In 40 years from now, people will still talk about The Prisoner and wonder, be intrigued and ask themselves questions. We all will, and this is why this series will always be so unique.
Rico Go I'm not sure we will be here in 40 years to talk about The Prisoner or anything else. Look how far into the abyss this nation and the nations of the world have fallen since this series was made.
As a 10 year old in 1967 it made perfect sense. Every episode had a beginning, middle and end. It was a visual feast with goodies and baddies interspersed with clowns and grotesques and as a 10 year old kid there was no room for deep analysis, it was another uniquely quirky British programme like the Avengers that brought excitement to Sunday afternoon TV.
I am from that area of Wales. but i was only 3 yrs that time.. Portmirion, Penrhyn Deudraeth. nr Porthmadog , Gwynedd..Porthmadog means Port of Madog.that only a mile and a half away. the nearest town. Penrhyn is like an extended village where Portmeirion, known as Italian Village , is in that village..
I first saw it around the same age and have come back to watch it several times since. I just started showing this to the kids (8 and 10]. They are having a blast with it. It is a great show.
I was too young to understand much of the story, but when that ball came to get him, that was TERRIFYING. I'll always remember this show. What a unique gem.
AGREED! That ball/balloon was terrifying, knowing that no matter where you (he) went, even out to sea, THE BALL WAS THERE, and would always manage to absorb him and take him back to the Village.
Loved "The Prisoner" from my first viewing. No surprise the show was difficult to work on shouldn't surprise anyone. It is an exploration at the edge of what it is to be an individual in a complex society. That the end doesn't provide as solid answer is one of the most endearing bits IMHO. Those looking for an easy answer are fooling themselves into thinking the meaning of the Universe is discoverable. Any destination of meaning will just prompt further curiosity of what lies beyond that singular meaning. It is the journey, the struggle, the passages required to become that are all we will ever have. No answers.
I watched the show as an adult. Even though I knew the prisoner would not escape, I hoped each week he would escape. The best series I have ever seen. The ending still puzzles me. I must confess I also loved the series because Patrick was a very handsome guy.
Well done documentary. I had always wondered about the odd little "village" that appeared which I thought was the main character in the show. The acting was first rate and combined, with "The Avengers," on Monday night at 6:30 pm, it was breathtakingly unique and had no parallel. The British sure can conceive quirky and unusual premises which translate (for the most part) well to American/Canadian television. Port Marion was a real godsend to the production as I wondered how they built such a solid-looking "town" for their production. That's what really made British television (BBC and ITC) productions so "solid" and "impactful." They seemed to have much more depth to their shows than we did.
Thank you kindly for this. I knew Bernard Williams the production manager on the show, who sadly died of cancer after this program was made. He was a lovely guy. R I P Bernie.
The Prisoner once again shows its timeless warning with the recent Facebook questions regarding surveillance and freedom. 'What do you want? Information..."
@Tom Spanne I didn't get it when I watched it as a teenager in about 1978, when it was repeated, but now I see...the occult symbolism, the hand sign, the penny farthing representing the all seeing eye...and the ending... Lucifer/Satan, living in us, rebelling against God, we think we're free, but we're imprisoned.
The Prisoner first came on when I was only 11 years old. I was captivated by it and I still feel the same as an old man. I guess - for better or worse - McGoohan's absolute refusal to play the game has been a life long influence on me.
Got to hand it to Grade. Imagine how Hollywood would have crawled all over the concept: insisting on a love interest, toning down the drug references, demanding more fisticuffs and less talk, telling Pat M he lacked experience to write and direct as well as star in it. Lew was boss of a big public company, answerable to outside investors. Yet he trusted McGoohan, who had made a lot of money for him, giving him carte blanche to shoot his 'passion project' and even asking for more episodes than the creators wished to make. All through his TV career, Lord Lew took such risks, and the result was wonderfully idiosyncratic stuff such as Gerry Anderson's puppetoons, the Muppet Show and Zeffirelli's 'Jesus of Nazareth'. He went with his instincts, like the Hollywood moguls of the previous generation, and he thought big. As he once said: 'All my shows are great. Not all of them are good, but they're all great.'
