A Favourite Scene In The Prisoner

   Number 6 found out on the steps of the Town Hall that it’s fussy who it lets in, having encountered an electric force field. And so it is when Number 6, now disguised wearing a white coat, spectacles, and the numbered badge 116, finds himself able to make a search along a corridor. That the doors he tries are locked and secured against him, all save a pair of glass panelled doors which open automatically.

   Stepping through the door the lights switch themselves on automatically. Number 116 finds himself in a small room, on the other side of the room are another pair of glass panelled doors. The doors open automatically and Number 116 steps forward into the darkness, and once more the lights turn on automatically, the doors closing behind him. The room is lined with filing cabinets. There is a long table lined with chairs and topped with desk lamps. Number 116 ignores the contents of the room, and walks towards a white door, leading up to which is a ramp. Again the door is locked, but hanging from a hook next to the door, is a small key tied to a piece of string. The key fits the lock of the door, and beyond, another darkened room. Once more as Number 116 steps into the room the lights come on, and the door closes behind him, and he finds himself in The Village mortuary. In one of the four drawers he finds the dead body, tied to a lifebelt, which he had cast adrift in the sea.

   Number 2 appears with her shadow……the cat!

   “You make the most of your opportunities. You don’t mind us doing the same.
   The cat meows.
   “Ah she’s taken to you. I’m jealous. Oh she’s mine, she works here too, she’s very efficient. Almost ruthless.”

   {I’ve never understood what Number 2 means by this. What does the cat do?}

   “Never trust a woman, even the four legged variety.”
   “You can trust everyone……………and will….in time. Let’s go back, the cabaret is beginning.”
   “In his pocket…….”
   “The wallet?”

   “Yes.”
   “It’s still there, amended slightly. We’ll amend him slightly. It’s you who’s died in an accident at sea.
   Number 6 offers the key to the door to Number 2.

   “May I” taking the key.
   “So to the outside world…..”
   “Which you only dream about.”
   “…….I’ll be dead.”
   “A small confirmation of a known fact. Don’t blame me, it’s a question of waste not want not.”

Be seeing you