The Prisoner

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

Arrival - S1-E1

Visible crew/equipment: In the foot-chase-on-the-beach scene, there are tracks in the sand from the camera crew's truck. They vanish and then reappear when the camera angle changes.

Jean G

Arrival - S1-E1

Visible crew/equipment: Watch the bottom left corner of the screen when Rover turns around and begins pushing Number 6 away from the helicopter. A film crewmember's head (probably that of the technician operating the weather balloon that played Rover) appears briefly in the shot.

Jean G

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

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 Schizoid Man - S1-E5

Visible crew/equipment: After uncovering the deception Number 6 enters his doppelgängers home to confront him. As the door opens you can see the shadow of a crew member on the wall next to the door. He is hidden behind the partition. (00:39:18)

Jack Vaughan

Checkmate - S1-E9

Visible crew/equipment: When Number 6 and Number 2 are observing the fate of "the rebel rook", who is being subjected to Pavlovian mind control treatment, there is a moment when the shadow of the boom microphone can be seen cast on the wall at the top-centre of the screen and bobs around for a while. When Number 6 says "you must be proud of yourself." (00:14:36)

Jack Vaughan

Hammer into Anvil - S1-E10

Visible crew/equipment: When Number 6 is listening to classical music in the listening booth, each time he puts his head into the booth (after switching records) there is a specific shot behind his shoulder where you can see the heads of two crew members reflected in the glass of the listening booth. This happens 3 times and is very visible on Blu-ray. (00:10:33)

Jack Vaughan

It's Your Funeral - S1-E11

Visible crew/equipment: Just before Number 6 and the woman break into her father's watch shop there is a shot of the shop's front door, as the camera moves in on the door you can see the face of the cameraman reflected in the door glass in the bottom right. (00:32:01)

Jack Vaughan

It's Your Funeral - S1-E11

Visible crew/equipment: At the end of the episode when Number 6 gives Number 2 the device and tells him to leave the island immediately you can see the shadow of the boom microphone on the stone wall behind them at the top right of the screen. (00:47:17)

Jack Vaughan

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

More mistakes in The Prisoner

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

More quotes from The Prisoner

Living in Harmony - S1-E14

Trivia: This episode was not shown in the initial U.S. airing of "The Prisoner" on CBS. There was speculation that its pacifist, anti-violence moral might have been construed as a Vietnam War protest, but the network's reason for censoring the episode has never been disclosed.

Jean G

More trivia for The Prisoner

Chosen answer: 1) It's never made entirely clear, but it seems that the government, Six's employers, are involved. 2) Because they wanted to know why he resigned. 3) It's never revealed, although many fans assume that Six is really John Drake, McGoohan's character from the prior show Danger Man. McGoohan has, however, denied that this was the intent and there are some notable differences between the characters. 4) It's never revealed, although, as, in the final episode, Six and his companions are able to drive to London, it must logically be located within the British Isles. 5) No details are ever given as to who has ultimate authority over the Village.

Tailkinker

Answer: Hope I am not going on too much, but I was watching bits of "The Prisoner" on YouTube, and have some information in response to question three "What was Number Six's name?" In the opening sequence of "The Prisoner" Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number Six walks into an office and throws a resignation letter on the table. He then drives to his house and hurriedly packs a suitcase. You can see him throw a UK passport into the suitcase. Seconds later, knockout gas is pumped into his house. He falls unconscious, then revives in "The Village." If he has a UK passport this must give his name, so it can be inferred that his name might be known to, or available to, anybody who really wants to know. After all, it seems plausible that the people or organisation who ordered his removal to "The Village" would have made at least a rudimentary search of his house and found the passport. Subsequently, in "Arrival" the first episode of the series, Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number Six meets "Number Two" who shows him a series of photographs illustrating his life from his schooldays up till his resignation. I find it inconceivable that Number Two could have acquired such a comprehensive amount of information about Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number Six, and not known his name. Yet Number Two never once mentions his name. Occasionally, in later episodes, characters mention that they knew Number Six in the time before they were transported to "The Village." But, during all seventeen episodes of the series, neither Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number Six, nor anybody else, ever mentions his name. From all this, it is clear that it was deliberately intended that viewers of "The Prisoner" would never know his real name.

Rob Halliday

Answer: Patrick McGoohan was often asked these, and many other questions about The Prisoner. He always refused to answer. He said the programme contained the answers. But you might want to try reading "I Am (Not) A Number, Decoding The Prisoner" written by Alex Cox and published in the UK in 2017. I regret that I, personally, was not wholly convinced by everything in this book. However, Alex Cox makes a dedicated and conscientious effort to deal with some questions asked about this very enigmatic television series. Alex Cox argues that Patrick McGoohan intended that the 17 episodes of The Prisoner should be watched in the order in which they were filmed, as these fill in details along the way. Even so, many questions about The Prisoner may always remain unanswered. One obvious paradox is that Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number 6 always says "I am not a number", and it is quite clear that much of his life before he arrived in "The Village" is well known to everybody, but he never, not even once, ever mentions his real name.

More questions & answers from The Prisoner

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