New Years Greetings

Wishing all friends and readers of my blog

a very happy, peaceful,

and

wonderful New Year

bseenu

Page 6

    Why did the Prisoner resign? That doesn’t seem all that important in the scale of things. As Number 2 once said, if one can’t chuck up a job things have come to a pretty pass. He seemed to be somewhat sympathetic towards Number 6 at that point. Later he seemed to understand what Number 6 wanted, what we all want ultimately.......to escape!
    But there is no escape, and Number 6 isn’t telling anyone anything, so he’s in The Village for life, until death do they part. And only even then if he’s lucky! I mean look what they did to Number 2, resuscitated him they did, couldn’t even let him rest in peace they couldn’t! But for why? So to afford him the opportunity to plead his case at his trial, the man was dead for heaven’s sake. But who else was there? Number 48 and the former Number 6, they wouldn’t have used up all the time, and even then the former Number 6 wasn’t permitted to be heard!
   So Number 1 turned out to be Number 6 all the time. Who would have guessed it? Number 1 must have known all the time, but he made no attempt to stop Number 6’s ordeal. Perhaps the idea was for Number 6 to stop Number 1. An ordeal to see which of them was the better man. A struggle within himself, and everyone else merely players who have their exits and their entrances, and in their time they play many parts, and sometimes the same part more than once. If Number 6 was the agent provocateur, what does that make Number 1?

Be seeing you 

What’s It All About?

    “You tell me. I didn’t ask to come here, you brought me here!”
    “I can see they’ve taken quite a liberty, but you must forgive us, a man of your ability we can find a use for.”
   “Me, what do you want with me?”
   “You are going to work for us.”
   “Why should I do that?”
   “You are going to be a man of importance.”
   “Am I?”
   “You are going to hold a lofty position.”
   “Really?”
   “You are going to be someone no-one sees.”
   “I don’t understand.”
   “You are Number One!”
   “Me?”
   “You.”
   “Why me?”
   “We cannot think of anyone more qualified than you. It won’t be an easy job. You’ll be isolated.”
   “I prefer my own company.”
   “You’ll have to hide your face behind several masks.”
   “If no-one sees me what will that matter?”
   “And wear a cowled robe.”
   “Is that all?”
   “You’ll be able to see everything that goes on, and we’ll give you a telephone so that you can speak to Number Two, your subordinate.”
   “My subordinate, that makes me the boss, I’m Number One!”
   “Yes......oh and you’ll have to spend all your time cooped up in a space rocket!”
    “Will I?”
    5....4....3....2....1......Ignition!
    “Oh my god, won’t someone let me out of here? Hello this is Number One, I want someone to open this hatch and let me out. For God’s sake let me out of here, it’s cramped and getting terribly hot in here.......”

OR

    “This is Number One to ground control, I’m feeling rather queer, and I’m floating in a most peculiar way. Number One to ground control I think it’s going to be alright now, I can see the Earth it’s really beautiful. Number One to ground control there’s something wrong, can you hear me ground control, there’s something wrong, the circuit’s dead! The rocket is losing orbit, re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, I’ve no control. Number One to ground control can you hear me, can you help me ground control.........tell Number Six he’s a complete and utter..............”
    “This is ground control to Number One can you hear us Number One, can you hear us Number One............?

Be seeing you

The Therapy Zone

    Those people sitting on the floor in the Aversion Therapy room in the hospital seen in ‘Arrival,’ I expect they feel much better for that treatment. There they sit dressed in, well I used to think they were sat there wearing pyjamas, or dressing gowns. But then I looked more closely, and the patients appear to be wearing judo outfits, a couple of them black belts!
   I wonder what they are listening to through those headphones? We the television viewer can hear a nursery rhyme tune, ‘Girls and Boys Come Out to play.’ How does that help them with their obsessional guilt complexes? Perhaps it helps cleanse the mind and puts them back to their childhood, these boys and girls. But the blindfolds? They cut off a person’s vision, how that helps with the therapy I don’t know, certainly it would help the patients to concentrate on the nursery rhyme music if that’s what they are listening to. I expect the doctor knows what he’s doing, certainly all the patients seem well relaxed.

    I wonder if one of these people is Number 2? I only ask because of those who appear to be dressed in Judo outfits, some with black belts. Number 2 wore Judo attire, he was also a black belt, that could be him there on the right in the foreground of the picture. Is this how they train for Judo or Karate in The Village then? If it is, it looks like they’ve turned it into a non contact sport! Or perhaps this is a form of relaxing the athletes after physical training, the athletes being in a state of mental excitement that they have to be brought down with the aid of nursery rhyme music. The blind folds are used to cut off the sense of sight, so that they cannot see their former opponents, and so preventing any extended aggression.
   On the other hand this could be part of their training as Judo and Karate athletes, mentally retuning the mind so it is in perfect synchronization with the body. if so, why the nursery rhyme music? Hell I’ve no idea, I’m making this up as I go along!

Be seeing you 

Village Life!

