'Big Finish' - the Prisoner Audio Teaser Trailer

 The Prisoner Audio Series

Below is a link to the 'BIG FINISH' audio teaser trailer.

Based on the 1967 series ITC series.
 
https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/the-prisoner-teaser-trailer/s-29kgX?utm_content=buffer7b8ca&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

  Also for synopis information.

https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/the-prisoner-teaser-trailer/s-29kgX?utm_content=buffer7b8ca&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer 

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Caught On Camera!

   There was a clue to the identity of this Mister X, this man shrouded in anonymity. The clue is the spectacles worn beneath his stocking mask. It might have been better had he removed his spectacles first, don’t you think?

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                               “Gun Smoke!”

BCNU

Who Are The Enemies Within?

    According to The Tally Ho, Number 2 has called for an increase in vigilance, and in the article headed “Security of The Community” he goes on to talk about “the enemies in our midst.” So who are these unseen enemies? Well one was Number 12 of Administration. He colluded with Number 6 to stop the educational experiment of Speedlearn, to destroy the General. And Number 6 is The Village’s “public enemy,” amongst other malcontents.

   Number 6 in one of his election speeches said that his prime objective is security of the community. In the article Number 2 speaks of security, but it’s the security of the Community which must be protected, not the community itself! Unless he means if the security is broken, then the people are then left unprotected.

   “We must constantly be on our guard against enemies in our midst,” although they don’t necessarily know where their enemies might be, or who they are. Might not these enemies within, who Number 2 refers to, be Jammers? After all the actions taken by Number 6 were the acts of a Jammer, non-existent plots and schemes thought up simply to play on Number 2’s paranoia.

   Number 2 warns the community to be on constant look out against traitors, who behind their back, seek to undermine and destroy them. Well both the shopkeeper and the waiter at the café in ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ took those words to heart. And in their readiness to report any unusual activity to Number 2 made it easy for Number 6 to play them as pawns in his game against Number 2. He accused the Supervisor-Number 26 as being part of a conspiracy, and had him removed from his position. And his assistant, Number 14, he accused of being a traitor, in working with Number 6 behind his back! If only Number 2 had trusted his assistant more, allowed him to work more closely with him, he would have seen what a loyal ally Number 14 was, or could have been, against Number 6.

    “No mercy would be shown to those who, against the interests of the community, sabotage “our great achievements.” That reads like the out-going Number 2 of ‘It’s Your Funeral.’ But it didn’t work for the General and Speedlearn, those “achievements” were well and truly sabotaged by Number 6, aided by Number 12 of course.

   So Number 2 is going to teach those who think they can get away with their plots and conspiracies, a short sharp lesson. Could this possibly be building up to the mass reprisals for the assassination of the out-going Number 2 of ‘It’s Your Funeral?’ After all at the time of the above article in The Tally Ho, the “enemies within” were unknown, only suspected. Yet by the time of ‘It’s Your Funeral’ a list of “malcontents” had been drawn up, and Number 6 was top of that list. So it had been decided to take action against those unmutuals, the troublemakers, rumourmongers, and trouble makers. In other words not just give a short sharp shock to the community, but to purge itself at the same time. Would such a purge of its malcontents have included Number6? It should have done, had it taken place.

    But its not only the conspirators who need to look out, its those who look the other way, and not report their suspicions, as they themselves would be treated as traitors! This of course would include people like Number 112 the shopkeeper of the General Stores, and the waiter at the café.

    The only trouble is, Number 2 is initiating a witch-hunt. “It is the duty of each one of us to fight this menace and those who know more than they tell are high on the list of guilty ones. No mercy will be shown to anyone who shirks his duty to report his neighbour’s secrets.” He expects neighbour to report neighbour as with the McCarthy Communist witch-hunt of the 1950’s, when anyone and everyone could become suspected of being a Communist.

   And yet the word “security” rings richly in our ears today. Everyone must be vigilant against the conspirators who endanger our community. The only word Number 2 doesn’t use is “Terrorism!”

   

Be seeing you

Bureau of Visual Records

   Number 6 said the maids come and they go. First trying to extract certain information from him, while the maid at night makes him his nightcap of hot cocoa in order to help him sleep. Number 58 brings Number 6 his breakfast one morning, as does Number 54 in the picture above. In ‘Dance of The Dead’ the night time maid Number 21 makes his nightcap and tells him that it’s good for him. After ‘Dance of The Dead’ it’s Number 8 in ‘Checkmate’ who makes Number 6 his nightcap of hot chocolate. Mind you Number 8 is not the only woman to wait on Number 6, another Number 8 {Nadia} boiled Number 2 two eggs one morning, I wonder where Number 6’s personal maid was that time? So the maids come and they go, in fact Number 54 is the last ever personal maid we see to grace Number 6’s cottage. The first flicked a yellow duster about the place, the last a feather duster. Perhaps having a personal maid was a privilege, a privilege eventually to be taken away from our friend Number 6. Then he would have to make his own bed, do his own housework, wash and clean for himself. Make his own breakfast, when he’d no-one else to do it for him. And do his own laundry. But somehow I don’t see Number 6 as the domestic type, do you?

