The Prisoner - 50 Great Scenes!

    What are your fifty favourite scenes in ‘the Prisoner?’ Do you have fifty favourite scenes, and if you have can you list them? I’ve been sat here with a pencil and piece of paper and I have managed to list mine, but in no particular order. It begins in ‘Arrival’ when Number 6 is attempting to escape in a Mini-Moke. I’ve wondered what it is in the sand that the Mini-Moke collides with to throw the Prisoner out of the vehicle. Because had he remained in the vehicle he’d have been alright and Rover wouldn’t have got him, so perhaps that’s the point, as it is in a similar scene, but on water in a jet boat in ‘Free For all!’
    Daily Number 6 climbs the Bell Tower, he’s constantly watching, waiting, perhaps he simply likes the view. Well on the day of his arrival in The Village the Prisoner climbed the Bell Tower because he thought he saw someone leaning out of one of the windows. But when he got there it was only a statue, well that’s the impression given. Even if it isn’t right!
   Number 2 and Number 6 enjoying a nice cup of tea together during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ whilst watching Number 8 waking up in what she thinks is her own home, how many lumps was it Number 6?
     When Number 6 subtly puts the loudspeaker in the refrigerator bringing peace and quiet to his cottage. 
    Potter, as Number 2’s assistant, suggesting that there are methods they haven’t used yet against his old colleague. Has Potter been promoted, he was certainly underemployed in the Labour Exchange! Mind you Potter’s new found position doesn’t last long, seeing as Number 2 doesn’t really require an assistant, or perhaps it was his remark made about Number 6 that saw him relegated to the Control Room!
   In ‘It’s Your Funeral’ when the watchmaker tells his daughter and Number 6 that he must get on with his work, and having been discovered by Number 6 and Monique in the Bell Tower, “keep away” shouts the watchmaker. At the end of the episode when Number 2 looks to the sky, removes his spectacles for the last time, to see the helicopter turn back towards The Village! 
   At the end of ‘A B and C’ when that curved, over-sized red telephone begins to bleep, the look on Number 2’s face!  
    ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ and Number 2 is speaking on the telephone to Number 1 who asks if Number 2 requires further assistance, and Number 2 said he could manage. If he had trusted in his assistant Number 14, then the outcome of the episode might have turned out differently. There he is, Number 14 dozing in an armchair in the foyer of the Green Dome. As soon as he hears the pair of steel doors slide open he jumps to his feet, stands to attention as he straightens his jacket, giving Number 2 the impression that he’s been standing like that all the time! But he gets his just deserts when Number 6 throws him out of his cottage through the French window taking the balcony railings with him!
   Jumping to ‘Living In Harmony,’ The Kid being gunned down in the street. The Judges “boys” giving the new Sheriff a lesson that it’s not safe to go about not wearing a gun, and Cathy when she bites the Kid’s lip!
   When Number 6 comes whistling into his cottage. And later when everything that has happened to him is revealed in a mirror, and again in ‘Do Not Forsake me Oh My Darling,’ when much the same happens as well as restoring Number 6’s memory of The Village.
   Number 2 suddenly realizing that Number 6 wouldn’t drop his guard with his own grandmother, well it was worth a try Number 2!
    Potter working as a shoeshine boy…..how did that man in the street get his shoes so muddy?
    Mister X in the Magnum Record Shop, very Mission:   Impossiblesque wouldn’t

you say Mister Briggs?    
    Mister X going through the butchers, bakers, and the candlestick makers.
    Number 6 discovering The Village deserted. And just when he’s about to cast off and put to sea, there’s the sound of broken crockery. At that point hope is suddenly dashed away. But when Number 6 looks up and sees the cat hope is suddenly restored and he sets out on his voyage of discovery.  
    Watching Number 6 take part in one of those dangerous sports he mentioned in one of his electoral speeches in ‘Free For All,’ namely Kosho in both ‘Hammer’ and ‘Funeral.’ And Watching Number 14 about to be dunked into that tank of water by Number 6, but isn’t!  

  In the Cat and Mouse nightclub demanding an alcoholic drink! If only non-alcoholic drinks are served in the Cat and Mouse, how did Number 6 appear to be intoxicated? And in the Therapy Zone when Number 2 gives the toast “To hell with The Village,” the first time I heard that I believed Number 2 actually meant that toast! 
   At Madam Professor’s art seminar when Number 6 cannot find anything at all, but his favourite subject is military history, General’s and that kind of thing. Later when Number 6 takes a walking stick to the fake Professor’s head…how did he know, and why did Madam Professor cry out? Was it because she thought her husband was about to be murdered in his bed, or for the fact that her masterpiece was about to be destroyed? And when Number 2 tells Madam Professor what it is Number 6 wants, what we all want ultimately…..to escape!  
    John Drake, or is it Patrick McGoohan handing in his letter of resignation from ‘Danger Man’ during the opening sequence to ‘the Prisoner,’ well that’s one interpretation!
   At the café when the Prisoner is offered breakfast and then coffee. Then trying to make a telephone call, and the taxi arriving on the spot just as the Prisoner was about to press the 1 button on the control panel of the electronic Free Information board.

    The de-briefing session with Number 2 in ‘Arrival’ when ZM73 discovers that he’s been under close surveillance in London, even to the point of in his own home, and then the briefing and aerial tour of The Village by helicopter. 

    In ‘Checkmate’ the human chess match, and Number 6 being instructed by Number 14 on how to distinguish between the prisoners and the warders. Then Number 6 wanting a word with the gardener and being told he’ll have to wait. Number 42 is more amenable, if his painting of the wall isn’t satisfactory, he’ll paint it again! And the shopkeeper whose books have never been checked before, but there’s always a first time isn’t there! And the scene when Number 2 is “lurking” on the beach “Hello” he says to the Rook. When Number 6 steals a taxi and he and the Rook go on a robbery spree. First the surveillance camera, then a telephone from a kiosk, and electrical equipment and screwdriver from the trailer of the electrics truck. 
    Number 2 being declared as being unmutual by Number 86.
    Number 56 telling Number 6 that unmutualism is now more than just a game!
    Number 42 instructing Number 6 about the people turning away from Number 6, being socially conscience citizens, who are provoked by the loathsome presence of an unmutual!

    ‘Dance of the Dead’ and Number 56 showing off her new dress to Number 6, but she won’t last, the maids come and they go! When Number 6 is sat on the Outlook listening to the radio, “Nowhere is there more beauty than here. Tonight when the moon rises the whole world will turn to silver. Do you understand, it is important that you understand. I have a message for you, you must listen. The appointment cannot be fulfilled. Other things must be done tonight. If our torment is to end, if liberty is to be restored, we must grasp the nettle even though it makes our hands bleed. Only through pain can tomorrow be assured.” I’m certain that’s the voice of Number 2 formerly of ‘Free For All’ {Eric Portman}! And when Number 6 tells the gardener, attaching the window box.

    “Supposing I don’t want any flowers?”   

    “Everyone has flowers for Carnival tomorrow, be seeing you!
    And finally the end of ‘Fall Out,’ because that’s the start of ‘Arrival,’ and the whole experience is about to begin all over again!

Be seeing you