The Episodes Page

What shape is Rover? If you said, “Conical,” turn to the Beginner’s Page. If you said, “Cuboid,” turn to the Beginner’s Page!

The Prisoner was a seventeen-episode series created by Patrick McGoohan as an oblique follow-up to his previous hit series Danger Man. In fact, many people thought that this was another detective series, just like the former show. Assuming that No.1 was a mega-criminal boss, viewers anxiously awaited to see who he or she looked like, many of which being dismayed at the final revealing. Nevertheless, it is strongly believed that the main character of the show, No.6, is none other than John Drake , the main character of Danger Man. (McGoohan had taken great pains to conceal No.6's identity; however, some fans maintain that Leo McKern yells “Drake” in “Once Upon A Time,” against the vast majority and what was written on the script, which states “Break”.) Series production ran over two cycles from 1966-67 and was one of the costliest TV series at the time (then, around 75,000 per episode). The first production cycle contained thirteen episodes, all except “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling”, “Living in Harmony”, “The Girl Who Was Death”, and “Fall Out”. Indeed, most of the penultimate episode “Once Upon a Time” (also called “Degree Absolute”) was shot in the first production cycle. After most of the ‘McGoohan Seven’ episodes were produced, the crew went on to filming episodes not written or created by McGoohan. “Living in Harmony”, for example, was solely written and produced by David Tombin . “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh my Darling” (Alternatively named “Face Unknown”) was the first episode aired of the second cycle and was shot almost completely in McGoohan's absence. It tried to draw upon the conclusions reached from the last episode in the first cycle, “Many Happy Returns”, by having the Village act as some sort of all-knowing power that got its feet into everything. “The Girl Who Was Death” was a spoof of Danger Man, and even the color DM episodes “Koroshi” and “Shinda Shima” were aired in same time slot in early 1968 just prior to TGWWD's airing. George Markstein , the script editor, had teamed up with McGoohan beginning with the last few episodes of Danger Man and continued his involvement through the first production cycle of the Prisoner . His idea was to portray the Village as more of a ‘Nazi Prison Camp’ for spies. Details are sketchy, but Markstein was thought to have visited one of these, giving him inspiration for the setting of the Prisoner . Obviously, McGoohan consented to this idea, and thought Hotel Portmeirion was the proper setting for this Village. It would turn out later on, though, that Markstein could not cope with McGoohan's view that the series should stress ‘the individual trying to escape society’ allegory, rather than the more typical ‘ prisoner trying to escape persecution’ theme. (Markstein quit after filming of “Many Happy Returns”.) In addition to assigning actors for the filming of “Arrival” -- the first episode produced, as well as aired -- they needed another mobile ‘character’ which was called “Rover.” Rover was originally conceived to be a structural vehicle, and was created as such (turning out to be a costly project, in the five-digit/six-digit range). But when its floatation device failed, and it sunk permanently into the depths of Cardigan Bay during early shooting, McGoohan, Markstein, and director Don Chaffey had to quickly find a replacement. A weather balloon floating in the air at the time was the answer. After the filming, “Arrival” went into production. Robert Dearberg, the music editor for “Arrival” (Eric Mival was another important music editor who did thirteen of the episodes), originally had implemented Wilfred Josephs' rendition of the opening theme into this episode; however, no one really believed that this was to be permanent. Foremostly, this theme was too chaotic, and offered no real message that a prisoner was struggling to rebel in a prison or society. After a few later episodes were produced, musician Ron Grainer composed “The Age of Elegance.” When McGoohan listened to it, the tempo was upped, and the result was the theme we know to this day. Robert Farnon also produced some music clips for “Arrival” until he was replaced by Josephs. A couple of recovered Everyman Films’ call sheets from “Arrival” and “Free For All” (1st and 2nd in production order, respectively) reflects the methods in which McGoohan’s and David Tomblin’s production company handled the set pieces on a day of shooting. The table below summarizes all of the episodes, along with alternate viewing orders, the writer, director, and list of main cast members.

“Arrival” and “Chimes of Big Ben,” another early-filmed episode, actually have older, alternate scripts for them. “Alternate Chimes,” actually released on video, contains the Wilfred Josephs theme music, as well as scenes that were later cut out for the public release of “Chimes.” More than seventeen episodes were conceived. There were two other scripts that never got produced. One of them was entitled “The Outsider,” by Moris Farhi. It involved an airplane pilot crashing near the Village whom No.6 had tried to conceal so that he could get information on where the Village was and so forth. It later turned out that the pilot was actually a No.2 in disguise, and was simply a higher octave of “The Chimes of Big Ben”. The other one, by Gerald Kelsey (who wrote “Checkmate”), was entitled “Fool's Gold” or “Don't Get Yourself Killed,” and developed around prisoners digging their way out of the Village. (I guess Rover can't chase No.6 down a 2 x 2 hole, can it?) It turns out that a miner discovered gold, and No. 6 attempted to use this to bribe a higher Village official in exchange for a better means of escape. The most likely reason why this script didn't pass was because it consisted of too many parties, giving No. 6 a lesser role, along with too much comedic relief. We read the script, and we can report there was a lot of interesting humor.

Kents Notes on the Prisoner. Some of the episodes can be confusing at times. Kents Notes helps clarify sticky points. [Currently under renovation to include summaries!] The Troyer Interview. This is the 1977 interview with Patrick McGoohan explaining parts of the Prisoner.