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Fall Out

    There is a general falling out between former friends, while Number 6 falls out with almost anyone. As for Number 48, he was with them {presumably once as Number 8} but then he went and gone. Number 8 died by committing suicide, perhaps they were able to resuscitate him, and like Number 2 he turned on, and bit the hands that feeds, in other words he saw the light!

   Fallout is associated with nuclear destruction, which is supposed to be what happened to The Village. There was no nuclear explosion, The Village may have been evacuated, but it was left whole and intact. But the episode does show the consequences of fall out, four escapees, and a whole Village of people on their hands who they do not know what to do with. Well why not simply put them all back in The Village!

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What’s that John Drake Up To?

    First boy “That’s Patrick McGoohan.”
    Second boy “We know that.”
    Third boy “Everyone knows that.”

    “So what’s John Drake up to do you think?”
    “That’s not John Drake!”

    “How do you make that out?”
    Third boy “John Drake drives a Mini Cooper S.”
    “So?”
    “That’s a Lotus Seven.”
   Second Boy “And he doesn’t live here!”
   First boy “Who doesn’t?”
   “John Drake.”
   Third Boy “He lives in Chelsea.”
   “Yeah, in a mews.”
   Second Boy “In Rawson’s gaff!”

   First boy “Yeah, Rawson was selling Naval secrets.”
   “Rawson was killed.”
   “So Drake moved into his mews house.”
   “I like that car.”
   “I’m going to have one just like it.”
   “So am I.”
   First Boy “I’m not!”
   “Why not?”
   “I don’t want the same car as you two!”
   Second Boy “Do you think that they want any best boys?”
   Third Boy “They might want a best boy!”
   First Boy “Well if they do they’d pick me.”
   “Why you?”
   “Because I’m the best boy here!”
   “No you’re not, I am.”
   Second Boy “Well I’m better than both of you!”
   David Tombiln “Oi! If you boys can’t be quiet, I’ll send you all home.”
   Second Boy “Now see what you’ve gone and done.”

   First Boy “Well I didn’t do it.”
   Neither did I!”

   Second Boy “Well who is this Prisoner bloke anyway?”
   “Patrick McGoohan of course, any idiot can see that.”
   “He’s John Drake!”
   “I like John Drake, he’s my hero.”
   “What about all those gadgets he uses?”
   “They’re not real.”
   “I bet you they are!”
   “I betcha they’re not!”
   Third Boy “Here, what’s them Undertakers doing over there?”
   “Waiting for someone to die!”
   “First Boy “Ask him.”
   “Ask who what?”
   “Ask Pat for his autograph.”
   “Not me.”
   “Nor me.”
   First boy “Excuse me Mister McGoohan, can I have your autograph?”
   “Wow, I don’t believe you did that!”
   “Neither do I. What’s it say?”
   “For Lotus thanks, signed Patrick McGoohan.”
   “Your name’s not Lotus!”
   “No, but I got his autograph!”
    Third Boy “Come on, let’s go and play Danger Man.”

    “Yeah, and this time I’m Danger Man.”
    “No you’re not, I am, you can both be the villains who Drake’s got to get the secret papers from.”

    “What secret papers?”

    “The plans for a secret German rocket, that’s going to destroy London.”
    “What all of it?”
    “Well of course all of it. You wouldn’t have only part of a rocket destroy London!”
    “Well I bags being the rocket………..woooosssh!”

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More Village

   This is Helen {left} but in The Village she is known as M2, Two’s wife. She is only ever seen out and about in The Village once, and that was only to spend more time with her son, who she never knew, who she never even gave physical birth to. Her son 11-12 was but a figment of her own imagination! In other words she thought him up in her subconscious, but he didn’t turn out the way she thought. He ended up a homosexual, who murdered both his lover 909 and his mother!
    But in the end Helen became free of the Village, which Two handed over to Six and 313 {right}. But is it my imagination, isn’t there a resemblance between Helen and 313?

   The hair is both of the same colouring, and the facial features are similar. 313 is thinner in the face that’s all. It’s just a pity that Sarah isn’t like Helen, because its not 313 who is to dream the next Village, its Sarah. And Sarah isn’t like Helen at all, especially where it counts, in the mind, being psychologically disturbed since she was abused as a girl. Now, you wouldn’t want Sarah conjuring up The Village for people to live in her subconscious….would you?

Village might not be best for us after all!
Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                               “Surrealism.”

BCNU

Bring Out The Dead!

