It’s Your Funeral!

    In the original script for It’s Your Funeral the action which takes place during the Appreciation Day ceremony is basically the same as we see in the finished episode, except when the Guardian puts in an appearance.
    The struggle over the control of the detonator between No.6 and No. 100 ends with No. 6 taking100 prisoner. He wants No.100 to make a speech before the entire community, a public confession for the future assurance for innocent people. No.100 protests, “No. No. No. Let me go!

  The location is the Green Dome, the Guardian floats from the top of the dome towards the camera. We hear the cheering crowd, unseen No. 6 and No. 100 cross towards the square. The Guardian appears through the arch between No. 6’s house and the General Stores. 6 and 100 stop dead in their tracks.
    Number 6 looks warily towards the Guardian, No.100 smirks, he thinks he has been rescued.
   The Guardian starts towards them, not fast but deliberately. 100 takes advantage of this momentary stand-still, and breaks away from No. 6’s grasp. No. 6 remains where he is. The Guardian goes closer, then suddenly arc’s round on a new course and heads straight for Number 100 at full speed.
   There is a close up of No.100, he registers terror as he realizes he’s the one the Guardian is after…..he screams. There is a close-up of No.6 as he stands looking on the awful scene. The Guardian descends on the terror-struck No.100 and the Guardian destroys its victim.

    I can see one reason why the scene with the Guardian attacking No.100 was cut from the finished episode, it is reminiscent of the scene in The Schizoid Man when the Guardian attacks and suffocates Curtis to death. But then scriptwriter Michael Cramoy probably would not have been aware of that scene, but McGoohan would have been. Also there is the question why would the Guardian attack No.100, after all he was working for the new No.2 overseeing Plan Division Q. The original scripts notes a close-up shot of the interim No.2’s spectacles as he presses down the thumb switch. There is then a close-up of the interim No.2, he is speaking quietly. His lips moving just slightly, the crowd are cheering and we are unable to hear what he is saying. I suspect this interim No.2 has arrived at the conclusion that the game is up, seeing as the bomb in the Great Seal of office has not been detonated. In that close-up of him speaking without being heard he actually gives the order for an Orange Alert, and effectively sets the Guardian on No.100 in order to “clean the house,” to get rid of a key witness regarding Plan Division Q and the purge of innocent people had the assassination of the departing No.2 succeeded.

   I am finding the original scripts quite fascinating when compared to the finished episodes.

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