Cobb's Funeral

    The cortege for Cobb’s funeral in ‘Arrival’ is made up with the brass band, a hearse {a taxi but fitted with a black and white striped canopy} towing a Red Cross trailer carrying the coffin followed by a Top Hat official from Administration, a group of citizens with open black umbrellas and finally the lone figure following on behind, Number 9. The original script for ‘Arrival’ however describes the funeral procession slightly differently. “the funeral procession. Headed by the village ambulance. In it a coffin. Immediately behind it “ROVER”. Its flashing light covered by a black material –then No.2—Followed by the brass band. Finally, a group of citizens carrying open black umbrellas.”

    I find it somewhat amusing to think that ROVER MK1 was originally to have been the chief mourner, with that black cloth draped over its flashing blue light, suggests to me of an old woman at a funeral wearing a black shawl, and at the same time would have looked rather stupid!

Be seeing you

A Negative Reaction To Pain!

    A number of tests were carried out on Number 6, the doctor-Number 23 conducted them herself, they proved very interesting. A summary is as follows, Positive signs of abnormality, a total disregard for personal safety, and a negative reaction to pain. Well Number 6 wouldn’t be able to fake that, it would take superhuman will power. Or would it? That abnormality the doctor mentioned, might that abnormality the doctor found be something to do with gene mutations? In the news this week was the woman who does not feel pain. She never feels anxiety or fear, as you can read by clicking on the link.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-47719718

   When Number 6 is about to cast-off aboard his raft he doesn’t look anxious, he shows no sign of fear. In fact Number 6 demonstrates no sign of fear or regard for his personal safety throughout the series. I used to think by the time of the production of ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ they had forgotten about Number 6’s negative reaction to pain, because when Number 2 puts the tip of his sword to Number 6’s forehead “Ah you react” he says. Of course it might just be that, a reaction without feeling any pain.

Be seeing you

A Quick Flip In The Helicopter!

    The landing stage might just be a quick flip in the helicopter from The Village, but from Number 6’s cottage to the helicopter pad outside the Recreation Hall it’s a fair journey by taxi! After Number 6 emerges from that house, containing the mock-up of the Colonel’s office in ‘The Chimes of Ben, he walks over to the Recreation Hall where he pauses to salute Number 2, Fotheringay, and Nadia standing on the steps. Then he walks on to his cottage which appears to be only a short walk away. And yet in ‘The Schizoid Man’ Numbers 2 and 6 are driven from Number 6’s cottage out into the countryside along a long lane before arriving in another part of The Village and the helicopter pad located outside the Recreation Hall. Between there and the main Village there is a great deal of open countryside, so what stops people from disappearing into it? I had never thought about this before, not until I watched ‘The Schizoid Man’ on Wednesday night. Instead of concentrating on the conversation taking place between Numbers 2 and 6 in the back of the taxi, I concentrated my attention on the passing countryside. There seemed to be a great deal of it for anyone to disappear into, and no sign of the mountains!

Be seeing you

Walk On The Grass!

    “That’s a curious sign.”

    “Do you think so?”

    Where I come from you are not allowed to walk on the grass, the sign says keep off the grass.”

    “No it doesn’t, it’s says walk on the grass, so why don’t you?”

    “Is he trying to get you to walk on the grass?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well don’t let him.....I walked on the grass once, just the once you understand, and that was enough.”

    “What happened?”
    “Don’t you listen to that old fool, if you want to walk on the grass, you jolly well walk on the grass.”
    “I..I don’t know. Tell me what happened?”
    “Nothing ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, see you soon!”

Be seeing you

The Prisoner Dusted Down - A Review

   I had this book as a 2018 Xmas present and (to date) have not yet finished it. This is a good thing. There so many details and so many logical inferences which eek out new depths of understanding, that I have to re-watch each relevant part of the episode in question. That’s why I haven’t reached the end of the last chapter.

    I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to get to grips with Six Of One And Half A Dozen Of The Other!

BCNU

Mike – The New 42

Fall Out

    I have recently begun reading through copies of the original scripts for ‘the Prisoner,’ and having found some interesting points, I begin at the end, and yet there is no ending because in the Prisoner’s ending is his beginning. And yet it could have been so, so different, had Pat McGoohan stuck to his original script the ending of which follows;

EXT Buckingham Place    Day

    The length of the street. Foreground the Lotus and the door to P’s London house. In the distance P and the Butler approaching together. Behind then from around the corner:-

EXT       Buckingham Place Day

    The hearse out of the standard opening. It passes them slowly. Pan it by P’s house as it turns left into Palace Street. Hold with it as it turns left again out of Palace Street.

EXT      P’s London house   Day

    The Butler and P approaching the steps. They stop. P inspects the Lotus the Butler dusts the bonnet. He smiles. P hands him the key to the house. The Butler mounts the steps and unlocks the door. He goes in and holds it open. P slowly walks up the steps and goes in. The Door shuts. Bring in :-

                              “Dem Bones”

Fade out before:

                               “And hear the words of the Lord”

                                                     END

    But that wasn’t good enough, McGoohan had to try and go one or two better. He had to show that with the electronic opening of the front door to his house he had been in the village all the time. And with the final scene of that long, deserted runway, the dark clouds and thunder, the Prisoner was about to start all over again! But really, how likely would it have been to re-set the village as it was before the evacuation?

   I like the simple idea of “The Butler mounts the steps and unlocks the door. He goes in and holds it open. P slowly walks up the steps and goes in. The Door shuts.” It might seem something of an anti-climax to the majority of fans, but in reality what else would he have done? Not to have gone driving off to have it out with his former colleagues, because surely he would have remembered what had happened on the 3 former occasions he had done that. So what price a fourth encounter with another Colonel and his assistant? ZM73 had been put through so much over the past 15 months, he would need time to recover, and consider what he would do next. So he goes home, a wash and brush up, a change of clothes, and a cup of tea. So yes, having read the ending of ‘Fall Out’ in a copy of the original script, I much prefer that to what we see in the finished episode. No matter how much of an anti-climax it might seem.