  Having resigned his job, by handing in his letter of resignation to a balding, bespectacled man sat behind a desk, the Prisoner then drives back to his London home, shadowed by two Undertakers in a black hearse.
   Having arrived home, that being No.1 Buckingham Place, Westminster, London, the Prisoner then collects two ready packed suitcases. In one he packs a couple of magazines, reading material for the journey. Then collects his passport and airline ticket to Europe. Well there's nothing much wrong with that, save for the fact that this was no spur of the moment thing. The Prisoner had thought about resigning, and was prepared to make a quick get-a-way! Hence the two ready packed suitcases. But where was the Prisoner going in such a hurry, and why? Perhaps he was going to Ireland, oh no, a bit too cold that time of year. Paris perhaps? Well he was heading to Europe, and the Prisoner did attend Madame Engadine's celebrated parties in Paris. And in the episode of ‘A B & C’ Engadine did ask the Prisoner what he was going to do with his new life.
    But this is quite incidental, because the Prisoner had left it all too late. 'They' came for him before he was expecting them! Oh yes, he was expecting them. Hence the Prisoner's haste to get away, to escape, before they came for him. But why were they coming for him? Why did the Prisoner feel the need to get away, when all he had to do was go home, have a drink, put his feet up, and think about what he was going to do for the rest of his life. Why not simply go on holiday somewhere? Perhaps that was it. Perhaps the Prisoner was simply in a hurry to catch his plane.
    The Prisoner may have been expecting them, but I bet he never thought they would come in the form of two Undertakers! Not that the Prisoner actually saw them, the two undertakers and the black hearse parked outside in the street. The Undertakers gained entry to the Prisoner's house with the aid of a key. Pumped nerve gas into the study through the keyhole of the study door, using a gas gun, of the type seen in both episodes of ‘The Schizoid Man,’ and ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.’ Then a coffin was brought in, and the body of the unconscious Prisoner was placed inside, and the coffin lid replaced. The coffin was then carried from the house and placed in the back of the hearse. Picture the scene if you will, as the two undertakers carried the coffin from the house of No1 Buckingham Place, across the pavement, and placed it in the back of the hearse. It's an everyday occurrence, the Undertakers collecting a coffin from someone's home, to take the deceased away to a funeral. Its not the case that this would go unnoticed, but people tend to look away respectfully and not appear to stare. A passing gentleman might pause, and remove his hat in respect for the dead person lying there in the coffin. But in this case, and how many cases like it, the coffin actually containing the body of a man, or woman, being abducted from his home, by two agents, their origin quite unknown!

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Its As No.51 Says

        “I have met no-one here who has committed a crime!”                                

                      {Number 51 the Watchmaker - It’s Your Funeral}

    Everyone is in The Village for one reason or another. Number 53-the Rook for example, developed an electronic defence system, but he had the treasonable thought that all nations should have it, as he thought it would have ensured World peace. So they put him in The Village to prevent his possible defection to the other side. But the only thing was they lost the plans anyway, some petty bungling bureaucrat let his bag get swiped! 53 appeared pleased about that, so treasonable thoughts brought him to The Village.
    People like Cobb, Dutton, Chambers, and Number 6 are in The Village in order to have information extracted from them, and it’s only a question of time before they give it, or have it forcefully removed! And yet there are a large number of citizens who you wonder about. What possible reason could have seen them brought to The Village? Like Number 8 of ‘Checkmate’ and the couple who greeted the Prisoner on the day of his arrival, they didn’t settle for ages, now they wouldn’t leave for the World. Or Alison, and then there is Monique and her father the watchmaker. Did he go to The Village of his own volition, to work as a watchmaker? Just as others, like The Professor and Madam Professor apparently went there of their own free will. And yet both the Professor and the watchmaker had something in common, they had both become disillusioned! What’s more in the end Madam Professor remained in The Village a widow, perhaps the watchmaker was already a widower, seeing as there is his daughter Monique, but never a mention of wife or mother!

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Coming Face To Face With Oneself!

   The first person to come face to face with himself, was Number 2, and it damned near broke the man. Well it would, not only to come face to face with his other self, but to discover that he was in fact ‘C.‘ However he rallied and  began to speak to himself, as he came to realise that his other self was the only person that could help him. Because he had been given a white envelope by the Prisoner, and Number 2 desperately urged his other self to open the envelope. And yet it was to no avail. Number 2’s other self had been guilty of the same problem Number 2 suffered from, he underestimated Number 6!    
    Number 6 was next to come face to face with himself, in the guise of Curtis. Where Cutis came from we simply do not know, but we do know that he and Number 2 had once worked together. After all on the taxi ride to the helicopter Number 2 told Curtis {Number 6} that he had never seen him so strung up. Number 6 again comes face to face with himself funnily enough in ‘The General,’ when he’s uncovering those busts in the Professor’s house. The bust probably sculpted by Madam Professor from photographs of the subject. I couldn’t see Number 6 “sitting” to have his bust sculpted. He then came face to face with himself in the cloakroom in ‘Fall Out,’ that full-size effigy of himself wearing his own suit of clothes. And finally there is Number 1. The Prisoner’s self? His id against his self? Curtis? Or simply another look-a-like, Number 6 treats Number 1 the same as he does Curtis in ‘The Schizoid Man.’ Well he would have, had he been able to lay hands on the man. But to do that would have been rather repetitive. And so in the best tradition of villains and bad men, Number 1 suddenly has this compunction to climb up a ladder, to gain the high ground. And yet in doing that he has sealed his own fate. Or rather Number 6 sealed his own fate when he sealed that hatch. One would think, judging by the way he treats Curtis and Number 1, that Number 6  doesn’t like himself that much!

