The Chimes of Big Ben

    A Little while ago, my wife and I were listening to a Sherlock Holmes story from the BBC Radio Collection, on good old fashioned cassette tape, called ‘The Second Stain.’ The story began with the chimes of Big Ben which Holmes described as “What a magnificent sound that is, the sound of tradition and stability.” If there’s one thing No.6 has lacked since his abduction to the village its stability, and under normal circumstances that stability would have been restored with the traditional and familiar sound of the chimes of Big Ben. For Nadia we are supposed to believe that for her the chimes of Big Ben means safety, that’s why she was so keen to project the need to hear the chimes. But it was all a clever scheme, the chimes are false and misleading. The Prisoner isn’t in London, the apparent stability and familiarity washed away as he discovers there is no-one he can trust, not even his surroundings. And so No.6 returns to the familiarity and stability of the village. For at least here he knows where he is, and where he stands.

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