    “I’d like to make a call to.......”
    “What is your number sir?”
    “Number?”
    “Yes.”
    “The number I want it’s London...................”
    “Where’s that?”
    “Where’s what?”
    “London did you say?”
    “Yes, London.”
    “Where’s that, is it a local call?”
    “It all depends on where this place is.”
    “What place is that sir?”
    “Why here of course, wherever here is.”
    “Oh you mean The Village.”
    “If that’s where I am. What is its name?”
    “The Village.”
    “Yes, what is its name?”
    “The Village.”
    “Look what’s this place called?”
    “The Village.”
    “Look what exchange is this?”
    “If you want to make a call sir just give me your number.”
    “There isn’t a number on the telephone.”
    “Of course there isn’t, what is it sir?”
    “I just told you........”
    “Look we don’t take kindly to nuisance calls!”
    “Nuisance calls?”
    “If you don’t put that phone down I’ll send a guardian round to that call box!”
    “You can’t!”
    “Why not?”
    “You don’t know what number I’m calling from!”
    “There’s only one call box in The Village, it’s just round from the cafe!”
    “I’ve got news for you, someone’s moved it!”
    “Hello caller are you still there........caller........?”

Be seeing you

Don’t Tell Me That Time Travel Is In It As Well!

    In the way Number 6 manages to escape The Village and get back to London at the end of ‘Fall Out’ in time to hand in his letter of resignation, one might think that time travel was in it. Because he needs to do that before his abduction by two undertakers, then to wake up in The Village, and for the following events we know so well to unfold! In other words Number 6 has spent a number of months prisoner in The Village before it’s happened!

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                    “You ain’t seen me right!”

BCNU

No.6’s Brand!

    You know, you have to hand it to Number 2 and the administration. They go to any lengths in order to make the citizens feel at home, even to the point of having Number 6’s favourite brand of cigar imported to The Village.  Wonder what brand of cigar that is? Mind you whenever have we seen Number 6 smoke a cigar previous to ‘The Schizoid Man,’ or even after? Never, that’s when, and not even then! Because there’s a piece of plastic running through that cigar so that when the cigar is lit the piece of plastic melts, or burns, or something, making Number 6 cough. He should have chosen one of those black Russian cigarettes instead! And yet for those of a questioning disposition, it might be asked what Number 6’s brand of cigar were doing in ‘12 Private?’

Be seeing you

A Prisoner Christmas

  I received a number of presents connected to ‘the Prisoner’ this Christmas. The Prisoner LP record produced by Networkair is white and has no record label, representative of the Guardian as it is. When I placed the record on the turn table I thought is it turning, as there was no record label to indicate this! Also the music tracks are identical to the other Prisoner LP record also produced by Networkair, which I found surprising, I would have thought the music different.

   I was also sent a selection of unique Prisoner postcards, they make a fine addition to my collection. And mentioning cards, there was an exchange of Christmas cards with the Supervisor-No.106 Earl Cameron. I would have reproduced the card here, only it is far too personal to be shared.

  An unusual item, a Prisoner fridge magnet. Its not so much the magnet that is unusual, only the subject!

   ‘In my mind,’ the Prisoner documentary arrived just in time for Christmas, also The ‘Tally Ho’ {the colour supplement and programme guide for FALL IN the 50^th anniversary event hosted by Networkair in Portmeirion on September 29^th} which, if you have not read it, contains a number of articles, the most interesting of which I found to be is ‘Local Service’ regarding the restoration of the Village Mini-Moke HLT 709C. I had always been under the impression that the four Mini-Mokes used in ‘The Prisoner’ series were specially adapted for the series. But I have learned that HLT 709C was originally used for advertising purposes, photo shoots and the like, and publicity material for the Hilton hotel. A member of the production crew for ‘the Prisoner’ spotted the Mini-Moke as being something they needed for the up and coming series. It was the first of the four Mokes, and therefore the template for the other three. Which makes me wonder what vehicles might have been used as a taxi in The Village, and what they might have looked like, had the Mini-Moke HLT 709C not been spotted that day? It appears that at times, things associated with ‘the Prisoner’ happened quite by accident to help bring the whole series together! Thanks go to Phil Caunt for the restoration of the Mini-Moke, and for the information he provided.

  Not forgetting the Penny Farthing tie pin, and the Prisoner gift card. All are valued gifts, and make fine additions to my collection/archive.

Be seeing you

The Names Smith – Peter Smith!

    Smith in itself is a common enough name, and John Smith might appear to be even more common, however most common is David Smith. As for Peter Smith, the name chosen by ZM73 appears to be the least common. Trust him to set himself above other commoners! As it is Peter Smith is the name that he gave to Mrs. Butterworth, and when spies use a pseudonym they usually use their first name at least, unless of course you’re John Drake who is known to have used a multitude of assorted names! Its just as well that ZM73’s name wasn’t on the logbook of the Lotus 7, otherwise he might have had to verify his real name, and that would never have done. For reasons of his own he doesn’t like to reveal, or be known by his real name, and that wouldn’t have suited Patrick McGoohan’s purpose at all!

Be seeing you

Village Life!

    “You’re making that 99 last!”
    “When you’ve got something good you don’t rush it.”
    “Nibbling away on it like that, you’re an irritating man.”
    “That’s been said about me before.”
    “Are you going to finish that ice cream?”
    “It wasn’t the flavour of the day!”
    “They hadn’t got any strawberry, they had sold out!”
    “Sold out?”
    “Everyone had bought the flavour of the day, what do you expect?”
    “Couldn’t they get some more?”
    “Not in time, no.”
    “So you got me vanilla!”
    “With a chocolate flake, don’t forget the flake.”
    “Oh that makes all the difference. You’re just in a mood because you didn’t get an ice cream!”

