Today’s Prognosis On No.6

  In ‘It’s Your Funeral,’ the interim No.2 instructs the Supervisor to order today’s prognosis report on No.6 as he must find a way to make No.6 interested enough to become involved with the planned assassination/execution of the retiring No.2. In the computer room No.8 passes that order down to two computer programmers. On the screen we see No.6 exercising daily with a walk around the village at 6.30 in the morning. Daily subject climbs the Bell Tower the reason is unknown. Subject eccentric, certainly watching, waiting, constantly aggressive. Is possible the subject likes the view. At 7.30 in the morning physical workout with subject’s homemade apparatus, and at 8.15am subject cools off water skiing. At 9 o’clock subject coffee at café and buys a copy of the broadsheet at the kiosk. At 9.20 am subject will proceed on foot to Old People’s Home for a game of chess ending with an eleven move checkmate win by subject. Subject humours other eccentric resident by sitting for portrait. Or perhaps subject has an ulterior motive.

    Basically a prognosis is a forecast of the likely outcome of a situation. In this case the computer has to predict a number of No.6’s daily activities. However the computer has to be programmed with everything No.6 has done everyday since his arrival in the village before the computer can arrive at such a prognosis or prediction. One such example would be No.6 buying a bar of soap, because a number of enthusiasts for ‘the Prisoner’ did think because of that prognosis report No.6 bought a bar of soap every day. Well obviously not every day, but No.6 would have bought a bar of soap from time to time and that would have been taken into consideration by the computer with everything else.
   In order to programme the computer you would need to know everything No.6 does on a daily basis first, all the computer does is sift that list of activities and predict what No.6 is likely to do on any given day. For a man who cares little for the community he lives in, No.6 is a very active man, mainly keeping himself fit and ready for any given opportunity. While keeping a daily look out for signs of someone, anyone from his world. But how long should No.6 keep a look out for? The trouble is, a ship, or plane could pass by when he wasn’t looking. And even if he saw a ship or plane, how could No.6 attract their attention? That’s an easy one, he could use his hand mirror and using the sun flash a light, as when he heliographed that message to No.2 in the previous episode!

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