Be seeing you

Village Life!

    “It’s my day off tomorrow.”
    “Do we get days off?”
    “Don’t you take your days off?”
    “I’m never allowed days off, I can’t afford to take days off. The last time I did the work simply plied up!”
    “It sounds to me like you’re working to your limit, we’re all entitled to spare time, leisure is our right!”
    “You sound like one of those radical politicians.”
    “Oh dear do I? I didn’t mean to, but people go on about their rights, aren’t we allowed any?”
    “So it’s you’re day off tomorrow, what will you do with it? It’s Wednesday, so its half-day closing remember.”
    “I thought to spend it on the beach.”
    “What, trousers rolled up, knotted handkerchief, ice creams and deckchairs.”
   “Yes that sort of thing. Why don’t you come with me?”
    “I can’t.”

    “Yes you can, pull a sicky!”    
    “Shall I?”
    “Shall I, don’t you mean dare I?”
    “You’re right..............I will!”
    “We’ll meet at the cafe for breakfast.”
    “Right.....do you know I don’t feel at all well!”
    {Takes a hip flask from his overcoat pocket}
    “What’s that?”
    “Brandy.”
    “Oh good” he takes the flask.
    “I say don’t drink it all!”
    “What’s the matter, I’m as ill as you are!”

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene In Hammer Into Anvil

    Number 2 had Number 6 brought to his office for questioning, he wanted to talk to him about the girl, who Number 6 saw Number 2 as having murdered! So you must be anvil of hammer, and having threatened Number 6 at the point of his blade, that he is going to hammer him, the curved red over-sized telephone began to bleep.

    “Number Two………..yes sir…yes sir everything is under control….no sir, no problems……..assistance…….no, no sir I can manage……..yes sir of course…….be seeing you.”
    Well that telephone call certainly cut Number 2 down to size, you can see his attitude change. The way he draws himself up when he realizes he’s speaking to Number 1, and you see his expression change when he tells Number 1 that there are no problems. As to the question of assistance, Number 2 already had an assistant Number 14. It’s just a pity Number 2 didn’t place more trust in him! So what made Number 1 make that call in the first place? Perhaps he had been watching that interrogation session, and felt Number 2 had overstepped the mark with Number 6, so he stepped in himself to disrupt the interview!

Be seeing you

50th Anniversary of The Prisoner

   The British cult series "Number 6" (original title: The Prisoner) celebrates its 50th anniversary in Germany. A special event to celebrate the anniversary is being organized by Nr6DE.

https://vimeo.com/326625244

https://vimeo.com/326629098

BSEENU

60 Seconds With XO4?

   “Anyone at home?”
   The man looks up from his newspaper having been caught during his elevenses.
   “I wonder if I can ask you a few questions?”
   The man stares blankly at the two men in his office.
   “We contribute to The Tally Ho, and this is my photographic colleague.”
   “Smile.”
   The man continues to stare blankly.
   “Is it possible to tell us why ZM73 resigned?”
   The man toys with his pen.
   “You did read his letter of resignation?”
   The man looks up again, and says nothing.
   “If you could give me a hint, that would be something, is that possible?”
   The man just sits there.
   “You couldn’t say.”
   The man doesn’t even blink!
   “How was his mood at the time, was he pleased to hand in his letter of resignation, happy, angry, what was his mood?”
    The man simply stares ahead.
    “You couldn’t tell, his mood was nondescript perhaps?”
    The man continues to toy with his pen.
    “Don’t give much away to you?”
    The man’s lips remained closed.
    “Well thank you for being so helpful! No don’t get up, we can show ourselves out. I can see we’ve disturbed you too much already.”
    The man picks up the receiver of the pink telephone and makes a call to………