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene from Once Upon A time

     When Number 2 takes Number 6, his mind regressed back to his childhood, to the Embryo Room. Earlier he and the Butler had taken the boy Number 6 for a walk, the Butler pushing Number 6 in a wheelchair masquerading as a pushchair. On their walk they had bought him an ice cream. Having descended through the floor, they step off the round dais onto a moving floor, and as they stand being transported to the Embryo Room Number 6 quietly nibbles on his ice cream cone. He sometimes has a delicate way of doing things, and this is one of them!

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

    The Prisoner, on a psychological level, a mental level in the mind, is in a daily struggle with himself! Outside of The Village, a physical struggle for survival would be ‘The Girl Who Was Death’ who has found herself a worthy opponent in Number 6, and he has found someone he can ultimately beat. And yet in The Village although Number 6 puts himself to the test, both physically and mentally, he can never win because he can never beat himself! But a hero, if Number 6 is seen to be the hero, must have someone to vanquish, and what better purpose for Number 2 than to be the villain of the piece who Number 6 must always be seen to beat! As for the meeting between Number 6 and Number 1, that was something of an anti-climax, a nothing because nothing came of it. Yes Number 6 sealed his alter ego in the nose cone of the rocket, but he was probably still alive at the exact same moment they escaped the Village together. After that, well it’s anyone’s guess. Seeing as its all supposed to begin all over again at the end of ‘Fall Out,’ unless ‘Fall Out’ is where it all begins, then Number 1 is most definitely still alive. It’s Number 6 you see, he can never get the better of himself, because he will not allow himself to!

Be seeing you

Seasons Greetings

Wishing everyone

peace, joy, happiness

and a very

Merry Christmas

This is the last posting for the time being. I’ll be seeing you all on December 27^th

Be seeing yule

The Departure!

    What makes Number 2 make the helicopter pilot turn back at the end of ‘It’s Your Funeral,’ and what might that hold for the new Number 2? Perhaps it’s as he said, it didn’t matter where he goes, they would catch up with him eventually. So perhaps he thought he would be better off serving out his retirement in the Old People’s Home, and the peaceful atmosphere of The Village. But what of the new Number 2? It was bad enough for him that plan Division Q was an unmitigated disaster, the fact that the retired Number 2 had escaped only compounded his failure. But now the retired Number 2 is coming back, what might that hold for this newly appointed Number 2? He didn’t look too happy to see the helicopter heading back towards The Village, in fact he looked damned annoyed, and more than a little confused!

Be seeing you

The Therapy Zone

    “To hell with The Village” was Number 2’s toast, and at the time I believed him in his sentiment, that he was being truthful and sincere. I also believed the man to be drunk, but he wasn’t. So was he telling the truth about here being no surveillance in the Therapy Zone? I like to think so. But this Number 2 wasn’t the only one to show dissent towards The Village. Number 2 in ‘The General’ told Madam Professor what Number 6 wants is, “What we all want ultimately, to escape.” This was his second term in office, it would be his last as we do not see him again. Number 2 at the end of ‘Free For All’ departed The Village by helicopter, what price Number 2 at the end of ‘The General?” After all the former had not failed, he saw Number 6 was carried right through the election. As for the latter, his second term in office ended in complete disaster. It makes one wonder why such a Number 2 with such manipulative ability should have been given one term in office. When a lesser man who had already failed once, should have been given a second bite of the apple! Perhaps it was a question of time, that he was the only man available at that time. In that case it would have been better had ‘A B and C’ and ‘The General’ been run consecutively and not necessarily in that order!

Be seeing you

Quote For The Day

    “Number One’s the Boss.”
                         {Number 6 – Free For All}

    Up until ‘Fall Out’ we’re not supposed to know who Number 1 is. Number 1 could have been a man, or a woman, maybe an “it.” But there is absolutely no indication that Number 1 is the alter ego of Number 6 who is keeping him prisoner in The Village. Being his own worst enemy in fact, as he puts himself through a number of ordeals. Up until ‘Fall Out’ Number 1 could have been anyone, and no one. The running of The Village and all it entails left to the decision of one man? What about its administration, did none of them ever meet Number 1? Number 2 in ‘Fall Out’ thought the idea of meeting Number 1 laughable. Number 1 did oversee each Number 2’s activities, and had contact via the telephone, or so we presume. And yet as ‘Fall Out’ is unlike any of the preceding episodes, the same could be said of ‘Dance of The Dead,’ in the way Number 2 uses a teletype to give her reports and by way of receiving instructions. It wouldn’t surprise me that it’s those “masters” we hear about from time to time, those masters back in London, who are the real power behind the Village. After all in The Village Number 1 is just as much a prisoner as anyone, worse when one considers his close confinement. Number 1, unlike so many other citizens, is not permitted to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of The Village. He cannot lounge about attending the regular brass band concerts, or attend Village events like the Arts and Crafts exhibition, or the Village fete, even Appreciation Day went ahead without Number 1. Mind you....he could have attended the Ball in the evening during Carnival, in the guise of Number 6 or anyone wearing a mask! I sometimes think that it doesn’t matter who Number 1 is, because if he is never seen, then to all intents and purposes Number 2 is the boss. After all he or she is the Chairman, the Chief Administrator who oversees the day to day running of The Village, as well as having to deal with Number 6 at the same time!