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60 Second Interview With a One-Time Prisoner

    Village Advocate “You know you’ve only got yourself to blame for this.”
    The Prisoner “How do you make that out?”
    “Well you’re obviously your own worst enemy.”
    “That could be said of all of us!”
    “We’re not discussing everyone here, only you! All you had to do was answer one simple question, and it would have been all over and done with.”
    “Betcha it wouldn’t.”
    “No, probably not. You could have gone far in The Village, if only you had been with us!”
    “I don’t join clubs, or societies. I’m not the Masonic type.”
    “No, you are a man of steel. You have resisted, held fast, fought, maintained, destroyed coercion. You have, it seems, vindicated the right of the individual to be individual.”
    “Thanks very much.”
    “No you haven’t. You have been as stubborn as anyone can get. You have refused to accept. You’ve put yourself above others, and especially above the rules. You have refused to give any information.”
    “I gave the time of my birth.”
    “Yes, but we knew that anyway!”
    “Then why bother asking in the first place?”
    “Because it was a ploy!”
    “I knew that.”
    “You do, you know everything.”
    “I do?”
    “We have you to thank for this predicament. For The Village and our incarceration in it. You are many things, a man of principle, a moral man, yet you are so, so arrogant. And it is your arrogance that has brought us here to this moment in time.”
    “So what happens now?”
    “People will praise you. They will idolise you, worship you, and probably hate you even more.”
    “Why?”
    “Because you will have made prisoners of them by now.”
    “Prisoners?”
    “Prisoners, what think you of that?”
    “Everyone has a choice.”
    “I expect so. And yet you, through your creation, will be seen as some piped piper.”
    “Wasn’t he involved with rats?”
    “Children.”
    “No rats.”
    “And then it was children. Because children will become prisoners of your creation. What have you to say about that?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Nothing?”
    “Nothing.”
    “There you are, another demonstration of this man’s arrogance.”
    “Well there are two sides to every coin. Now perhaps you are ready to meet Number One.”
    “Yes.”
    {A white robed figure steps forward holding something in his hands. He hands it to the Prisoner}
    “What’s this?”
    “A mirror. It has been a friend of yours on occasion. It has revealed on no less than two occasions the truth. So look deep into the mirror you now hold. Who do you see?”
    “Me, I see me.”
    “No, you see the man responsible for all that has taken place. The man responsible for all that has happened to you. You see yourself!”
    “That’s not possible.”
    “Who else could Number One have been? Your own arrogance made you Number One.”
    “Well I worked damned hard for it. No-one worked harder than me.”
    “But you resigned!”
    “Well there wasn’t anyone else who would fit the role. Who else could Number One have been?
   “In this particular instance……………………only you.”

Be seeing you

Number 2

    It may be wondered what it was that made each subsequent Number 2 go to The Village in the first place? What was the motivation? What was said to persuade each one to go in the first place, let alone to go back a second time. Perhaps it was a desire to serve. On the other hand they may have been given no choice in the matter. In any case each Number 2 is different from each other.
    One or two are charming, ones almost statesman like, while another is a good administrator. Interrogators yes. Persuasive yes, cunning, devious, and calculating. Whilst some would see Number 6 broken, others see Number 6 as being too important to be reduced to a man of fragments, because Number 6 has a future with The Village. And so other ways must be employed, and if necessary Number 6 must be persuaded. If Number 6 would answer just one simple question then all the rest would follow, and they would have him within their power.
   But Number 6 isn’t like the others, he’s not a sheep, he’s a goat, and goats cause trouble, Number 6 is a damned troublemaker! But even so he has to be handled very differently, seeing as how important it is. And in regard to handling Number 6 differently to the others, it would be an interesting experiment to know how different Number 2’s would have handled other Number 2’s assignments. Mix them up a bit, after all which of the Number 2’s would have had the mental strength to be locked in room in a one on one situation with Number 6? As it is I think the best Number 2 was chosen for that particular assignment, the former Number 2 of ‘The Chimes of Big Ben.’ Because as well as the doctor patient scenario, the warder and prisoner aspect, there’s the rapport between the two men to take into consideration. Although that could have been a weakness. As for the educational experiment of speed learn, any of the Number 2’s could have overseen that. Well up until the moment Number 6 involved himself in the equation. Then the situation would have got tricky for any Number 2. The trick being not to underestimate Number 6. Too many Number 2’s were guilty of that. Several just getting away with it, like Number 2 in the episode of ‘The Schizoid Man.’ The only ace in the hole for him was the fact that Number 6 couldn’t possibly have known that Susan died a year ago!
    On the whole Number 2 appeared comfortable in The Village, although perhaps not quite at home. One even returned to The Village in order to retire, perhaps because he had carried out so much work for The Village and the community, that for him The Village had become home. And for all we know, he may well have spent his time on leave in The Village! Certainly another who had become as a weak link in the chain of command in having completely snapped, may well have spent the rest of his time on the psychiatric ward of the hospital. It takes a special kind of man not only to deal with the rigours of command, to be involved with Number 1’s machinations against Number 6, but to also come to terms with The Village as a whole. Which for most they did, and coming unstuck when the unknown quantity became involved, that of Number 6!

