THE PRISONER OFFICIAL APPRECIATION SOCIETY - SIX OF ONE
"The Prisoner" cult 1967 TV series has its own worldwide unique following.
You too can join the only official appreciation society, established since 1977.
Patrick McGoohan is the Honorary President of Six of One. Be seeing you!

A. FACTS 1 - 50

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The man behind the desk receiving the resignation letter in the Prisoner opening sequence was George Markstein, script editor of the series.

The only other time that Markstein appeared in the series was in Many Happy Returns when he was again behind his desk.

The recent DVD release of The Prisoner in France enabled viewers there to see for the first time episodes with subtitles.

George Baker, the second No. 2 in Arrival, was the only Village leader in the series to wear the No. 6 style piped blazer.

All previous video releases in France had dubbed voices and no subtitles.

The ‘Village Voice’ which made happy announcements was that of actress Fenella Fielding.

French dubbed episodes utilised the voice of actor Jacques Thebault for No. 6.

The opening sequence voice for episodes where the No. 2 of that story was not to be presented belonged to actor Robert Rietty.

Rietty’s voice was also used for that of the masked man in the French street in A. B. and C.

The Prisoner was screened in France as Le Prisonnier, in Germany as Nummer Sechs, in Italy as Il Prigioniero and with other varying titles around the world (sometimes with subtitles, sometimes dubbed e.g. in Japanese).

The first person in the series to call 'Rover' by name was No. 6 himself in The Schizoid Man, when he told No. 2 that No. 6 (the other one, whose name was Curtis) was dead and that 'Rover got him'. Also in the episode, No. 6 referred to the white sphere as 'The Headmaster' (although another argument is that he was referring to No. 2, and the leader's guardian as 'It').

No. 2 in The Schizoid Man also referred to ‘Rover', but the beast's name was never heard again in the series.

In Germany the episodes Free For All, The Schizoid Man, A Change Of Mind and Living In Harmony were not dubbed.

The telephone booth in Arrival was situated under Portmeirion's Triumphal Arch as No. 6 first approached it. However, while he was actually using the telephone it was located by the archway near the bottom of the steps which led to Unicorn cottage.

The German voice for Patrick McGoohan was provided by Horst Naumann.

In aerial shots of Portmeirion the building with the roof missing was Villa Winch, which was still being built in September 1966.

Japanese episodes also utilised dubbed voices.

The lettering used for Prisoner titles, end credits and most of the Village signs or labels etc. was 'Albertus'. The dots on the 'i' and the 'j' were usually removed and the 'e' normally appeared with the leading upper edge sliced off.

The opening sequence version for Japan did use Japanese writing for the front of the ‘Resigned’ filing cabinet.

The sports car driving down the ramp to the underground car park in Many Happy Returns was from an out-take, filmed at the same time as the Arrival or normal opening sequence was shot. The usually visible pedestrian was absent in the Returns ‘carbon copy’.

The ‘Resigned’ filing cabinet drawer in other countries also utilised French, German or Italian language.

Towards the end of Many Happy Returns, when No. 6 is in the aeroplane looking for the Village, there was a shot of an island before the actual Portmeirion peninsula came into view. The same stock footage also appeared in an episode of The Avengers called 'The Superlative Seven'.

The series was first screened in Canada in an incomplete form, late summer 1967.

In one of the first shots of the Village from the Checkmate story, the giant chessboard was not in place on the lawn. Barely a few moments later in the episode, the squares had been put down and a chess game was able to commence.

The series premiered in the UK in autumn 1967 in various regions.

The only time that a Village litter bin appeared in The Prisoner was in Checkmate. It was situated near No. 6's cottage and had a sign saying 'Please place litter here'. It could be seen in the background as No. 6 ran up the steps near the base of the bell tower in pursuit of the Rook.

The series had its debut in the USA in 1968 and was repeated there in 1969.