Like Huxley's future world of hedonism, the Village is a seeming paradise of leisure and beauty with sinister forces jerking chains behind the scenes. The hynopaedic brainwashing into contentment of the novel, and the use of soma to tranquillize discontent, are echoed in the series, as is the all-pervasive monitoring of behaviour. In both dystopias the cardinal sin is to be 'unmutual'. It is remarkable that the programme was produced just when goofy optimism about science bringing about a new era of abundance and the hippies' cult of peace, love and unrestricted self-expression were at their height, in the 'Summer of Love'. 'The Prisoner' took a jaundiced view of the West's future and was proved right. At heart McGoohan was a stern Christian moralist who knew that evil cannot be exorcised by 'progress' and that each of us is ultimately responsible for our salvation. OF COURSE Number Six turns out to be Number One. Any other denouement, such as the unmasking of a Bond villain type, would have been an anti-climax. The whole logic of the situation drives toward that revelation. 'The Prisoner' should appeal to existentialists as much as Christians, because it insists on the privileges and duties of the free man. Number Six never finds a trustworthy ally. He is on his own.
Esmee Phillips according to the actor mcgoohan, no.1 is the evil within us. Hence 6 is 1. We are all 1 in some way. He’s kinda right, the greatest evil in the world, is literally other humans. I think that’s why the show is so fascinating, it’s like a psychedelic trip.
Fantastic interviews. Being an original viewer of the show I still find it's power has not diminished one iota, in fact it has become more relevant in these CCTV times.
Watched this series every week while in college. Totally obsessed with it. All I can say now is that it's unfortunate that David Lynch wasn't around back then to direct. That would have been something.
Excellent insight into the making of the iconic tv series. The mystique remains today over 50 years after the series was completed. My favourite tv series of the 60's. Watch out for Rover!
So Pat was insane.... went into rage at any minute...... he is not an actor but nuts.... what is an actor but to follow the script.. But that aside. The Prisoner was so ahead of it's time. Written so well and mind provoking. A Gem.
I was twenty years old when this series first aired and loved it. Nowadays I watch the full Blu-ray boxed set, which is beautifully restored. It was a superb achievement by all concerned, although disappointing that McGoohan, exhausted and almost broken by his obsessive attitude, had no idea how to end things, so the last episode was self-indulgent tripe. Watching this documentary I hadn't realised just how much leftie propaganda was slipped in to the episodes. Looking back I do recall though a lot of this was going in other TV programmes such as 'Play For Today'. These were the times when the media was run by 'the suits' so the lefties had to infiltrate their societal change stuff into programmes wherever and whenever they could. The suits remained oblivious. But it was all futile, 99.9% of the TV audience wanted to be entertained and didn't perceive the subliminal messages (thank God). All credit to Lew Grade for taking the leap of faith and commissioning the programme blind. Not something you see now, alas.
I was thinking the same thing. At the same time this and other TV-shows purported that both sides in the Cold War were just as bad, many thousands of Russian dissidents were in prison camps in Siberia. It was not until president Reagan called out Soviet as an "evil empire" that these prisoners were in some way redeemed. Nathan Sharansky, who was in Siberia at the time, tells of how an issue of Pravda castigating Reagan as a war-monger was passed on among the prisoners, they were over-joyed. At last a western leader who was actually on the side of the opressed of the Communist dictatorship.
AKA: Mockingbird..... lol. and I am old enough to have watched the Prisoner back in the day. and still love it.. and now know the backstory about the Village.. Thank you..
I visited Portmeirion in the late '80's. It is much smaller than it looks. Number 6's residence was, in fact, the gift shop, and there was washing up liquid showing in the window of Number 2's residence (so presumably, there was a sink underneath). Several bits were chained off as Private, which was arguably progress for The Village. A beautiful place. Lots of graffiti inside the seaside "lighthouse", by the stone boat (which is as advertised).
Yet the 'answer' is given at the beginning of every episode, if we only had ears to hear: "Who is number one"? "You are.....Number six." An excellent documentary. Thanks for posting.
