ORBzine - The Prisoner TV Review
1st Series 1967 ITV
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 1]
Arrival
Shown 1 Oct 67
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 2]
The Chimes of Big Ben
Shown 8 Oct 67
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 3]
A. B. and C.
Shown 15 Oct 67
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 4]
Free for All
Shown 22 Oct 67
No6 stands for election For No2's job.
Is this just another attempt to break his spirit?
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 5]
The Schizoid Man
Shown 29 Oct 67
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 6]
The General
Shown 5 Nov 67
The General's department offers a University degree in 3 minutes, via a new system named Speedlearn.
A Stranger warns No6 to be distrustful of it.
The key piece of info that people learn is that in Sept 1829 was the Treaty of Adrianople. This was covered in A-level history, and was a very dull period.
Of note, man in hat is credited as Ian Fleming. Is this THE Ian Fleming?
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 7]
Many Happy Returns
Shown 12 Nov 67
The Village is deserted, so No6 builds raft and escapes.
Or does he?
He's paranoid after COBB [who wouldn't be?].
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 8]
Dance of the Dead
Shown 26 Nov 67
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 9]
Checkmate
Shown 3 Dec 67
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 10]
Hammer Into Anvil
Shown 10 Dec 67
No2 forces a woman into suicide. No6 pretends to be plotting something to drive him paranoid.
This is a nice spy-craft ep. No6 pits his skills against No2's 1960s tech [CCTV, radar, sonar, Code-breaking computer, etc]. They even introduce a henchman for No2 and a Replacement surveillance supervisor.
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 11]
It's Your Funeral
Shown 17 Dec 67
Number 6 uncovers an assassination plot. We gain some knowledge of the workings of the hierarchy - Number 2 is on the phone to an unnamed Boss. They have a very lousy retirement package!
There are clips of the previous Number 2s, and Number 6's exercises. He also refernces the Village Council (both seen in A Change of Mind).
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 12]
A Change of Mind
Shown 31 Dec 67
Number 6 defends himself from a cople of thugs. He is then sent to the Committee (the first reference to it). He is declared unmutual, and sentanced to Social conversion (lobotomy).
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 13]
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling
Shown 7 Jan 68
The Teaser is a photo-slide display about a code. There's no Who are you? after the Credits.
This is a bodyswop ep - No6 is sent on secret mission by No2 against his will. The result is a 1960s spy story with a scifi twist and good music. That said, with the mindswop element this could never have been used in Danger Man.
McGoohan only appears briefly. At the time he was making Ice Station Zebra, a movie that is watchable mainly for his performance.
A Professor can transmit one man's mind into another. No2 swops No6 into an Agent's body, and sends No6 to find the Professor. No2 has all the equipment in a building guarded by men with white helmets and truncheons. There are flashback clips to No6's escape attempts ...
No6 wakes up in his own flat, with his own belongings, but in another man's body (with McGoohan's voiceover)! he meets his fiance and boss (no references to Chimes of Big Ben or Many Happy returns).
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 14]
Living in Harmony
Shown 14 Jan 68
This stands out as a western episode, complete with cliched characters, costumes and sets. There's a new opening, not the usual credits sequence - part of the Western plot.
McGoohan, in Wild West sheriff garb, is dumped unceremoniously in the middle of a wild west town called Harmony. In the tavern he finds The Kid [Alexis Kanner], a gunfighter, and the Judge [Number Two]. There is also a tart with a heart. McGoohan has an American accent, to fit in with the setting. The climax is a gunfight duel, in standard Western tradition.
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 15]
The Girl Who Was Death
Shown 21 Jan 68
John Drake chases a femme Fatale ( Justine Lord ).
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 16]
Once Upon A Time
Shown 28 Jan 68
The Prisoner [Season 1, Episode 17]
Fall Out
Shown 4 Feb 68
This is the final episode of the Series. Yes, they didn't try to make the show last an entire Decade, unlike American shows!
Alexis Kanner and Leo McKern, familiar faces from previous episodes, now join No6 in his final escape attempt. The ending is entirely allegorical ...
Return to the TV Reviews
Return to the ORBzine Homepage.
© Speculator 2002-8