Six of One - The Prisoner - Patrick McGoohan

101	McGoohan has never returned to Portmeirion, although many of The Prisoner's actors and technical crew have attended as celebrity guests for appreciation society events.
102	The birthdate of No. 6, given in Arrival, was McGoohan’s own – 4.31 a.m., 19th March, 1928. Other correct personal details of McGoohan were used in the series.
103	Fall Out utilised a giant sound stage and many underground mechanical effects to achieve a striking climax to the series. In Fall Out, the President's speech was written by the actor who played the part, Kenneth Griffith. The episode title borrowed from 1960s’ concerns over nuclear war and a missile or rocket was symbolically launched from The Village in this abstract piece of action. Whether this was a weapon or an object of escape is open to interpretation. During the episode the projectile appeared to be a subject being either worshipped or feared - or both.
104	John Drake (Danger Man/Secret Agent) was in The Prisoner – in the form of an actor who was really called by that name, seen at the Girl cricket match.
105	The themes explored in the episodes covered such wide-ranging topics as education, drugs, computers, politics and use of violence or coercion to achieve an end. At the same time the series was allegorical, highlighting the struggle of the central character and his rebellion against those who tried to stifle his individuality. The series' uncompromising stand made it unpopular at times with a general audience, used to more straightforward viewing. Paradoxically, the enigmatic and controversial aspects have maintained The Prisoner’s appeal and cult status.
106	It has been said that in the UK screening order, A Change of Mind would have been a good title for the next episode, Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling. In turn, that story would have provided a suitable label for the following one, Living In Harmony, as it was the title of a well known cowboy song from the classic movie, High Noon. The character Cobb in Arrival provided the initials of the next episode, Chimes of Big Ben. Towards the end of A. B. and C. the character Engadine utters the name of the Change of Mind episode.
107	Other stories in which the titles are actually spoken are Arrival, A. B. and C., Free For All, (The) Schizoid Man, The General, Many Happy Returns, Checkmate and loosely Hammer Into (or) Anvil.
108	As far as is known, The Prisoner was the only series ever made with 17 episodes.
109	The photograph removed from the wallet of the dead man in Dance showed a couple sitting by a pool. It was actually taken in the square at Portmeirion.
110	For over a decade and a half there have been announcements as to a Prisoner movie or sequel, although by 2001 none of these have materialised.
111	The handwriting on the resignation letter envelope in Arrival is McGoohan’s own.
112	Before the later series of Danger Man (called Secret Agent in the USA and Destination Danger in France), Portmeirion was used in some of the early half-hour episodes.
113	Forsake had to be filmed without McGoohan, as he was in Hollywood, making the movie Ice Station Zebra.
114	The mechanic seen in Fall Out, Graham Nearn, acquired and retained the KAR 120C Lotus sports car registration.
115	The French town in A. B. and C., the fantasy ghost town in the Girl and the western town of Harmony, were all the same outdoor studio lot at Borehamwood.
116	The furniture and ornaments inside No. 6’s home in the Village were not always the same.
117	Fall Out was filmed so long after Once Upon A Time that Leo McKern had shaved off his beard. Therefore he had to undergo ‘cosmetic surgery’ on screen to explain his altered appearance.
118	Postcards of Portmeirion were on sale at the booth seen in Hammer. Also, in that episode, the kiosk girl charged No. 6 for 9 words, when in fact there were only 8 - 'Y mas mal in Aldea que se suena'.
119	The man seen running towards the camera on the beach in the opening sequence was not McGoohan, but Frank Maher, his stunt double.
120	Vincent Tilsley wrote a more explicit romantic scene between No. 6 and Nadia for Chimes. It was reduced to some hair twiddling by McGoohan, which Tilsley scoffed at.
121	The red and white striped screens dotted about the Village had a purpose - to hide from the cameras cars parked there by visitors to Portmeirion.
122	The name of the Village was revealed in Forsake. Written on the envelope Nigel Stock holds is the address 'Portmeirion Road', penned in McGoohan's own hand.
123	Free For All is credited to Paddy Fitz. This was a pseudonym for McGoohan, using his mother’s maiden name, Fitzpatrick.
124	The game of Kosho, seen in Hammer and Funeral, was devised by McGoohan.
125	When Leo McKern was told to ‘wink a blind surveillance eye’ in Chimes, the truth was being stated, as he had an artificial glass left eye.
126	The record booth scene in the Girl episode was very similar to one appearing in the Danger Man episode Koroshi.
127	In Arrival and Fall Out two different black hearses were used.
128	Everyman Films, the company which made the Prisoner series, with its two directors McGoohan and David Tomblin, existed long before any episodes were shot. It was not wound up until some years later.