I was 11 years old when 'The Prisoner' came out. I watched the show with my family; we all loved the show. It did not matter if some sequences seemed to not make sense. The situation that Patrick's character was in made no sense either; so, it fit the show's pattern of being in a strange place. It was like we were with Patrick's character trying to find out what was really going on. (I always wondered why the show characters never tried to 'pop' Rover)
Superb , couldn`t have been done better . I watched the original screening , and have recently seen it for , I guess , the fourth time . I , like most people , viewed the series in B&W when it was first shown .
Celtic Jay It was an eye opener,thats for sure. Lisbon isnt a show. Thats where the Glasgow Celtic won the European cup in 1967. With that name, i thought you were a fan. haha
The Prisoner was one of the most influential things in my life. At the time of writing this, I am approaching my sixty eighth birthday. The date is January twelfth 2019. I would have been almost seventeen when the series was first screened. I was entranced and captivated by the series from the beginning but my parents could make no sense of it and so branded it as rubbish. I remember seeing the Danger Man series but not much about it. I remember that in the opening titles he says "My name is Drake. John Drake." Which became a catch phrase of Bond. James Bond. Drake had all the toys that Bond had. Yes, of course it is surreal. It has always seemed to me, that it was a program that could be viewed on different levels. If you couldn't make sense of it, then see it as pure entertainment.
Ian Fleming wrote James Bond starting in 1953, and the first movie (Dr. No) came out in 1962. Danger Man (TV) was produced starting in 1960. Fleming also worked on the series development for Danger Man, but left before the show aired. Either way, that phrase is Fleming's
I am 64 -my birthday is 22/3/1955 - today is 20/july/2019, only 4 years younger than you and you are correct in everying though I did enjoy watching the series and hoping he would escape, it took me a while to understand the final episode, that he had never escaped, he just traded a smaller village for a global village. That is what we are facing now, a Global Village.
"If you couldn't make sense of it, then see it as pure entertainment." In my view something that doesn't make sense can't be "entertainment", it's just bilge. Top of the Pops makes perfect sense - a bunch of people in a studio introducing music that others play and dance to - and is perfect entertainment if you like that music. The Prisoner, to me, is just bilge.
"That was great fun. Even though it was agony." I think Leo McKern summed up McGoohan in that one line. Even though he was talking about his own experience. I think McGoohan was undoubtedly talented, a rebel, a genius, a tyrant, a bit prudish, a perfectionist, stubborn and very very complicated. Looking at his family, I think he was a devoted husband and a terrific father. Conformity was not in his vocabulary or his psyche. Being different like that leaves scars on the inside and the outside. But I don't think he would, or could have it any other way.
I remember a number of years ago my local university broadcast episodes of the Prisoner, This was for the local Psychology students and had a brief explanation of the concepts involved at the beginning and a brief wrap up at the end.
Most honest and interesting account of the intensity and creativity behind making of the Prisoner. To sum it up -- it was a difficult gestation - a frustrating delivery but has matured from fiction to become reality and it hasn't had an ending yet!!!
Fascinating and brilliant. .... the surreal, other-worldly ‘counter-cultures’ of the Prisoner and the Avengers allowed a fabulous escapism as I entered my early teens - great creativity and ‘off the cuff’ inventiveness by necessity !
So watchable, even today, more than 50 years later. The very first mini-series, designed for a specific run. And to have the future mother of Benedict Cumberbatch (Wanda Fentham) no less. Compared to the drivel that most TV shows are today, The Prisoner stands tall as one of the best of all time!
I am still influenced by this curious series. I saw it when it was released in America. I was near the end of my Junior High School days, and just starting to get a glimpse of issues that were going to effect my life very personally in only a few more years; namely: the Viet Nam War. Then, with the music I was starting to listen to, and news paper headlines and the evening news about Viet Nam, and the anti-war movement, and the civil rights struggles, etc. my out look became much more attuned what I'd never even thought of, let alone worried over. So, for me, The Prisoner injected into my life an acute awareness that I, too, needed to be on the look-out for the forces that were shaping my country, and me as a person. And as for the final episode being disappointing---for me it wasn't. Not at all. For me, it was suggestive of how we all were, in one way or another, both Number 6, AND Number One; and, that society itself was The Village. The whole series was remarkable for it's time, and it's uncanny ability to make people confront all those various issues that our world was (and still is) struggling with. Thanks to Patrick MaGoohan for having the vision that became this very unusual series!
