The Green Dome Pictorial

 “Come and join me for breakfast, Number Two the Green Dome.”

                                               {But first it had to be built!}

Operation of the steel doors

The production crew and cast

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Do You Play Croquet?

    It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it somehow, “Sir, do you play croquet sir?” as “Sir, do you play chess sir?” and if things had been different they might well have been playing crocquet on the lawn if someone hadn’t come up with the idea of a human chess match. However that is most unlikely seeing as the two men, according to the original script for ‘Arrival,’ were playing crocquet on the lawn near Gate House. And the two men in fact being guardians, Post 14 in fact, who are instructed by the Supervisor to pursue No.6, and it’s they who we see in the episode pursuing the Prisoner on the beach in the Mini-Moke. So it seems the two guardians were playing Croquet simply to pass the time.

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Village Day – The Green Dome Shoot

“Come and join me for breakfast, Number Two the Green Dome.”

                                                  {But first it had to be built!}

    ‘The Prisoner – Village Day’ the 20^th anniversary

    The biggest film shoot for ‘Village Day’ in 1999 was that of the interior of the Green Dome, not simply because of the planned three day shoot. But also because the set had to be designed, materials purchased, painted, then transported to a sound stage at a nearby school in Liverpool {which we booked for three days during the Easter Holiday} and constructed. And there was no-one better suited and accomplished on the production than Pam Buckle, because of how she had recreated the interior of No.6’s cottage in the attic of her home. Pam eventually came up with both a plan, a model of the set, how to construct all the pieces of the set, and find a location where we could put the set of the Dome’s

interior together. Max Hora took both his Penny Farthing bicycle and globe chair to Pam’s home. There were a couple of problems with the chair. First there were the scratches and dents, which Pam was concerned about, and there was the question of the chair being orange. I instructed Pam to paint the chair black, she was concerned about Max Hora’s reaction to this, and thought we should ask him first. But that was easier said than done. I said to paint it, and that I would take full responsibility. Max didn’t mind our painting his chair, in fact he loved it, so much so that we had difficulty getting him out of it when we were not filming him as No.2. Not only did he feel at home in the chair, he looked the part!

    About 10 days before filming was to commence Pam telephoned saying she had to go into hospital for a major operation! We did ask her if she wanted to postpone the filming. But no, Pam didn’t want this, in fact she discharged herself early from hospital, as she wanted things to go to schedule. She got friends, who under her supervision finished the construction of all the pieces which would go to make up the set of the Green Dome.

   And so the great day arrived, March 29^th, and members of cast and production crew from different parts of the country all arrived at Pam’s home in Liverpool by midday. There was a minor panic, as Chris, who was bringing a large screen and projector had not arrived by night time! We were unable to contact him on the telephone, and as a consequence started to put a plan ‘B’ together in case something had occurred, and he couldn’t actually make the shoot. However, he did eventually arrive late that night. On the day of arrival the cast and crew {minus Pam who was unfit} went to the school to construct the set. The purple wall went up first, but at least we only had about a third of the chamber wall to construct which was difficult enough. This was because once each section had been attached together the wall itself had to be free standing. Large pieces of card to be used for ‘skirting’ along the floor and base of the wall, had been pre-cut to a specific design. However when the time came to fit them, they didn’t fit together properly in a semi-circle, gaps had to be left in parts in order to make them go round. Long thin rods were to form the cage-like framework along the dome wall, however after securing the rods together when we tried to secure the completed frame against the wall it was too flimsy a structure to hold together and remain in place. So unfortunately this had to be discarded. Because of Pam’s unexpected hospitalization, things were behind schedule, and during this time props were still being made. The large red curved over-sized telephone was made the night before, while the ‘L’ shaped intercoms were made and painted on the morning filming began on the second day, the paint being dried using a hairdryer! The electronic doors were quite a challenge. They looked very big and impressive, but had to look realistic. When the doors were stood up and put into position, it took 6 of us {3 for each door} to operate them, an operation which was practiced over, over, and over again in order to get them sliding open and shut simultaneously. One problem was that they kept falling forward and wobbling about when moved. However in the end they worked superbly. As one cast member remarked “You should see them from the other side, they look dead good.”

    As it was only half a dome, care had to be taken with angles of filming, and not to end up with wires, chairs, and odds and ends scattered about in view. This was particularly difficult filming No.6’s first view of the interior. 