Be seeing you

Prismatic Reflection

     After making a call somewhere in the country, a man driving a Lotus 7 returns to London, he has one more call to make. Driving through the streets of London, over Westminster Bridge, passed the Houses of Parliament the car turns left then right , and down a ramp into an underground car park. He storms out of the car park and along a dark corridor. In an undisclosed building, but probably somewhere along Whitehall, the man storms into an office, he’s angry, in a rage. He paces up and down shouting the odds at the man sat passively in the chair behind his desk. A letter marked personal by hand is slammed down on the desk, along with his fist as though to forcibly make his mark, and with so much force that he upsets a cup in its saucer, breaking a tea plate, and then the man storms out, returns to the car park and drives home. The letter, we presume, is a letter of resignation, but the man works for the British Military Intelligence on top state secret confidential work, a man like him wouldn’t be allowed to simply resign. But at the same time he couldn’t be permitted to roam free at large. So what to do with him? Put him in a place of security until he’s cooled his heels. Once there it would be productive to find out what has gone wrong with one of their top men. Why did he resign?
    Number 2 is a very sympathetic man, but then he’s paid to be, he knows how the Prisoner feels, and they have taken quite a liberty. A lot of people are curious about what lies behind the Prisoner’s resignation, he had a brilliant career, his reputation is impeccable, they want to know why he suddenly left. Personally Number 2 believes the Prisoner’s story, that it was a matter of principle, but then what Number 2 thinks doesn’t really count does it? One has to be sure, that that gives them the right to poke their nose into the Prisoner’s private business! Its Number 2’s job to check the Prisoner’s motives….. “They’ve been checked” protests the Prisoner. Who checked his motives and when, there wasn’t time surely? Well at least not after he had handed in his letter of resignation. The Prisoner asked “What people?” Obviously those for whom he previously worked, the Colonel and people higher up, those “masters” we hear so much about in The Village.
    And besides The Prisoner’s file needs to be brought up to date, because if there’s one thing those working for The Village are keen on its information, and the more information the better. And no piece of information is too small, that’s why even people who know too little are also brought to The Village, why the doctor-Number 40 pressed on with experiments against Dutton, so to squeeze every piece of information out of him he knew! Why Number 2 was keen to see the Village scientists to put the Seltzman machine into operation, to use unsuspected agents to gather information. Because information is power, and the more you have of it, the more power you can impose on governments, Kings, Princes of many lands. Policies can be defined, and revolutions nipped in the bud. So its no wonder that one day Number 2 would wake up amongst them, since he wielded a not inconsiderable power. A man like that could be of use to those behind The Village, a man in his position would be perfectly placed to use certain information at a propitious time.
    A lot of people have certainly been interested in why the Prisoner resigned. But as Number 2 once said “If one can’t chuck up a job things have come to a pretty pass.” But who was it who actually resigned? John Drake, or Patrick McGoohan? A case can be made for both of them. John Drake probably became disillusioned with the kind of work he was doing for British Military Intelligence {MI9}. Patrick McGoohan had certainly become fed up with his role as ‘Danger Man – John Drake,’ when considering the restiveness and staleness of the scripts. So the scene in which the Prisoner hands in his resignation on the one hand is action adventure, and on the other symbolising McGoohan storming into Lew Grade’s office one morning telling him that he’s had enough of ‘Danger Man,’ and how he has an idea for something new. But even then the secret agent remains in the mind of Patrick McGoohan as Number 6. He was made a secret agent, and so could easily be John Drake, a man who has resigned his top secret confidential job, a man who could not be left to roam free at large. When really there was the opportunity for Number 6 to be made to be anyone, just as long as he’s in some way important. After all Number 6 was to be the central character in The Village, and if not a secret agent then what, or who?............ I suppose really Number 6 had to be an ex-secret agent, because it made the character better suited to resist interrogation techniques, to survive the ordeals he would be forced to face. Ordeals which would eventually break a lesser man than Number 6!                

See you soon 

The Numbers Game!

   In an episode of ‘War and Peace’ Count Pierre Bezukhov believes his and Napoleons destiny’s are inextricably linked, and that he is destined to kill Napoleon according to numerology. He achieves his goal by lining up the French alphabet alongside a list of numbers. Pierre thinks it is his duty to “put an end to the power of the beast that was Napoleon”. Pierre clearly isn’t thinking very logically, especially considering the manipulation of word order and spelling required to get to this point.

    So what’s that got to do with ‘the Prisoner’ I hear you ask? Well if you give me a moment I’ll tell you. I have read that its possible to derive the identity of JD {John Drake} using the code name ZM73, and so I decided that I would make an attempt, and so I arrived at the following formulae;

Z   =    26

M  =    13

73 =    73

Total 112

J =    10

D =     4
Total 14

Divide 112 by 8 {you arrive at 8 by adding the Prisoner’s number 6 and the number 2 together as at one time 6 was Number 2}

112 divided by 8 = 14

Divide 14 by 1 = 14   {as 6 is also 1}

The total sum adds up to 14

J =    10

D =     4

Total =14

   Just like Pierre Bezukhov there has had to be a certain amount of manipulation in the creation of this formulae. And yet it is not to be taken seriously, its meant as just a piece of fun. After all, one can manipulate the figures to arrive at almost anything if the desire is there.
   Does anyone reading this have their own ideas on this subject, just for fun of course!

See you soon

Quote For The Day

    “You can say what you like, you brought me back here.”

                                 {Number 2 – Once Upon A Time}

    So who was it who had Number 2 brought back to the Village? Number 2 is complaining to Number 1 that it was he who had him brought back to the Village, and if not Number 1 then those “masters” we hear about from time to time who had Number 2 brought back to the Village. However on a more symbolic level, it might be Leo McKern expressing his own personal feelings in the scene, in complaining that it was actually Pat McGoohan who had him brought back!
    Pat McGoohan played for real the fight scene between Headmaster and pupil, and almost half killed Leo who was in fear of his life, and eventually got up off the floor gasping for breath! In fact things got worse for Leo because he suffered a nervous breakdown whist working on ‘Once Upon A Time,’ which stopped the filming. However McKern being the consummate professional returned to complete the filming of the episode. However he swore he would never work with Patrick McGoohan again. And yet he did, despite having been put through some rough treatment at his hands.

Be seeing you

No.2 Supports Brexit!

   There was a news report on BBC East Midlands Today yesterday evening {Saturday March 23^rd}, about Nigel Farage taking part in a march to Nottingham to promote the leave Europe campaign. A few of the Brexit supporters taking part in the march were interviewed on camera, and one woman instantly took my attention. Not because of her support for Brexit, but because of the No.2 badge she was wearing complete with canopied Penny Farthing!

Be seeing you

In The Village!

    In The Village they do not even let you rest in peace, they resuscitate you, they reanimate you, because Number 2 went wrong. More than that he went and gone rogue! Number 6 may well have been to The Village before, and while he was here he was turned, then released back into the outside world to carry on the good work. But something went wrong, he resigned his job! That wasn’t part of the plan at all, no, one of their agents had gone wrong. What’s more he was going to do a runner, so they had to get to him first, then bring him back to the village so that they could discover what had gone wrong. First why did he resign? And it was the same with Number 2, he had gone rogue, he didn’t die though, his heart had given out under the strain. So he had to be resuscitated in order to discover what had gone wrong with this Number 2. After all back in the Embryo Room Number 2 was heard to admit that he was beginning to like Number 6, and that would not do at all. Relationships between any Number 2 and prisoners were not allowed. But things would get worse, because not only had Number 2 turned on and bitten the hand that feeds, but he would eventually spit in Number 1’s electronic eye! The sign of a true rebel, a man who has seen the light ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha {laughing like Leo McKern}.

