The 1960’s
television production was under the control of one man, Patrick Joseph
McGoohan. His word during the production of the series was law, and he laid his
hand upon every aspect undertaken to produce such a series. Such was his
authority, drive, and ambition. He delivered such a television series which
broke the mould, nothing of its like had been seen before, especially the final
episode ‘Fall Out.’
Down the years, nay through the decades, there are quite
literally thousands upon thousands of people who have been enthusiasts of ‘the
Prisoner.’ Many have remained loyal to the series, while others have fallen
away, their interest in ‘the Prisoner’ having waxed and waned. And yet there
have always been new people to discover ‘the Prisoner’ people who have become
confirmed enthusiasts, and that remains true to this day. Through ‘the
Prisoner’ Patrick Joseph McGoohan made prisoners of us all at one time or
another. But he did more then that, although during the production of ‘the
Prisoner’ he remained in full and complete control of the project. Once ‘the
Prisoner’ had been finished he relinquished that control, and left it to each
and every person to watch the series and arrive at his or her conclusion as to
what ’the Prisoner’ is all about. He gave our imaginations the freedom to make
of ‘the Prisoner’ what we will.
Be seeing you
He was not always "in full and complete control of the project". When George Markstein and he parted company, McGoohan asked around amongst the crew if they had any script ideas, as he himself was bereft of any. When Markstein left, the programme was rudderless for a while, some would say forever.
ReplyDeleteHello Anonymous,
DeleteYes I take your point, and the series did suffer towards the end. If only McGoohan had spread the money out equally for each episode, instead of putting so much into the first four episodes. I've never understood the "bereft of script ideas," when there were two perfectly good scripts on the table, 'The Outsider,' and 'Don't Get Yourself Killed' which McGoohan rejected.
Very kind regards
David
BCNU