The giant chessboard was on the lawn for one week in September 1966 and was taken up as soon as the chess game scenes for Checkmate had been filmed. The board made its mark on Portmeirion by leaving grass squares of a different shade when the panels were removed. As No. 6 walked across the same lawn in Arrival and in most opening sequences, the alternating light and dark green grass squares were clearly visible. Therefore, this Arrival section was filmed after Checkmate's location shoot and at the end of September 1966.

The French debut of The Prisoner was in 1968 and further European and other global locations followed.

When Number Six went to see the Committee early on in A Change Of Mind the sign outside the Hercules Hall read 'Council Chamber'. In all other episodes it stated 'Town Hall'.

Danger Man had already been screened around the world as Secret Agent in the USA or Destination Danger in Europe.

A very large black disc with a strangely proportioned white pennyfarthing appeared in the Council Chamber in A Change Of Mind and in the Board Room in The General. It was never seen anywhere else in the series, but did decorate the wall of the 1967 press conference and party held by McGoohan for media representatives.

Canopied bicycles were in use at Butlins holiday camps, the closest one to Portmeirion in 1966 being at nearby Pwllheli. The camp hosts wore piped blazers.

The first time the Supervisor (Peter Swanwick) actually met No. 6 was in A Change Of Mind, when the former was on his way out of No. 2's office and the latter was on his way in.

The episodes and scripts evolved during the production and a decision to dispense with the original mechanical version of the Rover guardian was made.

The shots in Forsake of No. 6 walking in his house eating some food, being watched on the viewing screen in No. 2's office, as Clifford Evans spoke with Nigel Stock, were lifted from Once Upon A Time (made several months before Forsake but shown not long after it).

It was said that the Rover replacement was chosen as a result of seeing a weather balloon flying in the sky above Portmeirion.

When the name of Alexis Kanner appeared on screen at the beginning of Living In Harmony and Fall Out, it had a frame around it for more emphasis. Kanner had an uncredited cameo appearance in The Girl Who Was Death.

Kanner also provided the record booth voice-over in the Girl story.

The different version of blazers or jackets worn by No. 6 are detailed in the 'Prisoner of Portmeirion' book (see General page)

During Once Upon A Time, Leo McKern, dressed as a headmaster, rebuked No. 6 as if he was a young pupil, telling him to report at the end of the morning ‘Break’. Many people thought that McKern said 'Drake' (the former Danger Man hero), but this was not the case.

The choice of the pennyfarthing design may have been to promote the ‘holiday camp’ atmosphere of the Village. Who chose the emblem is not known.

There were two near-identical Lotus Seven sports cars used. They appeared in different episodes and scenes, but both versions can be seen in certain Forsake driving sequences. One had a number plate upon which letters and numerals were affixed, but the other had them stuck directly onto the front grille.

In Fall Out, when the large viewing screen in the cavern showed the Lotus Seven outside the Prisoner's London home, a mechanic in overalls was seen polishing the car. This was Graham Nearn from Caterham Cars, the company which supplied the Lotus Sevens for The Prisoner.

Patrick McGoohan has always claimed that the pennyfarthing motif was to denote progress, or a lack of it. The bar and rear wheel looked like a '6', as did the Village hand salute.

There were two different versions of the face and closing shot seen at the end of episodes. Usually the bars started to close as the face was increasing in size and they clanged shut as the face stopped. In the second version, the face had almost finished moving before the bars began to close.

The canopy above the bicycle design was said by McGoohan to indicate 'Security'.

The animated pennyfarthing bicycle dismantling sequence has hardly ever been used except on UK TV.

Although the 'Free Information' display board seen in Arrival and Free For All had a multitude of numbered buttons to press, not one of them displayed a '7'. In every case, the numeral was replaced by another number, or a combination of numbers, followed by a letter. The reason for the deleted 7s is not known.

In 1983/4 Channel 4 showed A. B. and C. with a five minute sequence missing, involving the meeting with the character 'B' and No. 6's subsequent fight with her assailants.

Facts 51 - 100

Facts 101 - 150

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