Be seeing you

Citizen 113c

   If the newspaper reporter for The Tally Ho is Number 113, and his photographic colleague is 113b, then it stands to reason that the Tally Ho vender should be Number 113c. Mind you had Number 113 not told Number 6 who he was, and who his photographic colleague is we wouldn’t know. Because neither of these three men actually wear their numbered badge! Also not only are 113b and 113c identical twins, but they are dressed exactly the same as identical twins usually are, until they begin to grow and develop their own identities, and no longer care to look like each other. Indeed if it wasn’t for the fact that 113b waves back from a distance while 113c is operating The Tally Ho dispenser you might think they are one and the same. But this isn’t the first time we have encountered identical twins in the village, and it will not be the last. Doppelgangers, twins, look-a-likes, dress-a-likes, all to be found in the village.
   It might be that a person in the village doesn’t wear his number for one reason or another, and there are several of those. But for three people not to wear the same subdivided number is something of a rarity. Also one further observation, curiously Number 113c’s blazer is buttoned up, without actually being buttoned up!

Be seeing you

THE TALLY HO

A Breakdown In Control!

by our own reporter

  Life here in the Village doesn’t seem to have suited this particular No.2. Right from the beginning he saw enemies everywhere, even though he didn’t know who they were. He saw how everyone was conspiring against him. His assistant No.14 was kept at arms length, seeing him as not being completely trustworthy when it mattered. He guarded himself to the point that he smuggled into the Village his sword shooting stick, such was his need for self-preservation!
   He was described as being a sadist, a murderer. He was certainly paranoid, mentally he was deficient, fragile, a weak link in the chain of command waiting to be broken. His behaviour was not that of a man in control of himself let alone of the Village. No.2 didn’t like his authority questioned “Don’t tell me what to do!” “Do you want to sit in this chair?” he barked at the head of psychiatrics, who he asked if he was preparing a report on No.2’s mental health. He wasn’t at the time, but I bet he was after that interview with No.2!
   No.2 allowed No.6 to run rings around him, questioning security in the Village, the suggestion of a secret message on one of the six records. It took No.2 most of the morning to discover there was nothing hidden on any of the records! Then a  fake message to XO4, then No.6 left an envelope containing blank sheets of paper in the Stone Boat. But No.2 was convinced there was something written on those sheets of paper, words, figures……That caused the two laboratory technicians to work through the best part of the night to discover that all they were, were blank sheets of paper. They tried everything, the density test, the fumes test, lemon juice, heating each sheet of paper over a hot flame. No.6 then turned to other ways to mix things up for No.2, via a telephone call, and a visit to the bandstand where he had a word with the leader of the Brass Band. “A request you say?” No.2 wanted to know what else No.6 had said to him, but No.6 didn’t say anything else, but No.2 didn’t believe that, he saw it as a plot, everyone going behind his back! He then turned on the Supervisor-No.26, and removed him from his position pledging that he would break the conspiracy against him!
    “There is more harm in the village than is dreamt,” this was a warning to No.2, it came to him through a message in the personal column of The Tally Ho. The originator of the message was No.6, and No.2 set his dog onto him, the dog in the guise of No.14, who said he would like to “dust” No.6 down, that he’d really enjoy it. Pity he couldn’t live up to his promise, pity No.6 didn’t dunk 14 into the tank of water! Later there was a bomb scare, a Cuckoo clock had been left at the door of the Green Dome. No.2 was scared witless, and had the bomb disposal team deployed. The Cuckoo clock was carefully dismantled, to find that the only Cuckoo in the Village was No.2! Later No.6 was observed in the mangrove walk, making for either the shore or the hills. He was observed to be carrying a large wooden box. Having caught a pigeon, No.6 attempted to send a message to someone outside of the Village. However the new Supervisor No.66 was not a man to be outdone. He deployed the Village’s electronic defence system, the Beam. At the setting of hellfire, which was the Supervisor’s only mistake, the pigeon would have been burned to a crisp and the message destroyed with it. No.2 intervened and ordered the Beam to be set at minimum strength. That stunned the pigeon, and was quickly located because at the time of the Beam’s activation they had the pigeon tracked on radar.
   “Pat-a-cake pat-a-cake bakers man, bake me a cake as fast as you can!” It’s a new code and the computer’s not programmed for it! Well in that case try a spot of heliographing! Who was No.6 heliographing? Well its obvious isn’t it? There was noting at sea, no ships, not even an aircraft or helicopter in the air. As for sonar there was nothing coming through, so no submarine! But No.6 must have been signalling to someone. He was, but No.2 was blind to it!
   No.6’s activities had not gone unnoticed by certain citizens of this community, and very soon after there came a spate of so called “jamming” activities, as citizens followed No.6’s example. They call it jamming because their nonexistent plans simply jam up the works of the Village administration!

Be seeing you

As Easy as A B and C!

