The Prisoner

The Prisoner (1967)

194 mistakes in season 1

(3 votes)

Free for All - S1-E4

Revealing mistake: When Rover is sent after Number 6, while he is attempting to escape the island in the speedboat, there is an overhead shot of Number 6 in the speedboat and you can see he is being played by a stunt double. (00:29:18)

Jack Vaughan

A. B. and C. - S1-E3

Visible crew/equipment: When "A" confronts Number 6, as he attempts to leave the party, there is a shot facing Number 6 with a doorman either side of him and if you look in the top right of the screen you can see a boom microphone poke out from behind the door. (00:12:48)

Jack Vaughan

The Chimes of Big Ben - S1-E2

Visible crew/equipment: When Number 2 and Number 6 are talking at the beach there is a shot of Nadia getting into the sea. Just before she takes her sunglasses off you can see rows of spotlights reflected in them. This is because the scene was shot in a studio and not a real beach. (00:15:25)

Jack Vaughan

Arrival - S1-E1

Revealing mistake: When Rover attacks Number 6 on the beach, in one of the shots of Number 6 falling to the ground, you can see a tether keeping Rover from roving too far. (00:31:47)

Jack Vaughan

Arrival - S1-E1

Revealing mistake: When the helicopter lands in the field with Number 2 and Number 6 inside, if you look as it sets down you can see a different man (an actual pilot) flying and not the dwarf butler. He isn't even wearing the butler's bowler hat. (00:16:57)

Jack Vaughan

Arrival - S1-E1

Visible crew/equipment: In Number 2's chamber Number 6 refuses his offer and says "You won't hold me" as he turns around and goes to walk out. If you look at the bottom right of the screen you can see the shadow of the boom microphone cast on the floor. (00:15:20)

Jack Vaughan

Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling - S1-E13

Continuity mistake: There are many shots of The Colonel (whose mind has been switched with Number 6's mind) driving KAR 120C all around London. The footage is stock, shown in other episodes, and features either Number 6 or his stand in, but definitely not the Colonel.

Number Two: I'm the boss.
Number 6: No. One is the boss.

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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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