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More Village

    It will soon be time to watch THEPRIS6NER once again. It seems a long time since April when I celebrated the 5th anniversary of the series premier here in Britain by watching the series then. After watching, I’m still left wanting more Village. I suppose it’s because each of the six episodes isn’t an hour in length, they’re not even fifty minutes in duration, the finale ‘Checkmate’ isn’t even 45 minutes in duration! But then as I’ve said before about THEPRIS6NER more is less.
    At least unlike the original, this series isn’t quite the vicious circle. Yes Michael is still a prisoner, but one who can make his own prison. A better Village, moral Village, with freedom in the prison. What’s more it’s still going to be in the desert. But which desert? Is the desert as unreal as The Village, that it’s only a figment of the imagination. Close your eyes and The Village is all about you, open them and it’s gone. If only it were that easy.
   The only way to make a better Village is if the constructor has no mental problems, has a clear conscience, with no hang-ups. A healthy body and a clean mind are the foundations upon which Michael Six might begin to build his better Village. But if the tools he uses are in anyway disturbed, well the road to hell is littered with good intentions.
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Bureau of Visual Records

   What is it Number 6 wants? What we all want ultimately….to escape! Well here’s an out-going Number 2, escaping the confines of The Village, and the finality of old age. No living in quiet retirement in the Old People’s Home for him. What’s more he’s piloting the helicopter himself {as Number 6 did in ‘Arrival’} no doubt to the landing stage. Where’s the regular pilot? Perhaps this way he’s preventing the possibility of the regular pilot from being ordered back to The Village. What’s more he’s probably been able to disable the remote control unit. But before he could reach this stage of his escape, he would need an Electro Pass to synchronise with the alarm system, which he could have taken from Number 6’s cottage!

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                                 “The Arrival!”

BSEENU

A favourite Scene in The Prisoner

   There is a great deal going on in the scene as the Prisoner approaches the Piazza. A chap comes along to collect the Penny Farthing, Citizens parade around the pool and fountain, two men are fighting in the water, while the ex-Admiral floats his plastic boat into the water.
    A couple pass by and greet the Prisoner, well it is a beautiful day. The old couple didn’t settle for ages, now they wouldn’t leave for the     World. Number 2 tells Number 6 that from the balcony of the Gloriette.
   Again in the pool there is a man sitting in a dingy, I’m not sure if there’s enough water for him to actually row that craft about the pool. There is a sign “Free Sea,” I’ve never really known the meaning behind that sign.
   People are parading around the piazza, some with open umbrellas, although its not raining, so acting as parasols for protection against the sun. Senior citizens being pushed about in wheelchairs, another riding a tricycle, three Mini-Mokes are driven around the Piazza, the drivers not looking for a fare, but seem there to make up the parade.  Suddenly Number 2 gives the order to wait, then be still, and everyone stands stock till, as everything comes to a stop. And then the Guardian puts in an appearance, balanced upon the water spout of the fountain. The Prisoner makes to move but finds himself rooted to the spot. Then miraculously the white sphere then moves to the top of the Gloriette, and it’s grown hugely in size, and then even the water spout stops! A young man in sun glasses and a striped jersey begins to dash about in no certain direction. The young man, who hasn’t gone anywhere, but he still appears to be dodging about without really dodging about if you get my meaning. Number 2 tells him to come back, but he hasn’t run away yet! And then there’s a blood curdling roar emitting from the white membranic sphere, and it comes down, floating in the air towards the uncertain young man. The thing is quickly upon its prey, smothering the man’s face with its membrane and suffocating him into either unconsciousness or to death. And then the Guardian is gone, moving off quickly down the steps of the Piazza and across the lawn. The Prisoner asks “What was that?” To which Number 2’s reply comes “That would be telling!”
   There is a comparison to be made here, between the young man who for some unapparent reason dodges about the Piazza, and Number 14, the chess champion of ‘Checkmate.’ The fact that when there’s a Guardian about and everyone is standing still, they are able to move about quite freely.

Be seeing you

Quote For The Day

    “You didn’t sleep here last night!”
    “I thought I’d save you the trouble of making up the bed. Where’s the fancy costume?”
    “They’ve given me a new dress, something special tonight.”
    “And the cat?”
    “Gone. I didn’t make it.”
    “Everyone seems to be having a good time outside.”
                    {The maid-Number 56 and Number 6 Dance of The Dead}
    Through the conversation Number 6 is manipulating his right arm. Perhaps he slept on it in the night. Not very comfortable sleeping on the beach. And yet for a prisoner, Number 6 has a reasonably easy life, he doesn’t have to make his own breakfast, but that’s the same for many a prisoner. However they do have to make their own beds. But not our Number 6, he’s got personal maids for that. Well until the privilege of said personal maid is taken away from him. Then not only does he have to make his own bed, but also his own breakfast, except when Number 8 boils two eggs for him!
   The maid-Number 54 seemed surprised that Number 6 hadn’t slept in his cottage that night. Where did she imagine Number 6 had spent the night? In some lady’s boudoir perhaps! And Number 6, where was everyone having a good time outside? He was quick enough to catch onto the brainwashed expressions on the faces of the members of the local Town Council that time. So why didn’t he pick up on the blank expression on everyone’s face outside? To the well trained eye all the citizens were doing was going through the motions, parading around and waving their flags. No-one was cheering, smiling, or looking in anyway joyous! Even at the Ball Number 2 had to tell the musicians to play, and the people to dance. It was almost as though they were all being told what to do, and when to do it because they didn’t know. But it didn’t take much to turn docile imbeciles into a mob screaming for blood! Mind you it didn’t take long for them to settle down again, to be led away by little Bo-Peep looking after her sheep! Number 6 once described the people of The Village to Number 42 as being sheep. So if the people of the Village are sheep, then Number 6 could be described as a goat. Goats are trouble, and the citizens of The Village are mostly law abiding people, so sometimes when a goat strays amongst them things begin to happen, as they did after the Prisoner arrived in The Village!