Be seeing you

Village Life!

    “How are you today?”
    “To be perfectly honest I feel a little queer!”
    “How so?”
    “Well tell me if I’m going mad, but we walk this way to the Town Hall every day.”
    “Well it’s our usual route.”
    “Yes I know.”
    “It’s the quickest route to the Town Hall.”
    “I know that too. But today don’t you get the impression that something isn’t quite right?”
    “Now you come to mention it, I did find my cottage bloody unusual.”
    “How so?”
    “As if it had been messed about with during the night.”
    “You mean its back to front.”
    “Mirrored!”
    “Just like that sign.”
    “Nwot llah.”
    “Yes, and now you come to mention it, shouldn’t the nwot llah be on the other side of the road?”
    “No, it’s on the right side of the road alright, it’s that we’re coming at it from the other way, from further up the road!”
    “What do you think has happened?”
    “It’s either one of Number Two’s little games, or somehow we’ve stumbled into a parallel Village.”
    “It’s worse than that, it’s a parallel Village that’s been mirrored!”
    “Then that makes the two of us the odd men out. I mean just look at our badges, the numbers are the right way round.”
    “You mean the wrong way round!”
    “How are we going to get back?”
    “I’ve no idea. What bothers me for the moment is, I’ve got to read the minutes of yesterday’s meeting.........backwards!”

Be seeing you

Village life!

    “Is that tea? I take it you warmed the pot first!”
   Now they’ve gone and put a balloon in charge! Mind you I expect it cannot do any worse than its predecessors.
    “Did you hear what I said?”
    Yes I did warm the pot first, even though it is coffee. How you are going to pick up a cup, let alone drink the coffee, is something I’m looking forward to seeing!

Be seeing you

Bureau of Visual Records

    We know that Number 60 was made up to Supervisor by Number 2 when he relieved Number 26 from the position. But what was Number 60 doing in the Control Room prior to Number 2’s sudden outburst? He was carrying a clipboard at the time, was Number 60 the Supervisor’s assistant? It seems probable, otherwise Number 2 would not have appointed him. That being the case, this is the first instance we see when the Supervisor has an assistant. Unless one counts that time during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ when we see Number 2’s assistant in the Control Room, and after that no longer with Number 2 from that moment on. To be perfectly honest I shouldn’t have thought the Supervisor-Number 26 needed an assistant. He’s always appeared to be very professional and very competent at his job. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t know it wasn’t Number 6’s birthday that time. He probably hadn’t the advantage of having Number 6’s personal file to hand, let alone having read it!

Be seeing you

No.6 Takes Too Many Risks!

    In ‘Arrival’ when he tried to escape, not once but twice, and during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ when he placed his trust in Number 8, and many, many times after that throughout his incarceration in The Village. And yet not so much in ‘Checkmate,’ he let the Rook take the risks then. After all who stole the surveillance camera, the telephone from the kiosk, along with electrical components, and a screwdriver from the trailer of the electrics truck......the Rook that’s who. All Number 6 did was to break an aerial off one of the taxis!
    I wonder how it worked, the radio transmitter that Number 6 used to transmit that distress call, I mean what was its power source? After all I didn’t see the Rook steal an Every Ready battery from the trailer of the electrics truck, even though there was a box of Ever Ready batteries there. And that’s a point, Ever Ready batteries, not Village batteries, like Village film, Village cooking oil, Village needles etcetera. Perhaps the batteries were a special import from Great Britain!

Be seeing you

Village Life!

No.134 “Have you seen anything?”
    No.284 “No, neither have I.”
    “These dark safety glasses don’t help.”
    “Tell me again why we’re wearing them?”
    “For safety.”
    “Oh.”
    “Well we’re security, they help make us look tough and sinister!”
    “More than that, we’re snowdrops, military police!”
    “How do you work that out?”
    “Well we’re dressed like the snowdrops, so we must be military police.”
    “Do they wear polo helmets then?”
    “What?”
    “We’re wearing polo helmets, not American army helmets.”
    “It’s all the same!”
    “How many hours have we been patrolling these corridors?”
    “Eight long hours, its brain numbing!”
    “We’re due a tea break soon aren’t we?”
    “In about twenty minutes.”
    “Well I’ll be seeing you then. Don’t forget, keep those eyes peeled for anything out of the unusual.”
    “Right.”
    {A few moments later}

 “Now that’s unusual for a Wednesday, what’s up mate………...agh!”

