hardly any progress was made the first time, the unilateral decision was made to bring the Prisoner back! Perhaps this time, with lessons learned from the past, better progress can be made with our friend Number 6! Although there is every possibility, or perhaps it should be said, danger, that the self same mistakes will be made!!

BCNU