The Prisoner

The Prisoner (1967)

4 corrected entries

(3 votes)

A. B. and C. - S1-E3

Corrected entry: When he breaks into the secret lab, Number 6 finds the syringe and substitutes plain tap water for the drug to be used on him. But even a small injection of unpurified, non-saline water can cause severe pain and is potentially lethal: it can cause oxygen bubbles to form in the bloodstream, and if this air embolism reaches the heart, cardiac arrest can result. Certainly not a risk Number 6 would take. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_embolism.)

Jean G

Correction: In order to produce a dangerous embolism, between 300 and 500 ml of air needs to be injected. That is way beyond the capacity of the small syringe we see. And Number 6 would be confident that, like all medical professionals, the lab technician would expel any air from the syringe before the injection. It's a bog standard medical procedure.

A Change of Mind - S1-E12

Corrected entry: The sticking plaster on No. 6's forehead is firstly on the left side of his head but then changes sides in following scene. Finally, it goes back to the original position.

Correction: Simply wrong. It is always on the right side. It appears to be on the left side in one scene, but that is because we are seeing a reflection in a mirror.

Show generally

Corrected entry: During the opening credits, when he has resigned, a typewriter is seen to repeatedly put a letter onto the platen. In the next shot, a series of Xs are placed over the Prisoner's picture. The key that is repeatedly pressed is H. (The X key would have come from somewhere near the left of the picture of the keys, not the middle.).

Correction: Although it is suggested, it is never confirmed that the key is typing out the x's across the card. There are dozens of 3's and other letters and numbers all over the card, and there may even be some on the other side. The point is, we can't tell what the H key is typing because we never see both in action and the letter being typed at the same time (plus, there's been quick cutting throughout the intro, so it is possible it appears here as well).

Arrival - S1-E1

Corrected entry: Everyone in the Village is supposed to have a number instead of a name. Yet, Tom Cobb, the ex-agent Number 6 recognizes in the medical ward, is for some reason an exception. Number 2, the doctor, Number 4 and Number 6 himself all call the man Cobb.

Jean G

Correction: Numbers are used to conceal prisoners' identities. Number 6 recognises Cobb from the outside world, after which there's no point in anybody calling him anything else.

The Chimes of Big Ben - S1-E2

Continuity mistake: Number 6 chooses a rather thin tree to cut down and fashion into his canoe. Somehow, when he's finished hewing out the wood to form the boat, it's considerably wider than the tree he started with.

Jean G

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Number 6: Be seeing you.

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Fall Out - S1-E17

Trivia: The bizarrely existential ending of the series, which answered none of the questions posed by earlier episodes (but rather seemed to say, "The answer is there is no answer!") upset viewers so much that Patrick McGoohan says he was forced to go into hiding. His phone had been ringing constantly and people who'd found his address were banging on his door to complain.

Jean G

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Answer: It's even more obvious than you think, you know who number 1 is in the very first episode. When 2 replies to the question "who is #1?" Change the way he answers from you are number one (in the monotone or accented answer to, "You are, number 6. The comma gives you the answer. #6 is #1. It's the tone of the answer.

Chosen answer: We were never told. In the series finale [Spoiler alert] Number 6 demands an answer to that question, only to be shown his own reflection.

Jean G

Answer: The Prisoner was first shown on British television in 1967. I did not watch it then, but the series was was repeated on UK television in 1977, at which point it became a massive cult. Certainly, I was hooked. Well, ten minutes after I started watching The Prisoner, I was 110% certain as to who Number 1 was. In my opinion, the identity of Number 1 was so utterly, glaringly obvious that I could not understand how anybody could even ask such a question. I thought there was only one candidate for the identity of Number 1, and it was so plainly visible that nobody could even vaguely consider it to be anybody else. So, who did I think Number 1 was? you all ask. My answer? Himself! Patrick McGoohan (or rather, the character Patrick McGoohan played in The Prisoner) was Number 1. I was proved right. In Fall Out, the seventeenth and final episode, "The Prisoner" gets to meet "Number 1." Now this is a real "blink and you'll miss it" moment, but Number 1 has his face covered. The Prisoner pulls off the covering to see a mask, he pulls off the mask, to see himself! The Patrick McGoohan in Number 1's costume laughs in The Prisoner's face and runs away. Unfortunately, I don't know why Patrick McGoohan should be both The Prisoner and Number 1. I don't think anybody does.

Rob Halliday

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