I only say
that because in early 1992 Channel 4 screened 13 episodes of ‘TV Heaven,’
presented by Frank Muir. It was a series in which 12 episodes focused on a
particular year from both the 60’s and 70’s, showing an episode from a TV
series of the day, with one episode encompassing the whole of the 1950’s. ‘The Prisoner’
featured of course, and the episode which was screened was ‘The Girl Who Was
Death.’ I suppose it was felt that they were safe screening this particular
episode, as it is the most uncomplicated episode of ‘the Prisoner,’ being pure
adventure. And I read somewhere that ‘The Girl Who Was Death’ has been screened
on television the most over the years and decades.
‘The Girl Who Was Death’ can be screened at
any time, to virtually any audience, because people can watch it without having
to think about it. Without wondering what is taking place on the screen, and
having to understand what is taking place. It is an episode which does not
suffer from the undercurrents and murmurs of any deeper themes of ‘the
Prisoner.’ What you get from this episode is what you see. In fact it could be
argued that this episode has the least to do with ‘the Prisoner,’ and is only
connected to the series via the final scene with a somewhat pitiable Number 2 and
his assistant Number 10.
The overall character of ‘The Girl Who Was
Death’ is most definitely that of a “spy spoof” from beginning to end. The style
of the episode is that of ‘Danger Man,’ and so could be said to give some
incite into Number 6’s former work in which he was employed before he resigned.
If of course you are of the persuasion that Number 6 is John Drake. Either that,
or it demonstrated the kind of work Patrick McGoohan enacted before he resigned from ‘Danger Man.’
What ‘The Girl Who was Death’ does is, it
relives the tension. It works as a buffer between what has passed and that
which is yet to come, ‘Once Upon A Time,’ and ‘Fall Out.’ But really ‘The Girl
who Was Death’ is another of those “filler” episodes, which if removed ‘the
Prisoner’ would not suffer one iota!
Be seeing you
Surely you mean "spy spoof" not poof?!
ReplyDeleteNadia
x
Hello Nadia,
DeleteYes I did. Thank you for drawing this to my attention, an amendment has been made.
Very kind regards
David
BCNU
I.T.V. screened it in 1982 as part of its 'Best Of British' series. I agree that its not representative of the series, but its great fun. The casting of an actor called 'John Drake' proves that it wasn't meant to be taken seriously. Best wishes, Zokko
ReplyDeleteHello Zokko,
DeleteITV's 'Best of British,' I had quite forgotten that series, thank you for the reminder.
Yes, 'The Girl Who Was Death' is a bit of fun, and having an actor called John Drake, a possible in-joke or coincidence?
Best wishes
David
BCNU
Here is something I've just posted elsewhere where "The Girl Who Was Death" was posted as the least favourite episode -
ReplyDeleteIn defence of "The Girl Who Was Death" - at the end of this episode, it is revealed that The Prisoner was in fact only reading a story to children from a book entitled The Village Story Book. So, even children know the stories the Village wants them to know. The very next episode (the penultimate one) is "Once Upon a Time". Every episode has conundrums. Using news and fake news, if you will. "The GirlWho Was Death" quite nicely sets up the Village's own story for "Once Upon a Time".