Episode "Dance of the Dead" is a sleeper masterpiece. I deeply respect that episode, because I HATE how it made me feel. Fellow fans of the unforgettable Jane Merrow can see her contributions at 52:44 and 1:32:34.
@@esmeephillips5888 I'm afraid your correct. When an actor/actress can get an emotional response, they win, and they love it. I wanted to reach into the screen and strangle Morris as Peter Pan. Either that, or else look away. She played an evil role, and the character projected comfort and ease within her own skin. Like she was perfectly happy being evil. The horror!
Free Saxon boys, boys, let me just say this, I love you all equally, there's no need to fight over me! I modeled myself after the 1967 through 69 cartoons Spider-Man I believe that Paul Soles was probably the best Spider-Man ever!
The creartive process is not easy. Patrick said in interview in 1977 that the writers were prisoners of conditioning, because they used to write for different formats as Secret Agent so maybe there was some misunderstanding. But Patrick seems like he respects the actors and directors, writers. He speaks nicely about people. Leo McKern did play also with The Beatles in their movie so he probably understood that creative people are difficult sometimes and probably he understood Patrick. They were friends. People shouldnt take it too seriously.
Loved the series. Saw it when it first aired. I believe it when they say he was suffering a sort of breakdown, or manic episodes. I also believe the finale is overthought by most. To me it simply represents us as being number one. Mr. McGoohan likely pulled it from his subconscious without fully realising it at the time.
Christopher Benjamin (Potter) played J. J. Hooter, the perfume aficionado in The Avengers. Also, it was stated that they intended for each #2 to do his own intro in each episode and it was scrapped. Well, at least in the US episodes, they all did--or at least most of them did--I specifically remember that--and at the very end of this video you see Leo McKern doing so.
This was a vexing thing to behold. I liked it! It was eras before it's time, eras, years. The most wonderful, perplexing, startling thing in television. I'm even surprised it was even aired in the 60's. It's still kinda weird. I always thought the old Dr. Who was weird, not even!
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in Canada beginning on 6 September 1967, then in the United Kingdom on 29 September 1967, and in the United States on 1 June 1968.
"Who is number 1?" (I've always mentally added a comma to the new #2's reply) - "You are, number six!"... In other words Number Six is Number One. Thanks to Patrick for pulling this phantasmagoria off!
The rovers scared the hell out of me as a kid in the 70s 😊. I’ve holidayed all around N Wales but never visited Portmeirion Once this COVID-19 lockdown is over think I will have to take a break up that way. Just have to remember to take a bloody great knitting needle to deal with the rovers lol 😃
What a spectacular mess this series was! It reminds me of Gilliam's Munchhausen in how the tension of its creation is imprinted on the writing, performances, and imaginative production. But it's a rare work of genius for attempting something truly unique and impossible with a medium so dominated by formulas.
I have watched many, many series in my 63 years. The Prisoner is one of the very few I remember. I always suspected that the butler was Number One, observing Number Six and all the Number Twos in conflict, right up until the final episode when I came to the 'revelation' that Number Six had been his own warden, and The Village was his Ellis Island, where he finally won freedom from his past life. His London flat was Number 1, after all. Then I realized, he took the butler with him... where he continues to serve, and observe. Whose side are any of us on? "That would be telling."
The butler was a serf, with no particular loyalty except to his current paymaster. He represents an unpleasant aspect of human beings. He can be bought & sold.
@@wangdangdoodie He was bought as a red herring, and served that purpose well for the duration of the series. His presence made us think hard about him and all the other wardens of The Village.
Wow! That would mean you were born in 1895, the same year as Babe Ruth and Rudolph Valentino! Oscars Wilde went on trial that year, as well. You must have a lot of memories, considering that you're the oldest human being who has ever lived!
