THE PRISONER 1967 TV SHOW

[jim244]

When Channel 4 first repeated this series, in 1983,I had never heard of it.
I was 15,my Dad encouraged me to watch it, said I would enjoy it.
I later bought the VHS 2 episodes a tape, then later the box set then later the DVD set.
Recently the channel Rewind have been broadcasting it.
I have read books, magazines, comics, blogs on this show.
And yet it is such a clever program that I find something new every time.
Any other fans and thoughts out there?

[jim244]

In the very last episode the butler and Number 6 arrive at number 6s' London residence.
The door has a number, as most doors do.
The number is 1.

[stevezodiac]

Everyone presumed The Prisoner was John Drake (the secret agent character McGoohan played in Danger Man) but McGoohan would never admit this.

[stevezodiac]

I'd forgotten that London Live has been repeating Danger Man on Wednesday evenings.

[jim244]

Everyone presumed The Prisoner was John Drake (the secret agent character McGoohan played in Danger Man) but McGoohan would never admit this.

Yes and from what I have read it was to avoid paying royalties to Ralph Smart.

[DavidKW]

I heard years ago in a documentary that "Danger Man" started being made in colour (2 episodes were" when McGoohan pulled the plug bored with the role and feeling the show was tired and he had a pet project on his mind.

The Portmerion site in Wales had been featured in a episode (or two?) of earlier Danger Man episodes and McGoohan loved the location a lot.

I first properly heard of the Prisoner on a forgotten early Saturday evening show from 1983 called "Greatest Hits" hosted by the dire DJ and TV presenter Mike Smith. This nostalgia show featured 1968 and the show's ending and McGoohan was in the studio and had a short chat with Smith; then Steve Ellis did a current performance of his 68 hit with the Love Affair "Everlasting Love".

Then in Autumn 1983 I - when I could - sneak up and watch the repeats of it on Channel 4. My parents; black and white portable in the dining room was the only TV in the house that could get channel 4 - the main colour in the lounger couldn't, nor could it get Central TV region like everyone else in the area (suffered TVS instead). Loved watching the show. I was 13 at that time so wasn't born when it was first shown.

At that time C4 also showed "The Avengers" both of which shows were getting good viewing figures and enjoyed watching and discovering both these shows, as I would later for C4's repeats of likes of Callan, Budgie and Ready Steady Go.

I remember the repeats on C4 during around 1993, but got to see very little. I was a mature student at Sunderland Uni (ex Poly) at the time and none of the rich "rah" student majority liked it, nor any other classic UK show. They only liked boring and current US shows and openly ridiculed people like me for not conforming. Even if I tried to see it in my hall room when not too busy studying, it was drowned out by evil mega spoilt rich Rah a-hole who had a hold over the others, paying them not to talk to me (true this is).

And yet Student Grant in Viz portrayed them as cult TV fans, especially Gerry Anderson's, yet NONE were throughout the Unis where I was at/near. A proposed cult Tv club had its poster vandalised with vile hate fuelled messages. Anyone who had Autistic traits were ridiculed in vile ways by the student media.

During the early noughties I would go to an acquaintance's house near Stockport to view his videos of The Prisoner and other cult TV . Thought he and his mates were mates of mine...but they were just a band of arrogant assumers who refused to believe no other students liked these shows.

In those days seeing those videos was the only way of seeing these shows. Digital TV has opened things up a bit and I would catch The Prisoner when I can, still do and still enjoy. And I have the DVDs too to enjoy.

There was a part work series on this in 2005 of which I got a few of the early editions. My momentum for this stopped soon though, distracted I was my changing jobs and a forced house share move at the same time.

[stevezodiac]

I'm puzzled as to what "rah" means. Could I be enlightened?

[jim244]

I'm puzzled as to what "rah" means. Could I be enlightened?

Rah or yah is a pejorative term referring to a stereotypical affluent young upper class or upper-middle class person in the United Kingdom.

[jim244]

I heard years ago in a documentary that "Danger Man" started being made in colour (2 episodes were" when McGoohan pulled the plug bored with the role and feeling the show was tired and he had a pet project on his mind.

The Portmerion site in Wales had been featured in a episode (or two?) of earlier Danger Man episodes and McGoohan loved the location a lot.

I first properly heard of the Prisoner on a forgotten early Saturday evening show from 1983 called "Greatest Hits" hosted by the dire DJ and TV presenter Mike Smith. This nostalgia show featured 1968 and the show's ending and McGoohan was in the studio and had a short chat with Smith; then Steve Ellis did a current performance of his 68 hit with the Love Affair "Everlasting Love".

Then in Autumn 1983 I - when I could - sneak up and watch the repeats of it on Channel 4. My parents; black and white portable in the dining room was the only TV in the house that could get channel 4 - the main colour in the lounger couldn't, nor could it get Central TV region like everyone else in the area (suffered TVS instead). Loved watching the show. I was 13 at that time so wasn't born when it was first shown.