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ITV's At 60 Programme Poll

   The results are out! A poll was taken to find ITV’s greatest show to celebrate 60 years. That greatest show was voted ‘Auf Wiedersehen Pet, about a group of Geordies from Newcastle, working on a building site in Germany. You might be surprised, as indeed I was, that ‘the Prisoner’ came in fifth in the poll. I think this is the highest rating the series has received in any poll taken about television series.

   However this poll was taken out by the Radio Times, nothing unusual in that I hear you say, well it is when you consider that the Radio Times was originally for BBC radio, and then with the advent of television the programme guide encompassed television as well. Then came ITV and ITV had its own television guide call the TV Times. And for decades never the Radio Times and TV Times should meet. What I mean is, it was a rule that the two magazines never advertised each other’s television programmes, a rule which has been broken in recent years. However, my first reaction to this poll of ITV’S greatest television programmes, is that it was being undertaken by the Radio Times, when it should have been the TV Times. After all it is 60 years of ITV the poll was celebrating. What’s more why use a picture from ‘The Girl Who Was Death?’ Yes it is from an episode of ‘the Prisoner,’ but it doesn’t optimise ‘the Prisoner.’ Why didn’t they use a picture from ‘Arrival,’ Free For All,’ or ‘Checkmate?’

   And finally, I know that there are a large number of enthusiasts here in Britain who are wanting a screening of ‘the Prisoner’ on ITV in order to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, and what I am about to write they will find harsh and will disagree with it. However if ITV couldn’t commission its own magazine to conduct a poll of their greatest television programmes, and is unable to celebrate itself with either an evening screening of vintage television programmes, or even a short series, what chance does a screening of ‘the Prisoner’ have? None that I can see!

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Bureau of Visual Records

    “One squirt you’re paralysed, two squirts you’re dead!” Who is Curtis trying to fool? Using a nerve gas gun, in such a confined space. Surely if he pulled the trigger, even just the once, the room would be filled with a cloud of nerve gas resulting in his own paralysis as well as that of Number 6! Unless Curtis has been injected, or has taken a pill, thus providing an automatic antidote, thereby neutralising the effects of the nerve gas. The same could be said of the Chauffeur who discharges his gas gun in the cellar of the Barber’s shop on ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.’ After all he’s not wearing a gas mask!

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Poor Old Chap!

  It is a surreal moment in ‘A B and C’ when Number 6 is seen entering the laboratory, in his dream, when Number 2 and his assistant Number 14 are awake, yet caught up within an imaginary scene. Number Six says to Number 2 “I forgot to give you this” holding out a white envelope. Number 2 is then reduced to yelling at himself on the screen “Open it you fool, open it” in his desperation to know what the envelope contains. He thinks it’s something the Prisoner had to sell, and then again it might have the Prisoner’s letter of resignation. And yet in reality, if it’s possible for reality to dwell within a dream, all the envelope contained were a number of holiday leaflets. So what he told Engadine was true, he really was going on holiday!

   As it happens for me it’s the leaflet for Italy that somehow stands out. I suppose it makes me think of the Italianate village of Portmeirion. A place that’s different, quiet, a place where you can think!

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The Therapy Zone

    Now that shouldn’t have happened! Something has gone drastically wrong with Plan Division Q! And during that ferocious fight between Number 6 and Number 100 who was attempting to retrieve the situation, if by chance one of them had inadvertently pressed the detonator…………well it would have been adieu Number 2! In fact I would be surprised if it really mattered who was wearing that Great Seal of office should it have been detonated. After all it was packed with plastic explosive, the blast would have shattered the Great Seal, all those pieces of metal flying about, everyone would have been injured, let alone killed in the blast when the bomb went off!
    But what could have been going through the new Number 2’s mind when the official from administration placed the Great Seal of Office about his head and shoulders, apart from the obvious that is! It’s no wonder he wanted to get his speech over as quickly as possible.
   It has been asked why didn’t Number 6 take advantage of the situation and escape himself, seeing as he had the detonator in his hands? Because there was no-one Number 6 could trust to stop the new Number 2 from removing the Great Seal of office from about his shoulders, unlike the out-going Number 2, Number 6 was there to impede the new Number 2 so that the out-going Number 2 could get away.

