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episode guide
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Executive Producer: Patrick
McGoohan
Produced by: David Tomblin
Script Editor: George Markstein
Art Director: Jack Shampan
Stunt Co-ordinator: Frank Maher
Theme by: Ron Grainer
Musical Director: Albert Elms
Dir Photography: Brendan J. Stafford, BSc
Production Managers: Bernard Williams, Ronald
Liles
Assistant Directors: Gino Marotta, Ernie
Lewis
Editors: Lee Doig, Spencer Reeve, Geoffrey
Foot, John S. Smith,
Eric Boyd-Perkins, Noreen Ackland
Sound Editors: Ken Rolls, Wilfred Thompson,
Peter Elliott, Stanley Smith, Clive Smith
Sound Recordists: John Bramhall, Cyril Swern
Music Editors: Eric Mival, Bob Dearberg
Casting Director: Rose Tobias-Shaw
Set Dressers: John Lageu, Kenneth Bridgeman,
Colin Southcott
Makeup: Eddie Knight, Frank Turner
Hairdressing: Pat McDermot, Olive Mills
Wardrobe: Dora Lloyd, