User Reviews

The famous opening dialogue for 'The Prisoner' demands information. This video purports to give it, but it is riddled with conjectural nonsense. Some of the 'facts' it claims to reveal are, so far as I can determine, fabrications. I first bought it in the early 1990's and I wasn't especially impressed. Much of it seemed trite. I never watched it again, although it still sits on a shelf.

More recently I have realised that in 1991 Patrick McGoohan himself made clear in an interview that most of the so-called 'facts' the video quoted were not in fact true. He particularly picked out the so-called 'McGoohan-7' episodes, which are claimed on this film. He denied point-blank naming them, and explicitly denied that the episodes quoted on this film would be his choice.

Why it is that the world-wide fan clubs purporting to be fans of this programme have never ensured his views were publicised more is beyond me. But they didn't and the misinformation this film has publicised seems now to have become an accepted 'truth'. The magazine in which this refutation was published, was called 'The Box'.

Another myth that is promulgated is that 'Living in Harmony' was suppressed by CBS for 'anti-Vietnam' ideas. This is utter twaddle. The episode was dropped for scheduling reasons on the first run, but the choice of this episode to drop, was entirely arbitrary and of no consequence. The episode was broadcast in re-runs of the series as early as 1970 in the USA, to my certain knowledge, possibly earlier, depending upon local networks.

Watch it and enjoy the intrigue, but believe very little.

This documentary makes some interesting connections, but there are some real howlers in it. While some are minor, e.g. the Prisoner's London home is given as "No 1, Buckingham Palace", when it should be "No 1, Buckingham Place" or "Ezekiel" being spelt "Ezekial", there are others which are much more fundamental, such as the idea that No 6 fails in his "mission" in every episode. The idea that the Butler represents the "little man", and is a reference to Thoreau's life of "quiet desperation" is ludicrous. Likewise, the Vietnam references are a long shot, and probably aimed at an American audience, but less resonant with the rest of us.

There's also a lot left out of here, that could have been included, such as McGoohan's opposition to totalitarianism - Maoist style self-criticism is included in one episode, for example - or the series' comments on psychiatry. And is the Penny Farthing logo used in the series a visual pun on the hammer and sickle, or is the resemblance coincidental? On the other hand, it does have some plus points. The companion includes some good clips from "Dangerman" and "Secret Agent", for example, and even a bit of information for heavy metal fans.

Don't watch this until you've seen the whole series at least once - it will give you an overview, but after one's seen the series a few times, most people ought to be able to pick out at least a few of the errors.

The new Blu-Ray edition of "The Prisoner" is supposed to have a brand new documentary on it. Hopefully this will supersede this, although I'm never going to fork out for a Blu-Ray system (DVDs are already old technology - downloads are the future.)