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Thought For The Day

    On the day of his arrival in The Village, Number 2 did manage to get the Prisoner to give the time of his birth. But the Prisoner perhaps thought that to do so would do no harm because in all probability they knew it anyway, seeing as they had a complete file on his life. As for Number 2, he thought that once the Prisoner had given one piece of information away, all the rest of that priceless information inside his head would follow. It didn’t. So Number 2 arranged to take the Prisoner to the Labour Exchange and an interview with the manager there. Perhaps he thought that the Prisoner would volunteer some information by filling in a questionnaire, details of race, religion, hobbies, what he likes to read, what he likes to eat. What he was, what he wants to be. Any family illnesses, any politics? But the Manager was wasting his time, especially as it would seem that everything he wants he can obtain from the Prisoner’s file which Number 2 leaves with him. But the Manager appears to be more concerned about putting his tinker toy back together, I hope there’s nothing symbolic in that!

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Village Life!

    It would appear that the Piazza has been turned into one of those so called “shared spaces,” where traffic, cyclists and pedestrians share the same space. It looks rather unsafe to me, in particular for those people in wheelchairs. Look, there’s one chap in dark glasses and striped jersey dodging about, trying to avoid the traffic. If he’s not very much careful he’ll end up being run over! But thankfully this “shared space” is well policed, and a Guardian quickly moves in to subdue the pedestrian as he has not only become a danger to traffic, but also to himself!

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The Mirror Cracked!

    Did ZM73 recognise the face in the mirror staring back at him? Is that why he broke the mirror with his fist, striking out against the face he saw, the Colonel’s! Well it’s always possible, as ZM73 had known a good many Colonels in his time. At least two turned out to have been working for The Village, another we’re not too sure about, and only one, Colonel Hawke-English appears to have nothing to do with The Village. Well at least not during ‘The Girl Who Was Death,’ which is more that could be said of Potter!

    Although the Colonel had been sent to The Village by the highest authority, and that he’s gratified by that, there is an anxiety about him, because he doesn’t know why he’s there. His anxiety might be brought about by the fact that he has been in The Village before, perhaps as a prisoner. Perhaps he still retained some unpleasant memories, but who like Cobb was turned, persuaded to work under the umbrella of The Village, and eventually released to return to his previous life, but as a “Sleeper.” Meaning he remained inactive until The Village authorities came calling!

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                                  “Taxi!”

BCNU

Rebelling Against The Figures!

    During their deliberations of ‘Once Upon A Time,’ Number 2 role-playing as a High Court Judge and the Prisoner, well as the Prisoner, he tells the Judge he was rebelling. That he was rebelling against the figures, that in itself must have made living in The Village a living nightmare for the Prisoner. A place where everyone is known only by their number, it's no wonder Number 6 only wore his badge when it suited him! But then how else are we to know the Prisoner, seeing as he refuses to give his name.
   And Decree Absolute, just how many times has the psychological process been undertaken? How many prisoners previous to Number 6 have made it thus far? Has anyone at all made it this far as Number 6? Possibly they have, because the first person in the Embryo Room is the Butler. Had he merely been briefed by Number 2, or had he been there before, aiding a previous Number 2? It seems unlikely that any Number 2 would survive the psychological battle more than once, and as we see, not even once! On the other hand Number 6 might well have been the first prisoner to undergo Decree Absolute, what after all appears to be an extreme measure. Because against him there was no other way!
   But rebelling against the figures, perhaps Number 6 simply didn’t fancy working in a Bank for the rest of his life. And perhaps those behind The Village were tormenting the Prisoner by putting him where everyone is reduced and simplified by their number.

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The Appliance of Machines!

   Here in Britain recently there has been a great deal of talk and discussion about machines getting better than man. Machines one day beccoming self-aware, suggesting that robots could do the work of men and women. Mind you with that thinking the machines in The Village were pretty self-aware. After all in ‘It’s Your Funeral’ when Number 8 twice programmed their machines for percental appraisal of their own efficiencies, each time they refused to give the information. This was done simply by not returning the data to Number 8. Number 2 suggested that the machines would want their own Trade Union next! But in any case, the machines appear to take a leaf out of Number 6’s book, refusing to give any information away!

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Bureau of Visual Records

    “Questions are a burden to others, answers a prison for oneself.” They are to those who have to keep asking the same question over and over again, “Why did he resign?” Because after 48 years Number 2 is still no closer to getting a complete answer than he was at the beginning! And the Prisoner doesn’t really want to say why he resigned, for fear of making a prison for himself. Because once he’s said the reason, then he cannot take it back!

   “A still tongue makes a happy life,” well keep your mouth shut and you’ll be alright! No-one likes a fishwife going about The Village shouting her mouth off!