   But then it wasn’t, was it? Three days for Number 2 to extract the reason behind Number 6’s resignation, and to use an un-proved drug to boot! I wonder what it was in Number 6’s life, which had been researched and computed to bring the matter down to three people, A B and C? Number 2 believed Number 6 was going to sell out, now what brought him to that conclusion? But he wanted to know what Number 6 had to sell, and to whom he was going to sell it. It makes you wonder how this particular Number 2 was given the task in the first place, having allowed Number 6 to involve himself in the affair with ‘The General.’ After that calamity, depending on whether or not you personally put ‘The General’ before ‘A B and C.’ Of course in the series it’s the other way around, so perhaps we had best keep to that arrangement of episodes. So, in having proved it wasn’t A or B Number 6 was selling out to Number 2 turned his person to an unknown entity. An unknown man, there being no photograph of him, only two things are known, he is French, and attended Madame Engadine’s celebrated parties, a man who likes impressive offices. As it turned out Number 2 was the man with an impressive office! Well you cannot get more impressive than the office in the Green Dome. It’s, minimalist, functional, and futuristic looking. Poor old Number 2, he underestimated Number 6, that was his only fault. We can only assume that Number 2 was allowed to leave the village like two of his predecessors, but then why bother to bring back a failed Number 2 to the village for such an important experiment as Speed Learn? You would bring someone else in for that surely. So it makes sense that no matter what order you think ‘A B and C’ and ‘The General’ should run in, they should run consecutively. As ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ and ‘Once Upon A Time’ could have done. But for them to be able to do that you have to forget, or ignore certain pieces if dialogue. Like making a piece of the jigsaw fit in order to complete the picture, even if they have to be shaped to fit!

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

    Number 6 cannot get rid of Number 1 not until he dies. Until that time he will just have to learn to live with himself! And of course that works both ways. If Number 1 cannot get Number 6 to give his reasons for resigning his job, he will have to learn to deal with that. Number 6 did say he resigned for peace, for peace of mind, if that’s true he didn’t achieve it!

                 

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene In The Schizoid Man

    After sharing a final goodbye with Alison Number 6 attempts a daring escape by impersonating Curtis. But Alison knows who he really is, and Number 2 has his doubts, while Number 6 Curtis has forgotten security regulations, meaning the wearing of a blindfold. And yet, are we really to believe that Number 2 would have allowed Curtis to leave the Village looking like Number 6? I should have thought Curtis would have had to spend a little more time in the Village before being allowed to leave, if only for a final make-over, if not to be given time to grow his moustache again!

Be seeing you

Citizen No.2

    He must have been a very well-liked Number 2 if the Exhibition of Arts and Crafts is anything to judge by. What I mean is so many of the village citizens chose Number 2 as a subject to paint, model in clay, sculpt, even characterise a little. And there are a great many artistic people living in the village.  Number 6 of course went his own way, and was described as their very own Epstein, seeing as he chose a piece of abstract art. And yet he was not the only one.

    So how did Number 2 becomes such a popular character in the village? After all the only time we see him there is when he’s in the Recreation Hall. He was seen in the Control Room a couple of times, but that doesn’t mean he walked there through the village. He would have used the underground tunnel from beneath the Green Dome. It seems this Number 2 would mix with the average citizen. But then again he was once upon a time one of them, having one day woken up amongst them. But he was not a trained agent, trained to resist interrogation techniques. He said himself how deplorable it was that he held out for so short a time. That was not his fault, but a tribute to their methods!

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

  After handing in his letter of resignation, the Prisoner returned to his home to collect two suitcases, his passport, and an airline ticket. The question is, when did the Prisoner purchase that airline ticket? At least by the day before he resigned, which makes his act of resignation one of premeditation rather than a spur of the moment thing. 
    In ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’ the Prisoner is returned to London the day before he was to have resigned his job. Sometime after, he was to have attended his fiancées birthday party, that of Janet Portland, which is what was supposed to have happened had the Prisoner not been abducted to The Village. But then would it? I don't think the Prisoner had any intention of attending his fiancée’s birthday party, simply because of what we witness in the opening sequence. The evidence of the Prisoner's passport and airline ticket is compelling, indicating that he was on his way to London Airport.
    It is highly unlikely that the Prisoner intended to go and see Janet Portland before he left, because the evidence suggests that he had not even told her about his resigning his job. Janet Portland had expected to see him at her birthday party. What’s more, he had cynically accompanied her the previous evening to her last dress fitting for the party, knowing very well that he was not going to be there. 

Be seeing you

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                                           Be seeing you!

BCNU

The Man In The Mirror

    I wonder what kind of morning it is.........oh sunshine, bet there’ll be showers later, there’s always a warning of intermittent showers later in the day. Unless the spell of fine weather is due to continue for another month that is. Right coffee on, time for a shower and a shave.............Who do you think you’re looking at, can’t a man shave in privacy? There I am, looking in the mirror and talking to myself! That they say it is the first sign of madness, well why not, after all this place is like a blessed madhouse! After coffee and toast I’ll take a walk around The Village, get a little exercise, and fresh air.........you always go for a walk after breakfast, exercise and fresh air! I stopped shaving, and stood there staring into the mirror. It was my face staring back at me, but he winked! What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?.......I didn’t say that........no, I did. You? Yes me. But you are me! Yes, and you are me mores the pity. I’m talking to myself again. No, you are talking to me, as I am now talking to you. I am your other self. My other self? Not quick off the mark are you? But it’s not possible. I tell you also what’s not possible, for me to step out of this mirror! But you.......stepped out of the mirror, yes. What now? Well now things have become unbalanced. Unbalanced? Yes, you see there are now two of us this side of the mirror, and one of us has to go back, guess which one of us that’s going to be? No, you can’t mean....... Sorry but I do.

    A vicious fight takes place tables are over turned, table lamps broken on the floor the room smashed.

    I lay upon the floor, staring at the one thing left......the mirror. I’ll smash the mirror and then neither of us can go back. I can’t allow you to do that. I made a dash for the mirror, he tripped me up and I fell headlong through the mirror! I stared back at myself, I was smiling. There wouldn’t be much to smile about, not once he had opened the cottage door and taken a step out into the village! That was a shock I can tell you, for him. He thought he was free of the mirror, but now he’s a prisoner in the village! I turned away and walked into the darkness that is the mirror. Now let’s see how he gets on resisting the machinations of Number 2!

Be seeing you

Many Happy Returns No.6!

