The Prisoner

The Prisoner (1967)

194 mistakes in season 1

(3 votes)

A Change of Mind - S1-E12

Revealing mistake: The ultra-secret location of The Village is accidentally revealed when Number 6 drinks his tea. While everything in The Village is supposed to bear only its penny farthing logo, the bottom of the tea cup is emblazoned "Portmeirion Pottery." "The Prisoner" was filmed in the Welsh resort village of Portmeirion.

Jean G

Checkmate - S1-E9

Factual error: Several of the chess moves called out over the loudspeaker are not possible with the players in their current positions. The Queen, for instance, is ordered to King three while in her starting position (can't be done). The "Knight to Knight's Bishop three" move is also impossible. When she is free to move to King three, though, the Queen goes there twice - without moving anywhere else in between.

Jean G

The Schizoid Man - S1-E5

Continuity mistake: When the Village doctors and technicians begin their procedure on the unconscious Number 6, one man folds the sheet and blanket back from his chest. A few shots later, the same man does this again.

Jean G

The Schizoid Man - S1-E5

Continuity mistake: While the technicians are prepping the unconscious Number 6, there's no watch on the lamp table by the bed. One appears there, though, when the tech begins collecting the prisoner's personal items.

Jean G

It's Your Funeral - S1-E11

Continuity mistake: During the scene in the bell tower, watch the beach in the background. In one take, the tide is in. In the next, it is suddenly at low tide, with much more of the beach exposed.

Jean G

The Chimes of Big Ben - S1-E2

Continuity mistake: When Number 6 and Nadia get into the shipping crate, they're both able to stretch out completely for the 12-hour trip. But when the crate is opened, it's suddenly several inches shorter, and 6 has to bend his neck at an uncomfortably sharp angle to fit into it.

Jean G

Once Upon A Time - S1-E16

Continuity mistake: While he's making his graduation speech and demanding to know why Number 6 resigned, Number 2 has a mortarboard tassel wardrobe malfunction: it keeps changing sides between shots.

Jean G

Free for All - S1-E4

Continuity mistake: During the campaign, watch the bass drummer as he turns left. The same taxi with the same driver passes him twice in quick succession - going in the same direction.

Jean G

A. B. and C. - S1-E3

Continuity mistake: Number 6 substitutes clear water for the red-tinted drug in the syringe. But when Number 14 later injects him with the same syringe, the fluid in it has turned red again.

Jean G

Checkmate - S1-E9

Continuity mistake: When Number 6 is setting up his antenna, there's a woman on the beach in the background in a blue bathing suit. Between takes, her beach umbrella disappears.

Jean G

The Girl Who Was Death - S1-E15

Other mistake: When the girl makes her getaway in the helicopter and Number 6 emerges from the bushes and climbs aboard, look at the trees on the horizon as the helicopter takes off and supposedly lands later in another location. You can see that the helicopter takes off and lands in the same field. Also, the shot of Number 6 hiding behind bushes before jumping on the helicopter, and after climbing off it is the same one. It's from a slightly different angle the second time, but it's the same bush.

The Chimes of Big Ben - S1-E2

Plot hole: When Nadia had been held captive in The Village, how did she get word to her accomplice to be ready at the exact time, in the exact location, and with a packing crate ready, and a whole series of transports arranged? Even if Nadia was in on the ruse of conning Number 6, wouldn't he be suspicious?

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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