Thanks for posting this, enjoyed. For me the prisoner always was about the interaction of the battles between our conscience and sub conscience realities and the same battles between singular and social expectations and acceptability. That war is never concluded, so while we think we are being controlled, the controller is ourselves. Q.E. D. "You are number 6." "Who is number 1?" "You are .... number 6"
Interesting theory. I think this series was way ahead of its time. All the themes of being watched and controlled... I think it could work two ways: 1) The war is within ourselves 2) People at the top of the pyramid seek to rule our every move. Govern + Ment = Mind Control. The London EYE seems symbolic of this.
Dan Warren interesting. Ahead of its time in what way? Finding that as far as mental health treatment goes or views of it we've completely well not completely but let's just say there's not a whole lot of consideration for that as a true disease to be treated as much as it is a marketable serotonin Happy Hunting Ground. I said that on the whole as if everybody in the field shares that opinion but on the whole if you look at the mental health care system in our society it is still treated as fashionable to be depressed and mentally ill is a whole nother stigmatism altogether it's all right if you are in the spotlight but even then you're a freak if you are not dealing with it. Thing of derision those who rise above it quickly I like the wonderful Tony Orlando, and why can't celebrities like that have there Spiritual Awakening and collapse in their dressing room after the song instead of Glory roading it out there on the stage? You've done what you've done for so long yet you can't finish the song and then excuse yourself suddenly it is a matter of what? Why did you resign your position Tony! We want information Tony. Information, information! Will you won't get it unless you tight around the old oak tree that's Tony. You are number none I am not a number unfortunately I fell right off the charts! Hahaha. Ha! Of course tony was to find that they, is Murrieta fence, we're behind him 100% And respected that move and much more than that he went on to find new fame and New Glory at the muscular dystrophy Telethon. He now joins the ranks of the first true new wave of contemporary I had it all yet I had nothing movement, along the ranks of such Heavy Hitters as BJ Thomas and Grant goodeve. And let us not forget the Incredible Edible Debbie Boone. Oh and also let's give a shout out to delete Billy Preston! He is now no longer an angry with the runny nose he's now deceased with no nose. But anyway they all stepped right up to the plate and and said what losers you worldly people were and how they're getting out now or they still have their right mind it gets saved, and I think you'll also find that the late great Nicolas Cage, I'm sorry I meant that as far as his career goes incredibly wise and wonderful leave me alone series of that he starred in the first motion movie of it and I just did not realize how compassionate the Christian culture is by the way the other those planes crashed into the buildings and you know since they were not saved and going to hell anyway well who cares if they crashed into the buildings and right? Now where were we by the way....... stepped right back into their place in the pop culture as if they never left.
Somehow, the video freezes at 7:26 and doesn't start up again until 10:37 after missing 3 minutes and 34 seconds of the film. I have NO idea how this happens but...... IT DOES !!! LOL !!!!!!
I downloaded the video, which does the same. But if you rewind to 07:29 and then play on from there you get the whole lot. I don't know if this works when played 'live' but it might be worth trying.
@@ricklenegan2294 Good story told by McGoohan's business partner, David Tomblin. McGoohan had admitted to Lew Grade that he was stuck for a conclusion. He wrote the denouement in a frenzied hurry and gave the script to Tomblin, who eagerly leafed through it to find out who No. 1 was. Then he laughed and handed it back, saying 'I thought it'd be you.'
I was born in Canada in 1952, and remember when it aired in 1967-68. Was mystified, but loved it. I'd forgotten all about the show until this video showed up in my youtube feed. I'm currently downloading all 17 episodes with bittorrent - will be done in another 47 minutes.
I remember watching the prisoner way back 1967 and I remember people saying that's the future . In a way it seems to have come true... we are a number in the system..
I always got out of it that #6 was always #1 as long as he wouldn't break, hence the ending where when unmasked, #6 is staring at himself. Also in the opening, the line after the question "Who is #1?" can be interpreted as "YOU are...#6."
What comes across forcibly is the fact that McGoohan was a very odd man.He never,or rarely gave interviews and seemed to be a recluse in his home in California. On the other hand he seemed to live by his own rules ,so credit to him.R.I.P.,Patrick because you never seemed to be at peace while you were alive.
A bit intense wasn't he ! He seemed like that in other roles too. There is at least one interview with him and to me he seemed like unbearable company, which is a shame as his acting/writing/ theatre skills seemed epic. Genius ? Should have been knighted ?