    “Humour is the very essence of a democratic society,” Number 2 once said of Number 6 that he likes his sense of humour. And Number 6 once said of him “You have a delicate sense of humour,” It might well be imagined that a sense of humour would be needed in order to survive each day confined in The Village. Only there are times when The Village seems void of any such humour. Except when Number 6 said “I am not a number, I am a person,” the electorate found that hilarious. I suppose the man with the greatest sense of humour is Number 2 of ‘The Chimes of Bug Ben,’ ‘Once Upon A Time,’ and even during his trial and confinement in an orbit tube in ‘Fall Out’ he never once lost his sense of humour. He was always laughing at something or other. I know that each Number 2 laughs during the opening sequence to ‘the Prisoner,’ only that’s not because of anything humorous, but from something darker.

   “Of the people, by the people, for the people,’ Number 6 could see that phrase takes on a new meaning in The Village. Although the use of this phrase in particular, demonstrates that The Village administration isn’t slow at adopting such phrases from a Gettysburg address, for its own use and interpretation. Except it’s pure propaganda, seeing as the people in The Village have very little say in anything.

   And the Prisoner, well he’s hardly in the Labour Exchange for a job interview, only for an aptitude test and even that’s manipulated, and to fill in a questionnaire for the files of the Labour Exchange. But why is he appearing to be looking with suspicion at the seated lady? In any case the assistant behind the counter looks at the Prisoner with suspicion. What’s more that chap still has his job by the time of the election of ‘Free For All, unlike some!

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Prismatic Reflection

   All about you is yours, the High Court Judge told the former Number 6. Could they really be serious? Could they really have trusted Number 6 to lead The Village? Surely 'they' made a mistake? I mean to say, look what happened when Number 6 was elected as the new Number 2 in ‘Free For All.’ Number 6 hadn't been in office five minutes before he was attempting to organise a mass breakout! He had control. He was immobilising all electronic controls, and told the villagers that they wee "Free, free to go." Of course Number 6 was never actually in control, of either the village, or himself. However it did demonstrate what Number 6 would do if given half a chance.
    ‘Fall Out’ has a number of inconsistencies and logicalities, just like the previous sixteen episodes which help make up the series. So what do they do? They bring back yet another former Number 2 who has had direct dealings with Number 6, who knew just what No.6 would be capable of. Then promote him to President, which I thought was all rather theatrical. And after praising Number 6 as a man who having revolted, fought, resisted, held fast, maintained, destroyed resistance. Overcome coercion. Vindicating the right of the individual to be individual or person. They applauded his private war, and finally they conceded that despite materialistic efforts, the former Number 6 has survived intact and secure. And after all that, all that remained was the recognition of a man, a man of steel who is magnificently equipped to lead them. Well of course the High Court Judge was correct, but really, could he have been serious about the offer of ultimate power? Certainly Number 6 was given the opportunity to address the Delegates of the Assembly. But given the chance to make a speech, the Delegates just shout Number 6 down at every attempt as he tries to deliver his speech. 'They' have no wish to allow Number 6 to make his speech. More than that, 'they' have no desire to hear what Number 6 has to say. Will not permit him to be heard! Both Number 48 and the 'late' Number 2 were allowed to plead their cases, then why not Number 6? Simply because he was not on trial! Although it would seem that the Delegates of the Assembly were not prepared to sit and listen to the ravings of an egomaniac!
    So why should 'they' elect such a man as Number 6 to lead them? They knew what Number 6 was like. They knew what he would try and do if he was given half a chance, and given that half a chance, he took it!
    ‘Fall Out’ was the final manipulation of the Prisoner by the Administration behind The Village. They faced Number 6 with himself, a final throw of the dice in order to try and break him. If that was the case, then they failed. Whether  Number 1 was the id to the Prisoner’s ego, or even Curtis, whoever, Number 1turned out to be he was the unstable one. A laughing maniac, who as soon as his identity was discovered, made for the nearest exit from the Control Room in the rocket, this by climbing a steel ladder into the nose cone. Have you noticed how villains who are being pursued, have this uncontrollable urge to climb upwards in order to avoid capture. Then of course the biggest mistake of all was made. Once Number 6 had confronted Number 1, having sealed him up in the nose cone of the rocket, they left Number 6 to his own devices in the Control Room, where he set the countdown in motion. Surely security should have been sent to the Control Room once the High Court Judge thought that something was wrong. Then Number 6 could have been overpowered, and what follows in the episode would have been avoided. The launching of the rocket with Number 1 still aboard. The fire-fight and death of all the security guards, and the ultimate escape of the Butler, Number 48, a “late” Number 2, the former Number 6, and I suppose Number 1.
    It is believed by many fans that The Village was destroyed by the launching of the rocket, seeing the rocket as a missile with a nuclear payload, hence the title ‘Fall Out.’ But in that lies the difficulty, the title of the episode is ‘Fall Out.’ If it had anything to do with a nuclear element, then it would be one word Fallout. I don't think The Village was destroyed, there is no evidence of The Village’s destruction. No blinding white light, great wind, or fire and flame, only evacuation of the populace. There is no evidence to suggest that the rocket is a nuclear missile. Don't forget that there were three clear Perspex 'Orbit Tubes,' for sustaining human life during a long space flight within the rocket. No, the title ‘Fall Out,’ two words, suggests nothing more then there having been a falling out between old friends.

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