TV MEMORIES # 9 - THE PRISONER (PART 2)

The die had been cast. It was 1983 and the 9 year old version of me was already a dyed in the whool Prisoner fan after just one week of watching channel 4's repeat showing. So what happened next ? 

The obvious answer is - I continued watching. Every Monday night I tuned into Channel 4 eagerly with my Dad to watch Number 6's latest weird adventure. I've since watched the series a couple of more times (although even that was about 20 years ago now) so I have a fairly clear memory of most episodes, but for the purposes of this article I'm just going to talk about the episodes I specifically have childhood memories of watching.

The next episode I have clear memories of watching with my Dad is "The Chimes of Big Ben". This episode is perhaps most noteable for featuring the first appearance of Leo McKern as Number 2. McKern was a respected character actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of crabby barrister Rumpole in the courtroom drama series "Rumpole of The Bailey", with his loud booming voice and slightly off centre eyes he made for a memorable Number 2 - in fact McKern was the only Number 2 to return to the series for a second attempt at breaking Number 6. I think it's probably due to these later return appearances that McKern is usually the actor that springs to mind when people mention Number 2. He is - basically - the definitive version.

Apart from McKern, the main thing I remember about this episode is that Number 6 ACTUALLY succeeds in escaping from The Village (the chimes of Big Ben being one of the first things he heard upon arriving back in London)...or does he ? It turns out that Number 6 didn't get out after all - the chimes of Big Ben are just a tape recording playing in a mock-up of Number 6's old London office - he's been in The Village all along. It's a cruel and clever twist and shows the lengths that 6's captors are prepared to go to in thier mission to break him down.

The next episode that I have fond memories of is "The Schizoid Man" (actually the fifth episode). In this episode we get another memorable Number 2 in the shape of Anton Rodgers who plays quite a suave and rakish character. The main premise of this episode is that another agent (Number 12) is hired to impersonate Number 6 and basically screw with his mind. McGoohan plays both 6 and 12 - its basically that old Sci-Fi stand by of "the evil duplicate." I've always found those types of stories fascinating - to see an evil version of a much loved hero being given the chance to commit dastardly deeds in thier name is always fun to watch, especially with an actor as brilliant as McGoohan.

The eighth episode of the series "Dance of The Dead" was the next one that I remember. This is partly due to the title - for some reason it led kid me to believe we were going to be getting Zombies or Ghosts. Obviously The Prisoner isn't that type of show (its many things but its definitely NOT horror) so 9 year old me was perhaps slightly disappointed for the first - and only - time with this show. 

However, title misunderstanding aside, the main thing I remember is that Number 2 is - shock horror - a WOMAN in this episode. Back in the 80's (when I was watching) gender flipping wasn't really a thing like it is now (even less so in the 60's) so it was quite unusual to see a role usually occupied by a man suddenly being played by a woman (even though the various Number 2's where all different characters). Mary Morris was the lady in question and made for a formidable Number 2 - she seemed to have an icier, more cruel edge to her than some of her male predecessors had. Definitely one of the most sinister and memorable characters to occupy the position of Number 2.

The next episode I have fond memories of is "Hammer Into Anvil". This episode is one of the few in which Number 6 makes no attempt to escape from The Village, instead he seeks to avenge the death of a fellow prisoner at the hands of this week's Number 2 (Patrick Cargill). The episode largely consists of Number 6 acting in such an intimidating - and puzzling - manner that he begins to break Number 2 mentally. Cargill is great playing a Number 2 who is basically having a mental breakdown before our very eyes, it's a wonderful nervous, sweaty performance, and the whole episode remains to this day one of my very favourites of the entire series.

Another thing I loved about this episode is that we get to see Number 6 and Number 2 challenge each other to a "Kosho" duel. Kosho is a martial art which is practiced in The Village which requires its participants to wear orange jumpsuits and crash helmets and to leap at one another from Trampolines over a vat of water - its every bit as pointless, bizarre and batshit insane as it sounds. I loved it then and I love it now.

"Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling" is the next episode on our list. Here we get Number 6's mind, personality and memories transplanted into the body of another man (Nigel Stock). McGoohan barely features in this episode (he was off filming "Ice Station Zebra" hence the body-swap storyline), Stock does a decent enough job playing the temporary Number 6 but he's no McGoohan thats for sure. I can vividly remember my Dad commenting that "he's nowhere near as good" as we watched that week. A bit harsh perhaps but he had a point. I think the main problem is that Stock doesn't have the same acerbic edge that McGoohan had - he just seems a bit too soft to be Number 6.

Regardless of McGoohan's absence the episode remains an entertaining one, and its always interesting to see an alternate take on a familier character even if its not quite as good as the real thing.

We're now getting into the last few episodes of the series and I can remember from here onwards things got even more bizzare. The next episode was "Living In Harmony" and what a discombobulating experience it was...