@@TruthTellert63 I know, right? WTF is a "sif-ee" anyways? Also look at how they dropped "The Expanse". One of the best sci-fi shows out in ages. They also cancelled "Dark Matter" as well. lol
Episode 17 (fall out) What the judge said had a profound effect on me ...."you have gloriously vindicated the right of the individual to be individual"...(said to no 6)
The numberless, dwarf butler was #1 as the ring-leader, but #6 was the "number one" focus of the Agency's whole questioning. My 2 cents, anyway. #6 gives his answer but the Agency was not satisfied with the reason of resignation, delved deeper with psychological warfare, and got the same answers, and in essence, resigned themselves from continued questioning. Several assigned agents (such as No.2) were unintentional victims of the process that was getting too intense. The butler is finally satisfied with the truth and #6 is allowed to leave under final jury scrutiny and Agency "judge" decision as the entire operation imploded, going too far to sustain itself.
I was fifteen when this was first shown and a massive McGoohan fan. Even at that young age, I could see there was not going to be a conventional ending, that would have been a cop-out. I remember the backlash and the first time that I experienced the press 'hound' a celebrity out of the country. Those that are still alive should feel ashamed because had he stayed, and once recovered from the strain of 'The Prisoner', I'm sure he would have gone on to do great things in and for Britain. The man was a genius, but was never able to fulfill his potential and so remains the greatest actor Britain never had.
Although in the last episode I wanted him to escape and then come back and destroy the place. I concur with what you have written. He was a unappreciated genius that lived this project on the edge.
Couldn't agree with you more. Under-appreciated and absolutely loyal to his wife (very uncommon for such a popular actor.) Some similarities I see between him and Brian Wilson (in music.) Genius, ahead of his time, creates timeless art, burns out doing his best work, recovers but cools off doing lesser things from then on.
When the prisoner was first shown on tv I was 8 years old. I loved it but my mum and dad thought it was barmy. I didn't totally understand what it was about back then but when it was rerun some years later on channel 4 or channel 5, the line ' I'm not a number I'm a free man' switched on a light in my head, considering we are all numbers to those who run our country. Way ahead of its time I think the prisoner reflects our lives today... Just like Orwell's 1984.
More than anything else, I remember the balloon.. the "rover".. It , somehow, seemed so creepy.. especially going over the water. I don't know if I'll ever get past the fact that the thing that gave me nightmares for 50 years was a balloon being pulled by fishing wire ;-)
I always wondered why they surrendered to it, I would have stabbed it and popped it! Having said that, the concept of a balloon as the custodial element to stop escapers is brilliant.
Just the best thing ever screened and I have watched the episodes time and time again and visitited Portmeirion many times. McGoohan was a clean-living sort of guy and I doubt he would be taking psychedelic substances at the time. Had he been doing so it might have explained things toward the end! My take on it is that No.6 unmasks 'No.1' at the end to find it is himself, that is to say it's ourselves who are responsible for all this subterfuge, surveillance, liberty taking and control of the individual. We do this by paying taxes to, and voting for, Governments who happily indulge in such conduct and hidden agendas. But what do I know?
Frederick Green Diana Rigg points out that the fairly long history of the British film industry was collapsing. Understandably the writers,production people,directors,etc moved in to television where they could. So very accomplished audio/ visual people were parachuted in to a new medium,but one they understood very well. The result was magical for a few years,especially as places like the BBC had a small management crew,not like nowadays. Flexibility, quick decision-making,real creativity and so on. The magic of colour and a maturing technology for TV cameras meant a product appealing even now.
"The Prisoner" was a thinking man's show, one had to pay attention of the hidden messages being told. One must remember this was during the "Cold War " era and people were scared of a probable nuclear war. The show fit the times.
How polical systems and candidates have brought us full circle into time as Right wings elements demand we believe in lies as truth. That society doesn't allow us individual opinions. Or flexibility to disagree without a threat of someone harming you because you don't follow their opinion.
i dont get to deep into tv series but i watched this when it first came out and still thoughly enjoy it even got my own DVD set of the series i love it
Still cannot understand why people believe that number one wasn't revealed. It was there from the first moment. Who is number one? You are, number six.
