TV MEMORIES # 8 - THE PRISONER (Part 1)

The year was 1983. I was 9 years old. It was a Monday night if I remember right, and I had been allowed to stay up late (well about 10 o'clock-ish) to watch a TV show that my Dad insisted was "brilliant". A show he'd been telling me about all the previous week. A show that he used to cycle home from work from at high speed to watch religiously every week without fail. Considering that my Dad was the man who got me into Doctor Who (which by this point I'd already embarked on my lifelong love affair with) I trusted his judgement and was genuinely excited to watch this "new"/old TV show. That show was... The Prisoner.

This series of repeats was being transmitted on Channel 4 which at that time was Britain's newest TV channel having been launched only a year previously in 1982. I'd grown up in the days when there where only three channels (unthinkable now) so having an entire FOURTH channel to watch still seemed like both a luxury and a novelty. Already Channel 4 was carving out a reputation for itself for being the "weird" channel - meaning that it showed lots of arty and experimental programmes. It also showed lots of vintage TV shows from the 60's in it's early days (I already tuned in regularly to both the Avengers and the Munsters around this time). As it turned out the Prisoner ticked all the boxes for Channel 4's remit at the time - it was a 60's TV show that was experimental and also very, very weird.

For anyone who's not heard of it, the central premise of the Prisoner goes like this - a British secret service agent (who may or may not be John Drake from earlier spy show Danger Man) played by Patrick McGoohan, resigns from his job. Arriving home to start a new life he succumbs to knockout gas that is sprayed into his flat and comes round in what looks to still be his home - that is until he looks out of his window and sees that the London high-rise buildings he is used to seeing have gone to be replaced by a new view - a picturesque but bizzare looking village.

 It turns out our hero has been imprisoned in a place known only as "The Village" which is run by his old spymasters. He has been stripped of everything, even his own name and identity - he is now known only as Number 6. Apparently Number 6 knows too much and every week the Village authorities (led by a rotating roster of senior officers with the codename Number 2) employ various psychological and usually psychedelic means to try to break our hero. This usually ends in a stalemate for all concerned - 6 never cracks but he also never gets any nearer to escaping either. Heavy stuff for a 9 year old to be watching for sure but I was instantly hooked.

The first episode was called "Arrival". Straight away I loved everything about this show. McGoohan was great as Number 6 - gentlemanly yet also hard as nails. He was witty and acerbic and always seemed pissed off (well you would be I suppose). He was also clearly every bit as intelligent as his captors - perhaps moreso - and yet never seemed to be able to get that final upper hand. He was a main character you could both be in awe of and also root for - a great combination.

"Arrival" did everything a good first episode should do. It introduced us to the main character and the main concepts - the rotating office of Number 2 (we see Guy Doleman's Number 2 leave The Village and be replaced by George Baker's new Number 2), the bizzaro world of The Village itself and most exciting of all to 9 year old me - Rover.

Rover was basically a giant white inflatable ball that acted as The Village's security drone. It was remote controlled by The Village's authorities and if anybody tried to escape, it would rise from the sea and chase the escapee - all the while making this creepy sounding roar - and chase them down. When Rover catches it's victim it smothers them into unconsciousness by attaching itself to thier faces. Cue lots of shots of Rover's victims struggling to breath as they slowly black out. Needless to say Number 6 falls foul of Rover quite early on in this episode when he attempts to do a runner.

The image of Rover chasing McGoohan down that lonely beach has become one of The Prisoner's most enduring images and for good reason - it's great. It really fired my imagination and is probably the point at which I knew that I was definitely going to be tuning into this show every week from now on without fail. The episode ended. "Good wasn't it ?" Said my Dad. He wasn't wrong.

So that was it - I was now a fully fledged fan of The Prisoner and sure enough the next few months I sat down eagerly every Monday night with my Dad to watch Number 6's latest doomed to failure escape bid...but more on that next time.

TO BE CONTINUED...