   Today our friend Number 6 is unceremoniously returned to the village. After all that time and effort, the village is just as though he never left! I didn’t think he would have been in so much of a hurry to return there.

    The amenities are restored to his cottage, the coffee is brewing, and Mrs. Butterworth {Number 2} keeps her promise by providing a cake if he didn’t forget to come back, and he came back. But then there wasn’t any other place for him to go! It’s as Number 2 says in Dance of the Dead, “He’ll, eventually go back to his room, it’s the only place he can ever go,” and that’s as true in London as it is in the village. Mind you Number 6 is far better off in the village, at least he has a home, and he’ll be looked after for as long as he lives. Mind you it might be a little embarrassing for him when he’s forced to pay that I.O.U he wrote on the counter in the General Stores!

    It’s no good looking up at the sky Number 6, the jet aircraft is long gone, on its way to be ditched somewhere at sea by the pilot! Never mind, tomorrow’s another day, when there’ll be a carnival atmosphere in the village, which appears to be underway already, seeing as the final shot of this episode appears 8 minutes into the next episode Dance of the Dead!

Be seeing you

March 18th

   This morning the escaped Prisoner known as Number 6 was seen on the Beachy Head. He travelled in-land, encountered a group of gypsies at their camp. He dodged a police roadblock, and made his way to London by riding in the back of a van. How the Prisoner knew that van was travelling to London is unknown, after all it might have been travelling anywhere. However as it turned out it was a free ride home.
   Home! The Prisoner had suddenly become a nameless exile, a tramp, vagabond, a vagrant who has no home, even his car had been taken away from him. All he had were the rags he stood in! What could he do? After being helped by the widow Mrs. Butterworth, he could do only one thing, go running back to his ex-colleagues once more. He has two calls to make, one in town, the other in the country Just as well he didn’t meet up with the Colonel and Fotheringay, but then how did he know he wouldn’t? After all he knew he had been betrayed those two during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ and if he had encountered that pair again, what would he have done?

    Just a minute, just a minute, when our friend Number 6 eventually arrives home, or what he thinks is his home, when he knocks on the front door, who does he imagine to be there in order to open the door?
    The Prisoner gets lucky, because he encounters a new Colonel and Thorpe who doesn’t seem to take to our friend Number 6 at all. His roll of film containing photographic evidence of the village has to be developed. So if you think you have a busy day today, spare a thought for Number 6, who has to convince both the Colonel and a sceptical Thorpe of his story, a story of which every detail has to be checked, all apart from the gun runners boat of course. A Police Constable despatched to check out the gypsy camp, Special Branch sent to question Mrs. Butterworth. An RAF Group captain has to be found to pilot a jet aircraft, a Naval Commander to help calculate the search area. An aircraft requisitioned, and refuelling at RAF Gibraltar organized, all to be carried out in less than 24 hours if Number 6 is to be returned to the village tomorrow!  

Be seeing you

Bureau of Visual Records

    It’s a bomb, that’s it, it must be a bomb! But it wasn’t a bomb at all, it was what it looked like, a Cuckoo clock. Where did Number 2 imagine Number 6 would get a bomb from? Number 2 did say in Dance of The Dead that she would warn the doctor when Number 6 puts a bomb in his lovely hospital. And there is a bomb in the next episode, It’s Your Funeral, so it is possible to lay one’s hands on explosives in the village. If you know the right people of course. I imagine the Watchmaker-Number 51 thought Number 100 had come by the explosive by foul means. Not a bit of it, I expect the interim Number 2 gave it to him!

    There is a film called Mark of the Phoenix in which the actor Martin Miller {Number 51 the Watchmaker} plays a silversmith. Whenever I watch the film I cannot help but think of that silversmith being the same character as the watchmaker.

    But of course Number 2 is put under no illusions about the bomb scare, there was no bomb threat, no explosive, it was merely a bomb scare. But it made for a good practice drill, just in case the real thing ever happened. I expect the new Number 2 in It’s Your Funeral called out bomb disposal to remove the bomb from around his head and shoulders!

Be seeing you

In The Village!

    “No extreme measures to be used yet!” That’s what Number 2 said when he was making his report to…….to, well it doesn’t seem as though he’s speaking to anyone. He doesn’t have the ‘L’ shaped telephone to his ear, he appears to be using it as a Dictaphone. Perhaps someone is recording Number 2’s report and will type it up later and add it to Number 6’s file.

    So if Number 6 doesn’t come over with the goods, being the reason behind his resignation, when will these so called extreme measures against him actually begin?

    I wonder what events of any particular episodes could be said to be extreme? Taking away the man’s identity and giving him a number could be deemed extreme, as well as having him abducted to the village in the first place!

    The Chimes of Big Ben, not extreme I should have thought.

    A b and C that was a pretty extreme measure taken by Number 2, to have an untried drug proved on Number 6. Especially when he questioned why only three doses of Number 14’s new wonder drug. Three were dangerous enough, a fourth would have killed him!

   Free For All, no, dugs have been used on Number 6 before. It’s just that they went to an awful lot of trouble for no return.

    The Schizoid Man, I don’t see this as extreme because it’s not half as difficult as they could have made it!

    The General, well it never involved Number 6, not until he involved himself. So this episode doesn’t count!

    Many Happy Returns on the other hand is extreme, and very, very dangerous not just for Number 6 but also Number 2. Why such extreme measures just to demonstrate that escape is not possible. That no matter where he goes, they will get him in the end!

    Dance of The Dead, that room in Number 6’s cottage is the only place he can ever go after the events of the previous episode, it’s his only home now!

    Number 6 put on trial for the crime of possessing a radio, and sentenced to death, that’s a bit extreme isn’t it?