    The Monday was all about construction and preparation, the next two days would be all about filming and destruction. Firstly one cast member had to be collected from Liverpool station as she could only get one day off work. Then cast and crew arrived at the school on the Tuesday morning, with the question in my mind, would the set still be standing? Happily it was, much to my relief. Certainly Max Hora was preparing himself for his role as the first No.2. He took himself off into a corner and could be heard over and over again practising his lines interspersed with another voice he was using for the conversation. By the time he came to film his scene he was word perfect, unlike the scene in the Ice Cream parlour during the Portmeirion shoot.
    Morag as the New No.2 in her uniform giving her the impression of being a South American dictator, strutted about her office, giving instructions in a voice of authority. The 6 operators slid the doors open and closed perfectly every time, so much so that when compared to the doors of No.2’s office in ‘the Prisoner,’ the doors in ‘Village Day’ operate far better {I wonder how many crew were used to work those?}.
   Once all the scenes in No.2’s office had been filmed, it was a question of dismantling the set, the only piece to remain in place was the wall screen, and the setting up of the laboratory scene, and the black sound stage was perfect for this, as I wanted the laboratory to be completely black. This was to give the effect that the room was boundless in the darkness.
As No.6 I finally came face to face with the former No.6 whom I had been attempting to find, but firstly on the wall screen. The body lying on the operating table was Nigel Kitcher, but of course as I whipped back the sheet, it was me who lay there with a Penny coin on one eye, and a Farthing coin on the other. This was a particularly difficult scene to shoot, because the coins on my closed eyes kept falling off sideways. When I sat up they were supposed to fall forward from my eyes in a certain way. It took several takes to get it right. There was one further scene to shoot, that of the resignation office. For this we improvised using a closed-in corner of the soundstage, and a pair of double doors of the room.
   There was one final scene filmed over the three days, but for this Pam,

always ingenious, turned her dining room into a hospital room. And there I lay, in operating gown, and bandaged head, with facial bruising. Sue Everett with the help of Morag, was make-up artist, and what a magnificent job Sue did on the bruising. I recall how everyone was in stitches at the time, laughing incessantly, using the scene as a parody on the NHS. Because the scene in that hospital room looked cheap and nasty. It was particularly funny, and apt because the Government of the day had the slogan “The NHS is safe in our hands.”

    Certainly over the three day shoot everyone worked as a team when it came to constructing the three sets. The Interior of the Green Dome was ambitious, and if it were not for Pam Buckle’s skills working behind the scene, creating sets and scenery for the local Theatre Company, I doubt very much if it would have been possible to create No.2’s inner sanctum.

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Village Day – The Tally Ho

    This year is the 20^th anniversary of my art house film ‘The Prisoner Village Day,’ which was premiered in November 1999. The above is a reproduction of The Tally Ho newspaper which was produced especially for the film. I recall after the filming of a short scene in which a Tally Ho vender was giving out copies of the broadsheet to citizens, the film extras refused to give their copies back!

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In The Village!

    Everyone’s a number in the Village, unless of course you have a name, like Cobb, Nadia, Alison, Monique, Roland Walter Dutton......that’s a point, why Roland Walter Dutton, why not just Roland Dutton? Using his second name sort of gives him an air of importance where Dutton is concerned. But he wasn’t so important as he had no access to the vital information, and certainly not by the end of the episode he wasn’t important. Some Court Jester, who Number 6 said would be able to say the things that had to be said!

    When it comes to being important there’s no-one more important than the Professor! A kindly gentleman, and yet when I refer to the Professor’s wife it’s always as Madam Professor, simply on the grounds that she has neither number nor name. And the same goes for the Professor. It’s strange, but as far as I can recall there is only one scene in ‘The General’ when Madam Professor and her husband are seen together and then only for a few seconds, when he’s lying heavily sedated in his bed.

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Life In The Village

    “I understand a new Number Eight arrived in the village late this morning.”
    “What happened to the old Number Eight?”
    “He wasn’t that old.”
    “I know that, what happened to him?”
    “He vacated the premises.”
    “He escaped, I don’t recall officiating at his funeral.”
    “No, there wasn’t a funeral, you need a body.”
    “We didn’t need a body for Cobb’s funeral that time.”
    “That was different.”
    “So what happened to the body?”
    “My guess would be Rover absorbed it!”
    “It did have a pinkish hue about it the day Number 8 went missing.”
    “Nasty way to die!”
    “I can think of better ways.”
    “You remember that old woman Number 113 in a wheelchair ?”
    “Yes.”
    “She was always coughing.”
    “Yes, but it wasn’t the cough that carried her off.”
    In unison “It was the coffin we carried her off in!” laughing very loudly.