Be seeing you

Bureau of Visual Records

    It has been my personal opinion that the Guardian was genetically engineered by bacteriologists by growing membrane in a Petri dish. Certainly the membrane can withstand both the heat and fiery blast of flames from the twin exhaust of a rocket. And yet there is this image that plays in the mind. It doesn’t look like the cavern floor, and yet it gives me the feeling of heat, and possibly the environment of an alien planet! An alien life form in a mist, hot crater on a planet alien to us, it is strangely compelling. This alien life form could have originally arrived on Earth in a meteorite. And somehow it ended up in The Village, as much a prisoner as any other creature. And forced to work as nothing more than a guard dog, to be released and set upon any unsuspecting escapee! And do we, do we see the Guardian in this picture in its natural environment? I’m not sure, I’ve never been sure not in all the past 50 years of ‘the Prisoner.’ Unless of course it is the burnt out cavern caused by the flames and immense heat from the rocket’s three exhausts!

Be seeing you

The Pr50ner

    I always feel sorry for the Butler, falsely accused of being “in” on a nonexistent conspiracy, and told to get out of Number 2’s house! I always think what a forlorn figure the diminutive Butler is, as he leaves carrying all his worldly goods in a single suitcase. Of course The Green Dome isn’t really Number 2’s house, because although it’s called his residence he doesn’t actually live in it. A residency yes, in the term that it’s Number 2’s office! What’s more seeing as the Green Dome isn’t a house, the Butler didn’t live there either, he lived in the annex round the back of the building. But I suppose the annex is really the servant’s quarters which only went with the job!
   So where was the Butler going? It might well have been the Citizens Advice Bureau, seeing as he’s now homeless, and for that matter unemployed, so he’s bound to want some advice about his rights. And then to the Labour Exchange, although it might be difficult for him to get work, after all who else but Number 2 is likely to want to employ a Butler? The Professor and his wife perhaps. Mind you this might not be the first time the Butler has had to relinquish both his position and his home. It may have happened before when Mrs. Butterworth arrived in The Village, especially if she brought her housemaid with her! I couldn’t see Martha suffering the Butler’s presence for very long! Never mind, the Butler will soon be reinstated to his position, once the next interim Number 2 is ensconced in the Green Dome!

Be seeing you

Taxi!

   You can’t get a car in The Village, self-drive, but there are taxis, local service only. Where will they take you? Anywhere you like, just as long as you arrive back here in the end, that’s why they’re called local, is how Number 6 described it to Nadia on the day of her arrival.
   In ‘Checkmate’ Number 6 steals a taxi, Number 8 the white Queen also steals one and goes after him. Eventually Number 6 abandons the taxi, leaving the Rook to drive off leaving him to be picked up by Number 8. They drive around The Village, only to end up back where they started, on the taxi rank! That’s why they’re called local!

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

   All the surveillance cameras in The Village are hidden, camouflaged, built into stone busts of prominent people and strategically positioned around The Village. So why is it that this one particular camera is un-camouflaged, or built into a stone bust? If it had been there would not have been the opportunity of the Rook disconnecting it and stealing the camera. And in that lies the answer! The next question is, was this on view camera a contrivance on the part of Number 2, thereby affording the opportunity of the Rook to steal it? And if so why not the entire episode as a contrivance to once again test Number 6, after all there have been more elaborate plans put in motion against Number 6 than this one!

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

    Is Potter of ‘The Girl Who Was Death,’ supposed to be the same Potter in ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ but played by a different actor? The second Potter doesn’t seem to me to be a man of action, certainly not action with a capital “A,” and yet he had an assault rifle hidden away in a cricket bag. But presumably, and I had not previously considered this, the cricket bag belonged to the Colonel, and so too the rifle. Well I couldn’t see Potter killing anyone, after all he didn’t make a very good back up man to the Colonel. No this Potter is more of a desk Johnny! Whereas the first Potter is, or was most definitely a man used to working in the field. But he didn’t fair much better than the second Potter, he lost Doctor Seltzman, and got himself gassed in the process. The best hope for him would be to find himself taken to The Village. Otherwise he might well suffer the same treatment as the second Potter! And yet the second Potter was in The Village, working as the manager of the Labour Exchange, later he was moved to assist Number 2, not that there was much for him to do when he was. Perhaps that’s why the last we see of Potter in ‘Chimes’ is in the Control Room, as assistant to the Supervisor perhaps? Mind you I don’t think there was enough work to keep Potter busy as manager of the Labour Exchange, seeing as he was too busy playing with that wooden construction set. Especially when the Prisoner had knocked it to the floor, Potter then busied himself with putting it back together.
   Of course there is nothing whatsoever to suggest that the same Potter is the manager of the Labour Exchange, or that that character is the same character of the assistant to Number 2 during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben.’ I’m probably making a flagpole out of a matchstick, but it’s been fun doing it. And I do so like to put things together this way. And even if the three characters played by Christopher Benjamin are not meant to be the same, there’s still no reason why they cannot be. And yet the opinion of Christopher Benjamin himself, was that he believed that Potter in ‘the Prisoner’ was not the same Potter character in ‘Danger Man.’ However after watching the clip from ‘Danger Man – Koroshi,’ and the three clips from ‘the Prisoner’ at this year’s Prisoner Convention he said “Now I’m beginning to wonder if it was that Potter in Danger Man who was in the Prisoner.” “I’m beginning to think they should have been Potter, the Potter from Danger Man, but why didn’t someone tell me that I was still Potter?”

Be seeing you

Village Life!

