Aren’t You Supposed To Be Dead?

   During the episode of ‘Dance of the Dead,’ No.2 makes it quite clear that as far as the outside world is concerned Number 6 is dead! The body lying in a drawer in the mortuary will be amended, so too the wallet in the dead man’s pocket. And it’s Number 6 who has died in an accident at sea. This is an important fact, so why was it so easily forgotten? After all when ZM73 returned to London in ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’ no-one makes mention of the fact that he is supposed to be dead! More than that, had ‘Dance of the Dead’ been the second episode in the series, as per the library/production order, then it would have been the same with ‘Many Happy Returns’ when Number 6 went to see the Colonel, that Number 6 was supposed to be dead! Although having recently survived an arduous sea voyage, Number 6 could simply have said that the news of his death had been greatly exaggerated! However remembering that in the production of ‘the Prisoner’ ‘Dance of the Dead’ was produced before ‘Many Happy Returns,’ then the fact that Number 6 was supposed to have died in an accident at sea had been forgotten anyway! Yet originally the idea of Number 6 having died in an accident at sea was intended for ‘Many Happy Returns, only the idea was cut from the episode. So scriptwriter Anthony Skene wrote it into ‘Dance of the Dead.’ And yet as it stands, the fact that Number 6 is supposed to be dead appeared to have been forgotten by McGoohan!

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