The Therapy Zone

Suicide Is One Way Out!

   No.8 committed suicide at the end of ‘Living In Harmony.’ It is a warder, not a prisoner who chose to  meet his own end in this way, by throwing himself off a balcony in the Sliver Dollar Saloon. Suicide for No.8 rather than face humiliation from No.2, because of the failure of his method, and retribution from the Villages administration for the murder of No.8 by his bare hands!

“I Too Have A Problem” No.6 Told the Colonel.

   Well so do we the viewer have a problem, because we're not too sure which side runs the village. But more, as with the character of Thorpe, the Colonel and Fotheringay, we don't know whose side they are on!

Why 6?

   Well, a rather prosaic explanation was once offered many years ago now, namely because Patrick McGoohan liked that particular brand of cigarettes - No.6. Rubbish! Patrick McGoohan only smoked one brand of cigarette - Senior Service.

Too Many Questions And Not Enough Answers?

   That is how I once viewed the 1960's television series the Prisoner. Then I started to see that too many things were being read into the series, things which were never there in the first place, nor were ever meant to be. Everyday occurrences were being misinterpreted, and the search for so called "hidden meanings" within the series was all encompassing for many fans of the Prisoner, hidden meanings which I have been unable to find - because they simply do not exist!

   I have found that the simple answer is quite often the best answer, and to over complicate the matter leads to having to start from the beginning again! The use of reasoned logic, and not going off at a tangent along the path of the allegorical, also helps when it comes to putting answers to the questions of the Prisoner and his Village.

What Happened After I resigned?

   I resigned because for a very long time.......... just a minute, this isn't the Village!

    No, I was working in the wonderful world of security at the time, having risen to a position of authority. Yet things had been building up to a point where I had no option but to hand in my letter of resignation, which was accepted!

    On the day I left the organisation, I was surprised to see that I was not being followed by a black hearse. I returned home, and there was no undertaker entering my house, no nerve-gas being pumped into the lounge through the keyhole! No subsequent abduction to an Italianate village, only the subsequent visit to the local Job Centre, where a woman asked me why I resigned......... and subsequently I was then pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed and numbered, my life was no longer my own. Bloody hell, the Job Centre was worse than the village!

   Why did I resign? Because for a very long time......... Well suffice to say that my life is now at long last, my own.

I'll be seeing you

Pictorial Prisoner

  In the episode 'the General,' I believe the props men had already decided on a device which acts as a security device at security check-points in the tunnels below the Town Hall, as pictured below.

  Then one morning Patrick McGoohan arrived carrying a childs "Magic Money Box" and said this is what he wanted to be used, and left them no choice in the matter. I believe they thought it rather silly!

Be seeing you

Caught On Camera

   Never underestimate the Court Jester who both amuses and works his audience. Here the court Jester- Roland Walter Dutton dangles "Rover" at the end of a stick!

    Court Jester's were the only ones who could say the things that needed to be said, to criticize the King and make political commentary and be able to get away with it. Perhaps that’s why the Prisoner asked Roland Walter Dutton as a character witness, for Dutton was better suited to say the things that needed to be said. Either that or because the Prisoner knew that Dutton was due to die, and had nothing to lose by saying the things that needed to be said. But then again neither did the Prisoner!

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

Fall Out, as Similar to A B and C

    Whilst the Prisoner wants to know who No.1 is, and of course it turns out to be himself. This is parallel to what happened to No.2 of ‘A B and C’ who is obsessed with knowing who 'C' is, and as we know, it turns out to be himself!

I'll be seeing you, whoever you turn out to be!

Debriefing The Subject With No.2

   Supervisor's Voice" Did you think you could escape? Were you attempting suicide? What was the purpose of your swim? What was in your mind, what was in your mind? What was the purpose of your swim? Did you think you could escape? What was in your mind? What were you thinking, what was in your mind? Were you attempting suicide, suicide, suicide? what was in your mind? What was in your mind?.........

   No.2 "Look, she won't say a word. I really don't want to be too hard on her, she's not at all important. I'm surprised they sent her here. Have you noticed any suicidal tendencies?"

   No.6" What are you doing to her?"

   "Nothing, as you can see. Oh there's an alternating current in the floor, four seconds on, four seconds off. It take three seconds to get to the door. If she times it right she can leave whenever she likes. Oh look she's caught onto that at last!"