Y'see, "Living In Harmony" is actually a WESTERN. I really didn't know what to make of it as the episode started. Instead of the usual title sequence showing Number 6 resigning and being abducted we instead get Patrick McGoohan dressed as a cowboy and riding a horse - at first I really thought Channel 4 had made some kind of mistake and where showing an episode of a cowboy TV show which just happened to feature McGoohan. I needn't have worried though as it soon becomes apparent that this is still the same show - McGoohan hands in his Sherrif's badge (effectively resigning) and leaves town without a horse before he's apprehended by a group of bandits and taken to a mysterious town called Harmony. It's basically the story of The Prisoner retold substituting the Cold War era spy/sci-fi trappings with tropes from Spagetti Westerns instead.

One of the characters I liked in this episode was The Kid - a mute, Undertaker's hat wearing weirdo played by Alexis Kanner...

He was just such an off the wall oddball that I instantly found him interesting, he definitely added to the already bizzare and disorientating atmosphere of this episode.

Of course the whole wild west scenario turns out to be a "film set" style mock-up taking place in The Village and by the episode's end things have returned once more to (relative) normality.

The following week we got "The Girl Who Was Death" which was another bizzare outing. In this episode we appear to see Number 6 as he was before he resigned, engaged on a case to stop an evil megalomaniac. 

This all plays out more like an episode of "The Avengers" than anything else. Everything is completely O.T.T from Number 6 dressed up in a Sherlock Holmes outfit to the evil villian being dressed like Napolean - on the way we get exploding cricket balls, a deadly "Tunnel of Love" funfair ride and a rocket ship disguised as a lighthouse. It's every bit as weird and cheesy as it sounds.

At the end of this episode the rug is once more pulled out from under the audience's feet - the whole episode is just a story that Number 6 is telling to a group of children in The Village, all the while knowing that The Village's authorities are listening in, hoping 6 will drop his guard and let some information slip whilst he's talking to the kids. 6 is smarter than that though and the episode ends with 6 coming out with the immortal line "Goodnight children...everywhere" as he smirks into the hidden camera, infuriating his captors in the process.

The following week The Prisoner's penultimate episode was broadcast "Once Upon a Time" (surely that title would have been a better fit for the previous episode - or would that have been a bit too obvious ?).

This episode sees the return of Leo McKern's Number 2. Number 6 is regressed to a child like state in a final attempt to break him. Number 2 assumes the role of a headmaster and treats Number 6 like a disobedient pupil - the whole episode is more or less a two-hander between McGoohan and McKern and seems a lot more theatrical than previous episodes. It really does come over like an arthouse stage play.

 I'm not sure I enjoyed it that much at the time but I do remember being shocked when Number 2 appears to die near the episode's end. It was shocking because we'd never seen a Number 2 be killed before. I can remember that this felt like the stakes had been raised massively - just where was this all heading ? The episode ended on a massive cliffhanger - with Number 6 being taken to meet the mysterious Number 1 - the hitherto unseen supreme ruler of The Village.

As the episode ended the continuity announcer confirmed my worst fears - next week's episode was to be the final episode of The Prisoner. Normally a show I had grown to love coming to it's end would have been bad enough, but this was even worse because I knew by then that I WAS GOING TO MISS THE FINAL EPISODE !!!!!!!

This is because in a few days time my parents and me where going to be on holiday in Tenerife for a fortnight - I'd already resigned myself to missing a couple of episodes (along with episode 4 of "Warriors Of The Deep" and episode 1 of "The Awakening" over on Doctor Who) but missing the very last episode ? The episode where we get to see if Number 6 escapes once and for all and we find out who Number 1 is ?  We didn't even have a VCR at this point either. To say I was angry and disappointed was an understatement but I was also grown up enough to know it wasn't really anybodies fault. It was just bad timing that's all. At least I had a good time in Tenerife...

As a postscript to this, the following summer we went away for a brief holiday in Wales - coincidentally we weren't very far away from Portmerion where The Prisoner was filmed. Both my Dad and myself wanted to go and see the place so we decided we would. I can remember it was a boiling hot day and we stayed on the beach for far too long. By the time we got to Portmerion it was closing for the day. The jobsworth idiot working the gate said we could go in for a five minute look around but he'd still have to charge us a fiver each to get in. Understandably my Dad refused and we went back to our campsite. It seemed that while Number 6 could never get OUT of The Village, I was never going to get IN. I cried.

Forty years later and I still haven't been anywhere near Portmerion, my life just hasn't found me in the right circumstance to be in it's vicinity - I think my Mum and Dad went there though.

Oh, and I did eventually get to see the final episode - "Fall Out" over twenty years after I watched "Once Upon a Time" when I got the series on DVD. Guess what ? I was just as confused as everybody else was who's ever seen the episode. 

Leo McKern comes back from the dead. Alexis Kanner returns with his Undertaker's hat. People get machine gunned to death to the soundtrack of The Beatles "All You Need Is Love", Number 6 dances to "Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones" and Number 1 is revealed to be...Number 6 himself (or at least an evil Doppelganger). It wasn't what I was expecting to be honest but it was still great. A Mad Hatter's teaparty to end one of the most original, bizzare and inventive TV shows ever made.

Be seeing you !