    No.6 “Mayday, mayday, mayday any station receiving come in please, mayday………… there’s nothing, you sure this is the right frequency?”
    No.58 “I’m certain.”
    “This is a mayday call, this is a mayday call any station receiving come in please……….
     “High there it’s Johnny Drake with top of the morning from radio Jolly Roger, got some fabulous sounds coming to you to speed along those household chores. But first lets take a rain check housewives, I mean Homemakers. One, kettle on should be boiling by now. Two, teapot and necessary standing by, three, feet up cigarettes handy, I’ll tell you the brand later. Four, check that hubby has in fact left, you never know he might still asleep behind that morning newspaper, all ready let’s go with ‘It’s a lie’ the Stormville shakers…….”

   https://youtu.be/GobEIASaCBw

   “And you said it was the right frequency!”
   “A catchy song though. Perhaps if we could contact them on the same frequency…..”
   “How would a pirate radio station be of help to us?”
   “………I don’t know. Perhaps they play requests!”

Be seeing you

Page 6

    Sometimes, in my dreams, I wonder what Number 6’s predecessor was like. There had to be a former Number 6 to the one which we have become so familiar with, after all he has a successor! It was Number 240 in ‘Dance of The Dead’ who when asked how long had The Village been going, it was for a very long time, since before the war in fact. The only question is, which war? So it stands to reason that sometime during all that time the number 6 must have been used on numerous occasions. But I bet none of them were of the same calibre as our Number 6, unless of course one or two of them had been well trained secret agents as ZM73! But it’s doubtful. It might be supposed that the administration behind The Village had been looking for a man of Number 6’s calibre for a very long time, since before the war perhaps!

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Thought For The Day

    It’s a pity that Number 6 had to go running back to his ex-colleagues, the Colonel and Thorpe, one might have thought Number 6 would have learned from his lesson the last time with the Colonel and Fotheringay! Just imagine if Number 6, oh I forgot, he doesn’t like to be called that, just imagine what might have happened had Number 6 gone running back to his ex-colleagues in ‘Many Happy Returns,’ and found both the Colonel and Fotheringay of ‘Chimes’ instead of the Colonel and Thorpe! I mean to say, how did Number 6 know he wouldn’t? There is no possible way of knowing that the Colonel and Thorpe had replaced them. Why were they replaced, had they been found out? Perhaps those embarrassing questions Number 2 mentioned during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ had been unavoidable, and cost both Fotheringay and the Colonel their jobs! That was lucky for Number 6, otherwise it would have been very unfortunate!

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The Village!

    “I’m glad you came to see me Colonel.”
    “It was made perfectly plain to me, that I had no choice in the matter General.”
    “Really, well no matter, you’re here now. Do sit down.”
    “Why am I here.”
    “Why am I here......sir.”
    “Why am I here General.”
    “The war is over.”
    “Yes General.”
    “No, it’s not, the war rages on, but its turned cold. There’s a Russian winter on the way, and we’re not prepared for it!”
    “Best dress up warm then.”
    “There’s no point being flippant, that does no good, and does you no credit Colonel.”
    “So why am I here?”
    “There are a large number of undesirables in Britain, did you know that Colonel?”
    “Russians?”
    “I don’t believe I said Russians did I Colonel?”
    “No General.”
    The door opens and a middle aged woman wearing a pinafore enters carrying a tray.
    “Ah, good, tea.”
    The woman places the tray on the desk and makes to leave the office.
    “Just a minute!”
    The woman stops and turns “What is it now?”
    “Where are the biscuits?”
    “There are no biscuits.”
    “We had biscuits yesterday.”
    “Yes and the day before that, that’s why there are no biscuits today!”
    The woman leaves the office closing the door behind her.
    “Tea Colonel?”
    A few moments were spent pouring out the tea, before the current business was resumed.
    “So what are we to do with these undesirables?”
    “Deport them? Send them back where they came from.”
    “Oh no” said the General stirring his tea “We cannot possibly let that happen. You never know who we would be getting rid of, and possible secrets in the process. But I have the solution.”
    “Good” the Colonel said finishing his tea.
    “You are going to deal with them.”
    “I am?”
    “You will take up office in Whitehall where you will become head of your department within British Intelligence. But don’t worry no-one will bother you, I’ll see to that. Your task will be to gather information. It doesn’t matter who has what information, it will not matter which side they are on. You will extract all information.”
   “I will?”
   “Well not personally, you will have specialists in your department. But first all undesirables will be gathered up, and sent to The Village.”
    “The Village?”
    “The sole purpose will be to confine, contain, and gather information. Information which will either be extracted or protected, depending on who has it.”
    The General dropped a file on the desk, the Colonel glanced at the heading “The Village,” he picked up the file.
    “It’s Italianate.”
    “A mixture of architecture certainly.”
    “And its location?”
    “It’s in the file, but it’s not on British soil.”
    The Colonel closed the file and placed it in his briefcase.
    “This is the last time we shall meet Colonel. Sir Charles Portland will be your future point of contact.”
    “Sir Charles?”
    “You have a problem with that?”
    “No General.”
    “Oh by the way, we might well end up sending people of our own to The Village.”
    “In other words no-one is immune.”
    “The Village may well end up as a self-contained unit of society, self contained, self-sufficient, and independent of the homeland.”
    “We used to exile prisoners to penal colonies.”
    “In less civilized times yes, now they’ll exiled to The Village, which is basically the same thing!”
    The Village is a place where people have been turning up for a very long time.