We just had a incident regarding a women who believed a local helicopter company were spraying her fields. She came, when the company was closed, to have it out with them. The company aircraft fly low level pipe line patrol. Police and ambulance arrived and she was sectioned. BUT, she might have been right, who are we to say she is wrong.
Also, 'six of one... half-dozen of the other', meaning they're the same. Alexis Kanner, however, suggested that Number Six rips the monkey mask off... 'and it's Lew Grade.'
EXACTLY!! I was JUST going to say that!!! I started watching the entire series back in the late `90's. Other than seeing bits of a few episodes when it first aired in `67, I'd never seen the show before. Shortly after seeing the last episode, I told a friend of mine about it and how, at the very beginning of nearly every episode, Number 2 always says, "You are number 6!" when asked by Number 6, "Who is Number 1?". And I told her that, all you have to do is add a tiny little dash commonly known as a comma and it changes the whole meaning of that response!! "Who is Number 1?" "You are, Number 6!" Then, at the end, all those hoods keep repeating, "I, I, I!!" And then, just as he's about to tear off the masks, HE keeps repeating, "I, I, I, I, I, I!!", as the camera zooms in on the huge number 1 on the white robe which LOOKS like an I!! How much clearer can you make it that he's saying, "I am Number 1"? And, wasn't there a quote in the very first episode that says something like, "Questions are a prison for oneself"? Basically, he's just saying that the only person holding you back from being able to do what you want to do is yourself! About the only question I have about the show is, why is there never any number 7 in The Village? When he first gets there and starts roaming around, he comes up to a large panel of numbered black buttons and, if you look at them, you'll see there's no 7's on the entire board!
It has always seemed to me, that 'No 6' is John Drake and the 'Prisoner' storyline is the direct descendant of 'Danger Man'. There is a lot of comment in this excellent docu that confirms my thinking......
I agree,I always thought that the idea behind it was you can't REALLY retire from the intelligence community because of the knowledge and secrets acquired during your tenure and therefore a place had to be set up for retirees to live a 'normal' life safe from kidnap,torture and interrogation by enemies of the 'state'.The John Drake connection would absolutely fit with this interpretation.
What a great show!! Where has all the imagination gone in Hollywood??? Oh wait! It was a British show. Danger UXB, I Claudius, Elizabeth R, etc. Great TV from my youth.
I think a workable alternative ending for the last episode could have been this: When No. 6 rips off the mask of No. 1 who breaks out into convulsive, perhaps mad, laughter, the scene fades back to the room where No. 2 and No. 6 were having their battle of wits. The new scene opens on an extreme closeup No.6 in mad, convulsion laughter and pans back to show him sitting in a chair having finally broken down and gone mad, conceiving himself to be No. 1. No. 2 shouts to those outside listening to come and help but it's too late; he's gone. Much of the former action just all in No. 6's mind. Maybe not great but it could provide at least some logic to the crazy finale. Any continuity conflicts could have been fixed in editing.
It's not a bad concept. However if you really want to understand the final episode I have a suggestion: watch Mcgoohan's list in his order. Just the Seven intended episodes back to back. I found his message to be clear once I separated myself from the other episodes.
On the other hand, a workable ending could have been for No. 1 to simply be the man he handed his resignation to. No doubt his superior wound want to know. It seemed clear in the first episode his own organization or at least his own government was running The Village. And the reason he resigned? I'd have he was protecting someone from his own organization, a high up official or maybe the Queen herself.
I remember watching The Prisoner when it first aired in the US at about 10 years old. I was amazed by it, never seen anything so strange before. The big balloon Rover was particularly mystifying to me, and was sold with the intro alone, that cool car and the theme song had me hooked. Didn't understand a lot of what was happening, but that's what made it so interesting, trying to figure it out. Wasn't till many years later I was able to watch all 17 episodes back to back, pure heaven for a Prisoner fan. The last episode at first disappointed me, but after a couple more viewings, it was the perfect ending for The Prisoner. This was a show like no other, so it demanded an ending like no other, and it definitely got it. Like others have said Patrick McGoohan was a genius with The Prisoner.