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Prismatic Reflection

    All about you is yours, the High Court Judge told the former Number 6. Could they really be serious? Could they really have trusted Number 6 to lead The Village? Surely 'they' made a mistake? I mean to say, look what happened when Number 6 was elected as the new Number 2 in ‘Free For All.’ Number 6 hadn't been in office five minutes before he was attempting to organise a mass breakout! He had control. He was immobilising all electronic controls, and told the villagers that they wee "Free, free to go." Of course Number 6 was never actually in control, of either the village, or himself. However it did demonstrate what Number 6 would do if given half a chance.

    ‘Fall Out’ has a number of inconsistencies and logicalities, just like the previous sixteen episodes which help make up the series. So what do they do? They bring back yet another former Number 2 who has had direct dealings with Number 6, who knew just what No.6 would be capable of. Then promote him to President, which I thought was all rather theatrical. And after praising Number 6 as a man who having revolted, fought, resisted, held fast, maintained, destroyed resistance. Overcome coercion. Vindicating the right of the individual to be individual or person. They applauded his private war, and finally they conceded that despite materialistic efforts, the former Number 6 has survived intact and secure. And after all that, all that remained was the recognition of a man, a man of steel who is magnificently equipped to lead them. Well of course the High Court Judge was correct, but really, could he have been serious about the offer of ultimate power? Certainly Number 6 was given the opportunity to address the Delegates of the Assembly. But given the chance to make a speech, the Delegates just shout Number 6 down at every attempt as he tries to deliver his speech. 'They' have no wish to allow Number 6 to make his speech. More than that, 'they' have no desire to hear what Number 6 has to say. Will not permit him to be heard! Both Number 48 and the 'late' Number 2 were allowed to plead their cases, then why not Number 6? Simply because he was not on trial! Although it would seem that the Delegates of the Assembly were not prepared to sit and listen to the ravings of an egomaniac!

    So why should 'they' elect such a man as Number 6 to lead them? They knew what Number 6 was like. They knew what he would try and do if he was given half a chance, and given that half a chance, he took it!

    ‘Fall Out’ was the final manipulation of the Prisoner by the Administration behind The Village. They faced Number 6 with himself, a final throw of the dice in order to try and break him. If that was the case, then they failed. Whether  Number 1 was the id to the Prisoner’s ego, or even Curtis, whoever, Number 1turned out to be he was the unstable one. A laughing maniac, who as soon as his identity was discovered, made for the nearest exit from the Control Room in the rocket, this by climbing a steel ladder into the nose cone. Have you noticed how villains who are being pursued, have this uncontrollable urge to climb upwards in order to avoid capture. Then of course the biggest mistake of all was made. Once Number 6 had confronted Number 1, having sealed him up in the nose cone of the rocket, they left Number 6 to his own devices in the Control Room, where he set the countdown in motion. Surely security should have been sent to the Control Room once the High Court Judge thought that something was wrong. Then Number 6 could have been overpowered, and what follows in the episode would have been avoided. The launching of the rocket with Number 1 still aboard. The fire-fight and death of all the security guards, and the ultimate escape of the Butler, Number 48, a “late” Number 2, the former Number 6, and I suppose Number 1. 

    It is believed by many fans that The Village was destroyed by the launching of the rocket, seeing the rocket as a missile with a nuclear payload, hence the title ‘Fall Out.’ But in that lies the difficulty, the title of the episode is ‘Fall Out.’ If it had anything to do with a nuclear element, then it would be one word Fallout. I don't think The Village was destroyed, there is no evidence of The Village’s destruction. No blinding white light, great wind, or fire and flame, only evacuation of the populace. There is no evidence to suggest that the rocket is a nuclear missile. Don't forget that there were three clear Perspex 'Orbit Tubes,' for sustaining human life during a long space flight within the rocket. No, the title ‘Fall Out,’ two words, suggests nothing more then there having been a falling out between old friends.

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