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A Man Who Feels Happier As Himself!

   This is the Colonel but with the mind of ZM73. He might not act the part but at least he looks it, dressed in those clothes. However he doesn’t stay dressed like that for long. He changes into flannel trousers, a double breasted blazer, shirt and tie, as he was on the day of the Colonel’s arrival in The Village. Strange ZM73 should do this, not that I’m suggesting that he always went about dressed in a charcoal grey suit and black polo shirt.

   But now he’s dressed more like the Colonel, and less recognizable as  ZM73, or perhaps it was a question of Nigel Stock feeling happier as himself rather than Patrick McGoohan!

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Quote For The Day

   “Is your Number Six?”
    “Yes.”
                      {The telephone operator and the Prisoner – Arrival}

    “Is your number Six?” I’ve always thought that a clever ruse, I mean the telephone operator knew exactly which number she was calling, and a neat way of getting the Prisoner to acknowledge his number for the first time. Well that’s the way I like to look at the scene. Although there is a more mundane way of looking at it, and which is in all likelihood the right way, is that when the Prisoner is asked by the telephone operator “Is your number 6?” he glanced down and looked at the number on the telephone dial, it was six, so what else was he bound to say except “Yes.” Especially having seen the number of his cottage on the sign post outside, ‘6 Private,’ so he naturally thought 6 was the number of the cottage he was in, and not as his personal number. Because at that time he didn’t know that everyone in The Village was known by a number and not a name!

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Caught On Camera!

   Touché! When Number 6 presented the Rook with an aerial for the radio transmitter the Rook asked him where he got it. He told him he’d broken the aerial off one of the taxis. Had he, because Mini-Mokes aren’t generally fitted with aerials let alone radios. So where did Number 6 really get that aerial? However he did break it off one of the taxis just as he said. Pictorial study has proved that The Village taxis were fitted with aerials, if not with radios. In both ‘Arrival’ and ‘Checkmate’ an aerial is attached to the off-side mudguard which would be right. However the Mini-Moke driven by the white Queen-Number 8 has its aerial attached to the off-side of the bonnet just behind the clip that secures the bonnet. This looks very suspicious, and is a possible indication that the actual aerials are fitted simply for aesthetic reasons, also so that Number 6 could break an aerial off one of the taxis in Checkmate. This is backed up by the fact that the Mini-Moke HLT 709C, which was only used for filming in ‘Living In Harmony,’ has no aerial! And let us not forget, radio receivers are not permitted in The Village, it’s against the rules!

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Given A Voice Over?

   It is the case that a number of actors playing the role of Number 2 were given a voice over by Robert Rietty during the opening sequence. This was simply to save time filming each actor in same opening scene. However that excuse cannot be used in the case of Christopher Benjamin having been given a voice over, when assistant to Number 2 during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ as this was not the case in his role as the Labour Exchange Manager in ‘Arrival.’

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Village Life!

    “What are you doing here?”
    “I might ask you the same thing.”
    “We’re the beach patrol.”
    “The beach patrol?”
    “Yes, it’s our job to make sure the beach is safe.”
    “Safe from what? I had no idea it was in danger.”
    “You trying to be funny?”
    “Obviously not.”
    “What were you doing lurking about in the sand dunes?”
    “Mmmmm, my badge, it came off and I was looking for it in the sand.”
    “Really, that could be dangerous. Someone might come walking along and prick themselves in the foot by the pin of the badge you dropped.”
    “Yeah, we don’t like people dropping litter on the beach.”
    “Oh your mate.......”
    “What about him?”
    “……….He does speak then!”
   “Look mister we don’t like silly beggars lurking about on the beach, especially in the dunes, they might be up to no good.”
   “I’m not neither silly or a beggar!”
   “Oh get in the Moke.”
   “Why?”
   “We’ll give you a ride home.”
   “You don’t know where I live.”
   “The Village should be close enough, you can walk from there.”
   “Thanks very much!”
   “Think yourself lucky we’re taking you that far.”
   “Yeah, we’re not a blooming taxi service you know.”
   “What about the Professor?”
   “Up the Professor that’s what I say.”
   “I couldn’t agree more!”
   “Here what’s your game?”
   “Chess what’s yours?!”
   “A pint, we’ll call in at the Cat and Mouse on the way home!”