   No.8 takes some water from the bowl set on the table in front of her and drips it onto the floor and counts "1....2...3...4" and there comes an electrical flash and the water evaporates. then No.8 tries again as No.6 and No.2 looks on through the observation window.

   No.2 "You see if she has any confidence in her timing, she's got no problem. It's self-inflicted. I think she's going to do it... yes.""

   No.8 sprinkles a few more drops of water on the floor "1....2....3...4" and makes a bolt for the door, but then stops as she reaches the door and drops to the floor "Kill me, kill me, kill me, kill me, kill me!"

    No.2 "Switch off, switch off!" Well, well, we'll just have to try something else!"

    Yes, No.6 is a sucker for a damsel in distress!

Be seeing you

The Therapy Zone

Another Number

    My wife Morag and I may not have been active in the 2001 Prisoner convention re-enactments, but neither were we idle. Because during the convention Australian singer and musician Carmel Morris was filming for her video for a song Another Number. Well of course Morag and I became involved with some of the filming in the crowd for one scene of the video, where we all had to have empty, blank staring faces for the camera. But as it happens I also played the role of, No.2 not No.6 for that was Carmel, I was No.2 with the line "Don't worry No.6, you'll be cured." In fact my voice was dubbed over by Australian actor David Nettheim, who played the role of one of the doctors, wearing spectacles, in the Prisoner episode The Schizoid Man.

   For one scene I was standing on the balcony of the Green Dome with No.6 below being surrounded by village citizens. The sun was directly in my eyes, but I couldn't blink, and then out of the corner of my eye I saw the figure of a person walking up the steps and was going to walk out on the balcony, wanting to get herself "on camera," as we were filming. I said very quietly and forcefully for her to go away as we were filming... and she did. This was the first and last time I played the role of No.2.

No.113

  Was an old woman in a wheelchair - she died a month ago. That is the information disclosed by No.2 to the Supervisor-No.28 during ‘Hammer Into Anvil.’ Well if No.113 was an old woman in a wheelchair who died a month ago, did No.113 {who contributed to The Tally Ho in Free For All} share the same fate?

  I only ask, because in the graveyard of ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ we actually see a headstone with the number 113 carved upon it. So if the former No.113 had died, what was on his head stone? Because if the No.113 was re-issued to this old woman who died a month ago, that means there would be two headstones with 113 carved on them in the graveyard! And going one further, if someone dies with a particular number and that number is not re-issued, what was No.113 of ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ doing with such a number? Unless of course No.113 of ‘Free For Al’l was promoted, or demoted to another number, or something!

   There's a proverb "When your in a hole stop digging!"

No Point Going Into Details

   No.2 “Anything you Need To Know, press a button. You're The Boss.

   No.6  "Number 1's the Boss!"

    So seeing as it turned out that No.6 is No.1, effectively the Boss. Did the out-going No.2 of Free For All know something at the time, that no-one else did?

The Supervisor-No.28

   It was once asked why we see No.28 in No.2's office during the episode of ‘A Change of Mind?’ Well we must assume that part of the Supervisor's duties does from time to time, take him out of the control room environment. Look at ‘Once Upon A Time,’ and ‘Fall Out.’ In the former this supervisor is promoted to No.2 on the job so to speak, and in the later we see him take up his seat amongst the delegates. A superior position to that of No.2, wouldn't you say?

Be seeing you

Quote For The Day

    The maid Number 54 sugggests that she and Number 6 will get along, this after Number 6 tells her that the maids come and they go. However he is sure thet she gets along with everybody! And becasue of this remark Number 54 tells Number 6 that she has a good mind to report him. To which Number 6 responds "I'm new here!"

   That "I'm new here" is suggestive that Number 6 uses it as a reason so to be able to get away with something. But it also suggestes that Number 6 has only recently arrived in the Village. But surely that connot be, because the Prisoner has already been in the Village for at least six months, and during that time Number 6 would be well established in the Village. That being the case, how can the Prisoner claim to be new in the Village? Well put quite simply he cannot, unless.................In the library production list the episode 'Dance of the Dead' is placed much higher than eighth in the screening order, the third episode in fact! That way the prisoner would still be quite new to the Village!

Be seeing you