Thought For The Day

    'The butcher with the sharpest knife has the warmest heart,' a saying which has defied research. It probably has no real origin, and might have been made up for the Prisoner. However 'He who plough's a straight furrow needs hoe for nothing,' is an adaptation on a proverb. Where as 'He who digs a pit may one day lie in it,' is but one variation on the same theme.

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Questions Are A Burden To Others - Answers A Prison For Oneself

    Legend has it that Patrick McGoohan had seven episodes of the Prisoner which he would have kept, and to throw the rest away. Now such a list was drawn up, whether actually by McGoohan, or someone who thought what such a list might contain, I don't know. But I thought it might be fun to see what other readers list of seven episodes might look like, and perhaps readers might like to post a list in a comment. What would mine be? Well lets see..............

1,  Arrival {obviously}
2,  Dance of the Dead
3,  Free For All
4, The General    {or Checkmate}
5, The Chimes of Big Ben
6,  Once upon A Time {has to be}
7,  Fall Out  {conclusion}

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Pictorial Portmeirion

Portmeirion at a more innocent time. What a place it must have been for the children of the Williams-Ellis family. The yacht on the left edge of the photograph is Clough Williams-Ellis' Amis Reunis.

  The Campanilie, or Bell Tower. It was from this that a crewman of the searchlight fell during the fight scene in Checkmate. After the man has fallen there follows a splash of water, yet there is no water of any kind anywhere near the Bell Tower! But I suppose the majority of television viewers who watched the Prisoner for the first time, would not know that, unless they themselves had been to Portmeirion.

The Ship Shop, and the bay window at which No.6 and No.14, the chess champion, pause and talk during the episode of Checkmate.

 
   



    This is the Camera Obscura at Portmeirion, of course it features in the background of the Prisoner, not actually close-up, but in the background. But prior to the Prisoner Portmeirion featured in several episodes of Danger Man, and the Camera Obscura was used as a look-out tower in the episode The Journey Ends Half Way, an episode which is set in China.

Be seeing you

Arts And Crafts

     From my cycledelic period!

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Back To Back Episodes

    The Chimes of Big Ben and Once Upon A Time would have worked rather well as back-to-back episodes, which I think might have been the original intention. However there are a couple of lines in Once Upon A Time which would be somewhat spurious had that been the case, when No.2 telephones No.6 who states 'I know your voice,' {it would be remarkable if No.6 had forgotten after so short a time} to which No.2 replies 'I've been here before' {well surely if the two episodes were intended to run consecutively, No.2 would never have been away!} But apart from those two lines, I think the Prisoner series would have gained much, and been given a different look by running The Chimes of Big Ben and Once Upon A Time back-to-back, but it would have cost No.2 his life, having given it to the cause without chance of resuscitation!   In fact A B & C and The General would have worked well as back-to-back episodes instead of having them separated in the way they are in the screening order. In that way No.2's further term of office would have simply run consecutively, and there would have been no need to send him away at the end of  A B & C, only to have him returned to the Village later on for The General!
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It's Your Funeral!

    How ridiculous is the plot behind the assassination/execution of the retiring No.2? I mean there is no real apparent reason to involve No.6 at all. An interim No.2, the so called heir presumptive, said that it was a matter of credibility to involve No.6, without which the plan might backfire, well it did backfire!
   If they had not involved No.6 in the plot, then the assassination of the retiring No.2 would have gone along smoothly, there would have been no problem. It seems to me that No.1 is very keen on over complicating events, and by involving No.6 it seems almost like another test, to see if he can prevent the assassination/execution of the retiring No.2!   Be seeing you.

60 Second Interview With John Drake

No.113: I'm here on the cricket field today to interview a man who is seen by some fans, to be at the very heart of the 1960's television series the Prisoner, John Drake, whose very name has caused much controversey over the years 'Just a minute, you're not John Drake!'
John Drake 'Well who did you imagine me to be?'
'Well someone completely different really.'
'Look are you here to talk, or play cricket?'
No.113b 'Smile.'


No.113 'We came here, my photographic colleague and I to interview John Drake.'
John Drake 'Well get on with it, and be quick, we are in the middle of an over you know.'
'Let me ask you, have you ever been a member of security NATO?'
'NATO?'
'Or M9?'
'M9, what's that? Oh I was a member of the R.S.C for a time.'
'Is that affiliated to the M.C.C. at all?'
'No.'
'And you play cricket?'
'Yes. I'm a spin bowler.'
'You're not a secret agent then?'
'Are you mad?'
'But you are John Drake?'
'Yes, always have been. Look, can we get on with this over?'
'Do you know anything about exploding cricket balls?'
'What do you think I am, some sort of anarchist?'
'You certainly bowled Colonel Hawke-Englishe a googly!'
'Somebody switched the cricket balls, cost us the match that!'
'And the Colonel his life.'
'Made a right mess of the wicket!'
'I can imagine!'
'Look are we going to stand about here all day.........'
'That's what they've done on the boundry all morning!'
'Look, just get into the slips, I generally get a catch off a short ball....'
'That balls not ticking is it?'
{Drake puts the cricket ball to an ear}
'No?'
'Good!'
{Drake counts out his paces, turns and makes his run, bowls over the wicket}
'Howzat?'

Reporter No.113
Photographer No.113b