    Checkmate, the only extreme practise was against the Rook, not Number 6. Mind you just like her medical predecessor Number 40, Number 23 would dearly have liked to know Number 6’s breaking point. But Number 2 dare not let this doctor loose on Number 6, he’s far too important!

    Hammer Into Anvil, Number 2 is a professional sadist according to Number 6. Number 2 has no instructions as far as Number 6 is concerned. As for Number 1, he seems happy enough to let them both be at each other’s throats. He might have found it an interesting exercise, maybe that’s why he didn’t stop Number 6’s jamming escapades!

    It’s Your Funeral, certainly an extreme measure but not against Number 6 personally, but against the community. To purge the village of all malcontents of which Number 6 is “top of the bill.” So does that mean to get rid of public enemy Number 6 in the process of that purge? Somehow me’ thinks not!

    A Change of Mind, this isn’t an extreme measure against Number 6 even if it does look like it on the face of it. They dare not take a chance of operating on Number 6, not to dislocate the aggressive frontal lobes {a lobotomy} they might lose him, understand what I mean? Lose him!

    Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, extreme in the extreme, such is the desire for those behind the village to locate Doctor Joseph Seltzman. It’s just unfortunate for Number 6 that he was the last to have any contact with Seltzman! And for the first time he needs the village just as much as the village needs him!

    Living In Harmony, now they try to break Number 6! Using hallucinatory drugs and microphones in an early form of virtual reality! Is this not an extreme measure, it would seem not, as this is Number 8’s special technique which has been used on previous subjects, what’s more it has always worked. But not this time. Perhaps they still have to learn that any such plan involving Number 6 never works!

    The Girl Who Was Death, not so much an extreme measure, more an act of scraping the bottom of the barrel seeing as they have run out of ideas with which to try and extract the reason behind Number 6’s resignation!

    Once Upon A time, this is now an extreme measure, because it has to be either one of them, Number 2 or Number 6 who walks out of the Embryo Room! One week, one teeny-weeny week, and Number 2 brought it upon himself!

    Fall Out, one last desperate throw of the dice, and one final extreme measure, the offer made to Number 6 of ultimate power. It was a chance they had to take, but it’s just as well Number 6 didn’t take up their offer. But then he had been Number 1 all the time!

Be seeing you

Press And Find Out!

    We know who Number 6 is, and 2b and 2d are members of the town council, subdivided Number 2’s. But who might the subdivided 6h be?
    And there is always something in the Prisoner to keep you off guard, like the way Number 6 attempts to escape by boat, only to be thwarted by the membranic Guardian, much in the same way as in ‘Arrival’ when he was attempting to escape in a Mini-Moke, and left unconscious on the beach. In this case Number 6 does jump overboard into the water, but he must be left high and dry on the beach at some point. Because by the time the ambulance appears the tide has gone out. Which means when the medics reach the unconscious body of Number 6, the scene would be much like it was that time in ‘Arrival!’

Be seeing you

Village Life!

    “Can I be of assistance sir?”
    “Yes, if you wouldn’t mind calling bomb disposal please!”

The sound of a distant siren.

     In an unmarked vehicle two bomb disposal experts rush to the Gloriette.
    Sound of a siren.

    “Look, I’ll get the bucket of water ready, while you remove the bomb and drop it in the bucket”
    “I’ve got a better idea. I’ll get the bucket of water while you remove the bomb and drop it in the water!”
    “I shouldn’t think Number Two will bother about who does what!”
    “Why?”
    “The bomb is hanging around his shoulders!”
    “Number Two, is a suicide bomber!”
    “Is he, I had no idea!”
    “Well he’s the one with the bomb.”
    “It could go off at any moment then?”
    “Well yes.”

    “Why have we stopped?”
    “It might be a hoax, like the time with the Cuckoo clock.”

    “Then we’ve nothing to worry about.”
    “And if it isn’t?”
    “Our worries could well soon be all over.”
    “Yes, that’s what I’m afraid of!”

Be seeing you

Life In Danger!

    I wouldn’t do that if I were you Number 2. It might go off accidentally!

Be seeing you

MindGames!

    It’s all in the title of course! There are three unique episode titles in the Prisoner which can be messed about with, I mean are interchangeable, so that they still mean the same in regard to the theme of the episode. A Change of Mind for Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling dealing with the mind transference. Living In Harmony for A Change of Mind in which the community frowns upon disharmony, and encourage people to live in harmony with others. And Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling for Living In Harmony simply because of the song and the 1952 film High Noon. In the film the Town Marshal Will Kane resigns his job, and is about to leave town with his new bride Amy. But Kane is prevented from leaving because a gang of gunslingers are on their way to town to extract their revenge, as Frank Miller has been released from prison. Number 6 resigns his job as a town Sheriff. While Kane had Amy, this Man With No Name has Cathy, and finds it difficult to leave the town of Harmony, and like Kane has to deal with a gang of gunslingers! It’s all relative you see, if only in parallels.
    Fall Out, that sounds more like a command than the result of what has taken place prior to that episode. Hammer Into Anvil sounds like an equation, but the one won’t go into the other! Should it not be  Hammer And Anvil? And yet the title does suggest that the hammer Number 2, and the anvil Number 6 change places. Because it’s not Number 2 doing the hammering, he’s the one getting hammered, the anvil! Much in the case of Once Upon A time in which Number 6 the patient, and Number 2 the doctor, eventually change places during their one-to-one role playing. And that’s another parallel with Hammer Into Anvil, because that too is basically a one-to-one situation between Number 2 and Number 6 with Number 14 assisting, as with the butler in Once Upon A time.