129	The General was written by Joshua Adam. This was a pseudonym for Lewis Greifer, who combined the first names of his two sons.
130	Quotations from Shakespeare occur in The Prisoner. In The Schizoid Man, No. 6 and his ‘duplicate’ are about to fence.1st No. 6 (speaking Hamlet’s line): "These foils have all a length?" 2nd No. 6 (speaking Osrio’s line): "Ay, my good lord." They then correctly test each other on the lines’ origin: Hamlet, Act V, Scene II. In Once Upon A Time, No. 2 recites to No. 6 a passage (delivered by Jacques), from As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII: "All the world’s a stage…" (with some changes/omissions over several lines which follow). References are also made to Cervantes’ Don Quixote and Goethe, in the episode Hammer Into Anvil.
131	In January 1968 there was a break during the Prisoner series' screening in the UK. Two Danger Man episodes, Koroshi and Shinda Shima were shown, which was confusing. Fall Out was completed barely in time for its UK broadcast in February, 1968.
132	One of the Napoleonic troops in the Girl story was to have been named O’Toole (after the actor Peter). McGoohan told Kenneth Griffith he did not like private jokes and changed it to O’Rourke. The star's dresser and friend Jimmy Millar was also in the row of soldiers (as well as being one of the escape team in Checkmate).
133	Joseph Serf, writer of Returns and Change, was again McGoohan. His middle name 'Joseph' was employed and the 'Serf' surname's meaning was, ironically, the complete opposite to a free man.
134	At a press conference in 1967 McGoohan wore his Kosho tunic and was interviewed on the set of Once Upon a Time from inside the cage.
135	Despite the butler, who appeared throughout The Prisoner, being mute, the actor who played him, Angelo Muscat, was not.
136	Although the Prisoner’s real name was never revealed in the series, a few false names were used. In Many Happy Returns No. 6 gave himself the name Peter Smith and in Forsake he revealed that in Germany his code name was Schmidt, in France Duval, or even ZM 73.
137	George Markstein was script editor for 13 episodes, but left the production before the final quartet of stories (Once Upon A Time having been filmed much earlier as part of the initial 13 segments).
138	McGoohan won various awards for his stage, TV and film work but nothing was ever gained by him for being No. 6, nor for the Prisoner series itself. It was said originally that there were to be 26 or even 30 episodes of The Prisoner. Differing reasons have been put forward as to why the series stopped suddenly after 17 instalments.
139	After Fall Out, McGoohan left Britain and resided for a while in Switzerland, before moving permanently to California.
140	An alternative version of Chimes, found in 1986 by Six of One's US co-ordinator Bruce Clark, had a non-standard scene. This showed No. 6 using a Greek piece of apparatus called a triquetrum to plot the Village’s position astronomically.
141	There was also an alternative, pre-edit, version of Arrival, also unearthed by Bruce Clark, which had a slightly changed opening sequence and some other different scenes. This and the non-standard Chimes both had different theme music and also changed closing credit sequences which were never screened.
142	In the USA Bruce Clark worked with various companies releasing Prisoner videos and DVDs containing additional items, seen for the first time.
143	The book The Prisoner In Portmeirion, published in 1999, contained the largest ever collection of photographs of the series’ location filming in Portmeirion. McGoohan described it as ‘a handsome work’. In the following year the book’s author Roger Langley also produced a large scale replica of the Arrival 'Village Map' (both items being available from Portmeirion - see General and Links pages).
144	The opening sequence question ’Who is No. 1’ was able to lead to the answer, within its following reply, ‘You are No. 6', if emphasis was put on the first two words.
145	The actor in The General, Ian Flemming was not the writer of the famous James Bond novels, Ian Fleming.
146	A distinctive Christmas card was given to all of the Prisoner crew in 1967. It featured a cartoon of the butler and the bicycle, sketched by series art director Jack Shampan.
147	The bomb disposal casing in Hammer was merely a green Portmeirion litter bin.
148	The pennyfarthing bicycle emblem was seen on objects around the Village in nearly 50 different versions or placings.
149	No. 6 only wore a badge with the ‘6’ numeral briefly in Arrival and again in The Schizoid Man.
150	Patrick McGoohan has remained in touch with the Prisoner’s appreciation society and has sent a number of written messages of thanks. At McGoohan’s request, UK co-ordinator Roger Langley received on the actor’s behalf a society presentation plaque at the show’s 25th anniversary event in London.