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Prisoneresque

Cape Wrath

   Welcome to Cape Wrath…. a psychological thriller set in a 21^st century suburban paradise, and called the Prisoner of its day. Underneath the pleasant façade lies such a rich seam of unsettling secrets where everyone has something to hide. On the run from the past, the Brogan family are sent to Meadowlands to create a new life as part of a protective custody programme, and arrive blindfolded. But as they get to know their neighbours and settle into this mysterious world they begin to realize that everything is not what it seems.
    The 2007 television series ‘Cape Wrath’ can be described as being Prisoneresque, indeed at the time it was considered to be ‘the Prisoner’ of its day, even if less subtle in its brutality and sexual content. But it is more comparable to the second series of THEPRIS6NER-2009 rather then the first. Cape Wrath at the time was described as being a cross between ‘the Prisoner’ and ‘Twin Peaks.’
   Meadowlands can be described as a typical New England town, and rather like The Village. Everyone is there for life, no-one is allowed to leave, and there is no escape. When Evelyn Brogan and her daughter Zoe decide to go shopping in the nearest town they call in at the local petrol station. There was no membranic Guardian to stop them from leaving Meadowlands, no supervisor to issue a yellow alert, no warning to Post Fourteen of the prisoners approaching the outer zone in their vehicle. But there was an out post of a kind, in the form of a petrol station. As Mrs. Brogan was paying for her petrol, a young girl Kerry, approached her daughter Zoe pretending to be a friend of hers, and using her real name Nicky Foy. Kerry upset Zoe so much, that Evelyn Brogan turned the car around and drove her daughter home. Thus effectively having stopped the pair from leaving Meadowlands! Later when Danny Brogan goes to call on Samantha at the Motel, Kerry emerges out of room 111 telling Mark she cannot permit access without scheduling an appointment. Then Samantha comes out of the room. Danny complains to Samantha about the local Police detective knowing all about him. Samantha tells him he’s safe, that Meadowlands is the safest place on Earth. Why is it so safe? Meadowlands is controlled from room 111 in the Motel which is actually the administration building. There is a large wall screen showing Meadowlands and the surrounding area. As for Samantha she is a cross between No.2 and a Supervisor. For a “midnight football match” Danny Grogan is given the number 6 yellow tabard, an in-joke perhaps?

   The thing about Meadowlands is everyone there is there as part of the protective custody programme, for their own protection, and everyone has their secrets, secrets they would prefer no-one else to know. The good people of Meadowlands may have been given completely new identities but no-one can change what is in their minds, they are still the same people they were before being taken to Meadowlands. A sexual predator, Jack Donnelly, is always a sexual predator, well he is until he’s battered and strangled to death, and buried in a muddy hole by Danny Grogan and his cross-dressing son Mark! After that the local police detective, Bernard Wintersgill, starts asking questions about the whereabouts of Jack Donnelly, there follows an investigation. But Samantha tells Wintersgill that it really isn’t his problem, at least she admits there’s a problem, but as she sees it as a number of curious incidents do not mean Wintersgill can conduct a full police inquiry. He’s to go back and just carry on with his job, which is to police Meadowlands and whatever curious incidents it happens to throw his way! As Samantha tells Wintersgill, no-one leaves Meadowlands, which to Wintersgill means Jack Donnelly is still there…somewhere, and he means to find the body and prove that Danny Grogan is the murderer, and will go to any lengths in order to prove it.
   As a soap opera ‘Cape Wrath’ continues in this vein, with murderous intrigue, infidelity, family life, lies, deceit, loves, hates, friendships, relationships just the content of everyday life in which people deal with everyday problems. But eventually Brogan’s brutal murder of Jack Donnely is brought to light, to the attention of Samantha, who even has photographs taken by Freddie, a young man who works for Samantha, whose remit is to see new residents settle in, but who misused his skills. What he did to Danny Grogan was to turn him into a murderer by using an auto suggestion technique, associating something which Danny knew to be true, Jack’s death, with something he wanted Danny to forget….Cape Wrath! Danny wants to know what it is he and his family have been brought to.
   Back in London to Samantha’s masters Cape Wrath appears to be a white elephant, it would appear that Samantha’s accelerated process seems to be an unequivocal failure, and yet she confirms to her masters that her father’s theories do work!
   Danny has a plan to escape Meadowlands, and stocks up with petrol bought at the local petrol station. Watched by the petrol attendant he is allowed to fill up his car, but when he attempts to fill a petrol can the fuel to the pump is cut off! He doesn’t know what’s real anymore, who’s trying to get inside his head! So to fool Samantha he appears to be happy and settled, too happy and too settled, and that makes Samantha suspicious, as people in Meadowlands are under as much surveillance as those citizens in The Village! But Danny’s family do not want to leave Meadowlands, they want to stay, Evelyn thinks Danny is being paranoid, that everyone in Meadowlands are against them, against him! He has money, food, and petrol, and organizes a party to which he has invited everyone, this will be his only chance to get out of Meadowlands, and his wife and two children are going with him! But Mark Brogan tells his sister Zoe the trouble with Meadowlands is, the more you struggle the more you get tangled up.
   What was it Danny Grogan said with great optimism on the day of his family’s arrival “A new house, a new life, new us.” That would be all very well, if it wasn’t for that fact that no matter where we go, we take our problems with us! And that is another parallel between ‘Cape Wrath’ and THEPRIS6NER, both places are filled with broken people!
   So Danny Brogan leaves his family behind and drives as fast as he can away from Meadowlands and out into the countryside {as No.6 does in Many Happy Returns} trying the radio to pick up any broadcasting radio station, there’s nothing but radio static. Then eyes wide open Danny stops the car, gets out, climbs to the top of a rocky hill and stands there looking out over a desolate landscape of hills, mountains and desert, a wasteland with nothing for thousands of miles in all directions, and in the middle….. the fertile oasis of Meadowlands!

           This final scene is similar to a scene in THEPRIS6NER, when in ‘Arrival’ Six first drives out into the mountains and the desert stretches for thousands of miles in all directions!

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