    The General, there are two Generals in the village, but Number 54 has nothing to do with this. No, to many the General being a computer in the episode of the same title is referred to in the previous The Schizoid Man during the conversation between Number 2 and Number 6
   “The General isn’t going to behead you.”
   “We won’t know until I’ve reported to the General.”
   “Report to the General, that’s a new one!”
   The way Number 2 says “Report to the General, that’s a new one!” does suggest one doesn’t report to a computer.

   It’s as easy as A B and C, well that’s what they say. But Number 2 didn’t find it so!
   Free For All, well that’s what Number 6 wanted, everyone to be free. Or perhaps to create a mass breakout which would turn into chaos, so that he could escape in the confusion. Which gives the impression of a free-for-all, but of course Number 6 couldn’t create that situation as no-one was listening to his protestations that everyone was free, free, free to go, free to go!
    The Chimes of Big Ben, when you hear the chimes of Big Ben you know you are home. Well that’s what Number 6 thought, but his watch also said eight o’clock, and there’s no fooling him!
    Many Happy Returns not “of the day” as in a birthday greeting, because Number 6’s birthday had nothing to do with it as it’s purely coincidental. March 19^th is used merely as a date, an indication of when. This episode has that much in common with The Schizoid Man in that they are the only two episodes indicating a date and month.
    Dance of The Dead, its all about death and best to keep the doors and windows shut at such a time {Ref: The Prisoner Dusted Down} and Number 6 did lead them on a merry dance!
    It’s Your Funeral, well it very nearly was for the retiring Number 2, and his predecessor has plenty of time in which to ponder his own retirement……one day!
    The Girl Who Was Death, which I think could have worked as the lead into Fall Out {Ref: The Prisoner Dusted Down} after all they had scraped the bottom of the barrel with this one. Ideas for extracting the reason behind Number 6’s resignation having dried up!
   And Checkmate, well there’s the endgame, Number 6 placed back on the chessboard, as a pawn. Much like both Many Happy Returns and Fall Out, Number 6 manages to escape, but always ends up back where he started from! Cue dark clouds, cue thunder, a long and deserted runway, and a green yellow Lotus 7 looming fast out of the distance towards the camera…………Arrival!

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

   There is always the question of what happens to Number 2 once his or her term in office is over in the village. It would appear that one former Number 2 ended up living in Balby, which is a suburb of Doncaster in South Yorkshire. He is pictured here with Albert Arkwright {Open All Hours} after calling into the corner shop. He has become something of an eccentric, always with his head in a book. And he’s observant, especially when he spots “Speciol” spelt with a “ho”! He has taken to wearing a balaclava, and fingerless gloves, and yet he is still wearing the garb of his former office as Chairman of the village!

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera!

    Foggy Dewhurst…..a former Number 2?

    Last night I caught part of an episode of the BBC television series Last of The Summer Wine, in which the character Foggy Dewhurst was wearing the exact same designed scarf as worn by Number 2, it even had the extra black line amidst the white, blue and yellow stripes. However it is possible that the scarf was made up of two scarves stitched together end to end, because of the scarf’s extraordinary length!

Be seeing you

ESCAPE!

    “Watch the film last night?”
    “What the Great Escape, I did as it happens.”
    “Did it give you any ideas?”
    “Ideas?” Well I’m not ready to rush the wire yet if that’s what you mean!”
    “No, for escape.”
    “Escape? There’s no escaping the village! Hey you’re not thinking of digging a tunnel are you?”

    “No of course not.”
    “Well I haven’t got a motor cycle if that’s what you’re thinking.”
    “And there’s no barbed wire fence to dig under.”
    “We could put the Goons to sleep.”
    “What like in the film?”
    “We don’t do anything. We behave ourselves, give the impression of settling down and joining in…….”
    “That’s jamming!”
    “Is it?”
    “Yes, jammers don’t do anything, well if they do it’s to lay down non-existent plans in order to confuse the Observers.”
    “………Yes, well, we’ll do that.”
    “And after that?”
    “We escape when the Observers are least expecting it!”

    “How?”
    “Well we’ll…….. I don’t know!”
    “I’ve been reading a book called The Count of Monte Cristo.”
    “What’s it about?”
    “This chap Edmond Dantès gets put in prison, the Château d'If, a grim island fortress off Marseilles. Eventually he encounters a fellow prisoner, Abbé Faria, who goes on to educate Dantès in all kinds of things. He eventually escapes Château d'If……..”
    “How, he had a plan?”
    “The old man, Abbé Faria, dies. Two jailers stitch the corpse up in a weighted sail cloth. Then distracted for a few minutes allows Dantès to unstitch the sail cloth, then using the tunnel between the two cells he, puts the old man in his cell, while he stitches himself up in the sail cloth. Then he’s chucked from the top of the cliffs into the sea.”
    “And that’s your plan is it? To wait until someone dies, tie yourself up in cloth, and get yourself chucked over the cliffs and into the sea!”
    “No of course not. It just goes to show that you don’t need an over complicated plan to try and escape this place!”
    “So what are you going to do?”
    “I’m going to hide in a dustbin!”
    “And.”
    “Well when they collect the dustbins I’ll get chucked out with the rubbish!”
    “Don’t make me laugh!”

    “Supervisor I can’t find Number Seven.”
    1st Observer “What do you mean you can’t find him!”

    “I’ve looked everywhere.”
    “Well look again!”
    “I’ve looked again.”
    2^nd Observer “Supervisor.”
    “Yes what is it?”
    “I’ve been reviewing last night’s surveillance footage.”
    “And?”
    “I’ve film footage of Number Seven climbing into a dustbin!”
    “What? Orange alert!”
    “Too late sir. The dustcart picked up all the dustbins early this morning.”
    “Then Number Seven………..”
    “Yes sir, he’s somewhere on the landfill site!”
    “I wonder who is going to inform Number Two?”
    “It looks like you are, you’re the Supervisor!”
    “He’s not going to like this!”

Be seeing you