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Flashback: The Prisoner

Flashback: The Prisoner

 

ITC/Central/CarltonFollowing the news of Patrick McGoohan’s death we take a look back at his classic 1960s surreal thriller series, The Prisoner.

 

The Prisoner is one of several 1960s television serials that is still ITC/Carltonremembered today and has influenced a raft of programmes that has followed. The Prisoner is one of the most iconic, and baffling, drama’s of its time and its little surprise it’s been the subject of numerous rival attempts. Later this year ITV’s latest revival attempt of the series will finally make it to television screens with Sir Ian McKellen leading the cast but in this feature we’ll take a look at the original series of The Prisoner.

The origins of The Prisoner, as a television show, often are reported to lie in Dangerman, an ITC ITC logoseries starring Patrick McGoohan. Several episodes of the ITC series were shot location footage at the Portmeirion resort in Wales – Portmeirion is an Italianate village in Wales where much of The Prisoner was filmed. As well as these three episodes of Danger Man that we’re filmed at the Welsh resort that acted as an influence for the development of The Prisoner, a plot for one of the show’s episodes also had a huge influence on The Prisoner. An episode called “Colony Three” revolved around Patrick McGoohan’s character infiltrating a spy-school in Eastern Europe; this was during the Cold War, where the staff are British nationals who are training potential spies.

 

The idea for The Prisoner was developed by Patrick McGoohan and George Markstein, who had been a script consultant on Danger Man. The pair pitched their idea to Lew Grade who was head of the ITC production company, and also head of the ATV franchise of ITV. Grade gave the pair the go ahead and so work began on the series. McGoohan and Markstein shared writing duties on the series although McGoohan sometimes wrote under pseudonym names and also directed several episodes under pseudonym names as well.

 

The series revolved around Number Six [McGoohan] and his struggles to find out the truth about “The Village” a strange place he finds himself in after quitting his job as a secret agent for the British Government. In the village no one has a name and everyone is referred to by a number. Those who are in charge of the village are determined to find out why Number Six resigned from his job. Throughout the series Number Six tries to find out which side the villagers are on, who the mysterious Number One is and also tries to escape The Village – attempts to do so are usually stopped by a big white ball called “Rover”. The Village in constantly monitored in “Big Brother” style.

 

The series is notorious for its heavy use of symbolising and its baffling storylines and plots. Answers to the series main questions where never fully revealed within the course of the series and viewers were often left wondering what on earth was happening. Such symbolising contained within the series included The Villages logo which was a penny-farthing, which was representative of a lack of progress while Rover, the big white ball preventing escapes from The Village, represented a repressive regime – possibly a reference to countries in Eastern Europe and East Berlin in particular where residents routinely tried to escape to West Berlin but where stopped by the building of the Berlin Wall. Rover stops people escaping the repressive regime of the Village just as the Berlin Wall prevented East Berliners escaping the repressive communist regime. The fact that the Village was constantly under surveillance also bears similarities to Eastern Europe where citizens where watched “Big Brother” style to make sure they were not spying for the West, trying to escape or going against the communist ideals. The heavy symbolising present in the village also closely follows the heavy use of icons and symbols in the communist countries at the time in the form of propaganda. In many ways it could be argued that The Prisoner represented the Cold War and the battle of different ideologies.

 

The series ran for just 17 episodes between 1967 and 1968 and there’s some confusion over whether Lew Grade and ITC pulled the plug on the series or whether it was only intended to run for a few episodes. Officially most experts argue the series was axed as it was a costly affair and its complex nature lead viewers to turn off as they didn’t always understand what was going on and answers weren’t forthcoming. The Prisoner has been described by some as the most challenging television show ever. The final episode was written by Patrick McGoohan himself. The main title theme for the series was composed by Ron Grainger who had also worked, famously, on the theme tune for Doctor Who. Incidental music was drawn from a wide range of sources including library music.

 

The series has influenced shows down the years from its complex story-telling to its heavy use of symbolising and even character names – in the reimaged Battlestar Galactica Number Six is a nod to Patrick McGoohan’s character. Furthermore the numbering of Cylon Models, individuals of which then went on to be referred to by their “human” name, could be a further reference to The Prisoner. In The Village everyone is referred to by their assigned number, not name and the Cylons are, at first, known by their Model Number. However, just as Number Six, in The Prisoner, proclaims he is a person not a number, slowly certain Cylons are referred to by names rather than their model number.  Another Sci Fi series, Babylon 5, saw a few references to The Prisoner with several characters using the phrase “be seeing you” which was sometimes used in The Prisoner. The sitcom series 2point4 Children spoofs the series by having one of its characters imprisoned at The Village.

 

Over the years there have been several attempts to revive the series and remake it. Most recently in 2005 Granada Television announced that it would remake the series for Sky One but the title would change to Number Six. It was widely rumoured that Christopher Eccleston, fresh from his stint in Doctor Who, would be cast in the series. In 2006 it was announced that American cable channel AMC was to co-produce the new series along with Sky One and Granada. However, for unknown reasons in 2007 Sky One pulled out of the planned remake – creative differences have been cited. After Sky pulled out of the planned remake in October 2007 ITV confirmed that it would replace Sky and would be the UK broadcaster of the remake. The new remake will run to six episodes, although more may be commissioned, and will star James Caviezel and Sir Ian McKellen. As of January 2009 it’s believed that filming on the new series has wrapped and post production work is currently underway.

 

 

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