The Prisoner

: For the Australian television soap opera (1979), see Prisoner.

Trivia

• The episode "Living in Harmony" was not aired in the United States for the series' initial network run, for the ostensible reason that it used (unfeatured) psychedelic drug use as a feature of its plot. Since many other episodes feature blatant drug use, it is more likely that the episode was withheld on account of its strong pacifist message, and that message's implications vis à vis the Vietnam War. It was also edited in the UK until a 1984 repeat run.
• The non-speaking superior seen receiving Number 6's resignation in the opening credits is played by series co-creator and script editor George Markstein. Markstein later reprised the role for the episode "Many Happy Returns."
• Number 6's address in London, shown in the opening sequence, is at Number One Buckingham Place, a real-life address which as of the early 1990s was a law office. The buildings seen swirling around at the end of the opening credits are those that could actually be seen when you look out the window of this location, although most were demolished during redevelopment in 2003.
• Leo McKern's hair and beard are trimmed much shorter in the final episode than in the one preceding it because he took part in another film during the long interval (about a year) between the two episodes' shoots. The show accommodated this by showing McKern covered in shaving cream and getting barbered before making his entrance.
• Some Village exteriors were actually shot on a sound stage, and sometimes backgrounds are clearly discernible as large blown-up photos of Portmeirion. Other exteriors said to be part of the Village (including a mock-up of a western ghost town, and the Recreation Hall), were not filmed at Portmeirion, but rather at MGM's studio backlot near London. Only the first few episodes were actually shot on location, with some generic footage also shot, and the production team would make returns and shoot as much footage as the budget permitted.
• The interrogation dialogue does not play over the opening credits of the episodes "Arrival", "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling", "Living in Harmony" and "Fall Out", the last episode. As well, the voice of Number 2 in this sequence is not always performed by the actor who plays Number 2 in the episode (primarily to hide Number 2's identity until the episode's finale); the uncredited voice actor used on these occasions, Robert Reitty, never actually played Number 2 on screen.
• The Tally Ho newspaper headlines, all the public signs in The Village, and the show's credits use a version of the Albertus display typeface in which the lowercase letter e was altered to make it look somewhat like the Greek letter epsilon (ε), and the dots above the lower case i and j are removed.
• In the episode "The Chimes Of Big Ben", Number 6 and his Russian neighbour Nadia are encased in a box, with a wood divider between them. While conversing, McGoohan ruins the illusion that they are separated by sticking his hand over the edge of the wood divider.
• Number 6 is occasionally seen participating in the game or martial art of kosho, which was conceived by Patrick McGoohan for the series. It is played on two trampolines set on either side of a four-by-eight-foot pool of water and surrounded by a wall with an angled ledge and hand-rail. Two opponents wear a boxing glove on their left hand and a lighter padded glove on their right, and attempt to knock each other into the pool.
• The musical score in the final episode is different in style to the previous 16 episodes. It has a more popular feel (and even features the Beatles' song, "All You Need Is Love"; this turned out to be a fortuitous selection as the song is still popular today).
• The striking theme tune was composed by Ron Grainer and was originally entitled "The Age of Elegance". According to legend, Grainer composed the theme based upon a phrase whistled by McGoohan, but there is evidence that Grainer's composition had its origins several years before The Prisoner entered production. Grainer's theme was chosen to replace an earlier theme by Albert Elms which can still be heard on the alternate versions of "Arrival" and "Chimes of Big Ben", and as incidental music during a couple of early episodes including the broadcast version of "Arrival" (in the aired version, the theme can be heard as No. 6 approaches the helicopter at the climax of the episode).
• The female Number 2 who appears in "Dance of the Dead," is speaking dialogue originally written for a male actor, Trevor Howard, who pulled out of the production just before filming.
• Numerous plans to make a big screen version of the series have been considered since the 1970s, usually with star Patrick McGoohan in the position of executive producer. To date, no film production has come to fruition.
• Alternate versions of "Arrival" and "Chimes of Big Ben" exist and have been released on DVD. These are "rough cuts", and feature little additional material. Both were intended to be cut for timing reasons anyway, with the excised material being largely superflous. These versions all feature the Elsm theme tune, and are of variable quality, having never been intended for broadcast.
• "Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darling" was produced while McGoohan was in America filming Ice Station Zebra; the episode featured the contrivance of Number 6's mind being implanted in another man's body (Nigel Stock), who is then sent out of The Village to help capture a scientist.
• The series gives several clues as to the location of the Village. In "Chimes of Big Ben" it is said to be in Lithuania (although as this information is given during a ruse it isn't reliable). In "Many Happy Returns" there is compelling evidence to suggest that it is on the coast of Morocco and Number 6 even flies to the apparent location as a passenger in a jet fighter. In the series finale, "Fall Out," however, we seem to learn that The Village is actually located somewhere in Great Britain, within driving distance of London - though there's no clear indication of how long the truck's been driving for, or een whether anything in this episode can be taken literally.
• "I'll be seeing you" was a popular expression in Britain in the 1940s, when it was jocularly pronounced "Abyssinia." McGoohan uses the phrase "be seeing you" in real life. According to the documentary The Prisoner Video Companion (produced to promote the series when it was released to home video in the early 1980s), the salute was meant to represent the "sign of the fish", a symbol of Christianity.
• The first episode reveals that the keepers of The Village are already aware of the reasons behind Number 6's resignation; they simply want to perform (in Number 2's words) "a double-check." Combined with repeated references to Number 6's "importance," this suggests that he's been kidnapped for reasons beyond his resignation. Later episodes contradict this, as various Number 2s accuse or speculate about Number 6's loyalty to another government. Number 6 never learns the exact loyalty of his jailers, which is one of the reasons he refuses to co-operate.
• The show's co-creator, George Markstein, supposedly felt that Number 6 resigned because he discovered the existence of The Village, though the series doesn't appear to support this. Markstein has also since repeatedly asserted that Number 6 was actually John Drake from Danger Man - something McGoohan vehmently disagrees with.
• There is a Prisoner memorabilia shop in Portmeirion, Wales, the site of the filming of the series. Portmeirion has also played host to several fan conventions as the series has attracted a minor cult following.
• Rover was originally intended to be a mechanical device, but the prop was lost in an accident. The producers were concerned with the expense of replacing it, but a weather balloon was spotted drifting by and it inspired the producers as a suitable replacement. Many now say that it was an inspired decision since the mysterious sphere suggested an extremely advanced sentry robot that still seems a dramatic threat that has not dated since the series' broadcast.