At that time C4 also showed "The Avengers" both of which shows were getting good viewing figures and enjoyed watching and discovering both these shows, as I would later for C4's repeats of likes of Callan, Budgie and Ready Steady Go.

I remember the repeats on C4 during around 1993, but got to see very little. I was a mature student at Sunderland Uni (ex Poly) at the time and none of the rich "rah" student majority liked it, nor any other classic UK show. They only liked boring and current US shows and openly ridiculed people like me for not conforming. Even if I tried to see it in my hall room when not too busy studying, it was drowned out by evil mega spoilt rich Rah a-hole who had a hold over the others, paying them not to talk to me (true this is).

And yet Student Grant in Viz portrayed them as cult TV fans, especially Gerry Anderson's, yet NONE were throughout the Unis where I was at/near. A proposed cult Tv club had its poster vandalised with vile hate fuelled messages. Anyone who had Autistic traits were ridiculed in vile ways by the student media.

During the early noughties I would go to an acquaintance's house near Stockport to view his videos of The Prisoner and other cult TV . Thought he and his mates were mates of mine...but they were just a band of arrogant assumers who refused to believe no other students liked these shows.

In those days seeing those videos was the only way of seeing these shows. Digital TV has opened things up a bit and I would catch The Prisoner when I can, still do and still enjoy. And I have the DVDs too to enjoy.

There was a part work series on this in 2005 of which I got a few of the early editions. My momentum for this stopped soon though, distracted I was my changing jobs and a forced house share move at the same time.

Hi David,great post and reminds me of my own youth,watching The Prisoner upstairs on a black and white tv at my parents house,like you I first saw this show with the channel 4 repeats.
I also recall watching the Emma Peel eps of the Avengers,Channel 4 was new and just fantastic!!
Do you remember the Irwin Allen shows that they would show every Sunday???
Lost in Space,Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Land of the Giants.
I had only vague memories of voyage at the time and had never seen the other two shows but had heard about them.
Then do you remember the red triangle film season where they would show films with nakedness and womens' bits were blocked out by the red triangle??
I loved Channel 4 so much when it started,it was just so exciting and new in comparison with the other 3 channels at the time.

[jim244]

BTW David: Portmerion was used 4 times in Dangerman.

[stevezodiac]

I spent Thursday nights in the kitchen watching the black and white portable TV. Then it was Top of the Pops around 7.30 followed by The Man From UNCLE at 8pm, news at 8.50pm and then The Frost Report.

[Into The Abyss]

Love the Prisoner series set in Port Merion, Gwynedd. It was a unique quirky series that oozed the 1960s. I know fans still attend conventions and you can even stay there. The golf carts as vehicles and the large chessboard iconic, especially the balloon that captured those attempting to escape frightened the hell out of me as a child.

Big fan of Patrick McGoohan as an actor too. He was excellent in the classic ITC Danger Man series. He was particularly menacing in Hell Drivers & Alcatraz films.

[jim244]

My theories on The Prisoner (other than it's themes and statements but in keeping to the direct fictional line) are below:

1: Number 6/John Drake is a fundamental part, indeed the creator of the village concept and envisages such prison holiday camps as mutually beneficial to both sides in the Cold War as a coalition project to create a new world order of peace.
He gets disturbing reports that things have gone wrong and therefore sets himself up as a target and deliberately gets captured to investigate.

2: In episode 17,Number 6 is drugged to such an extent that he believes he has escaped and finally reveals the truth, whatever that truth maybe.

3: He is dead and in purgatory. The opening sequences show him being followed by a man in a hearse.

These are my theories, what do you believe??

[DavidKW]

I never saw most of the Irwin Allen shows on C4 originally. This was often because I had something else going on when they were being shown; the fact that my parents would not allow me to have my own TV in my room until I was 18 (whilst my peers got theirs from ages of , in 1988. Or later on, when at Uni 1992-95 I was often too busy studying and/or being distracted by the noises of evil rich rah students in my residences.

I got to see more of IA stuff and watch it properly when Land OF The Giants, then Lost In Space got shown on the Horror channel a few years back. Do remember seeing Voyage occasionally when repeated on TVS/ITV during school holidays, shown as regional morning schedule fillers. Have got both series of Giants of DVD and first more serious series of Voyage for a bargain.

[DavidKW]

Yeah I remember those red triangle films. Many satire sketch shows poked fun of the triangle.

I love Hell Drivers and agree McGoohan is chillingly menacing and depraved in the film. Anytime - like when waiting for a bus - I start thinking of a list of worst and vilest villains in British films of the 50s, 60s and 70s, red form Hell Drivers always instantly comes to mind (alongside vile Judd (Freddie Fletcher) from "Kes").

So 4 times Portmerion was featured in Danger Man - PM must have loved the place a lot, can see why, has great visual effect. Do remember McGoohan once saying in first time it was used in series, he drove a bronzer Aston Martin up a hill there. I think a young Wendy Craig was a guest star in this episode.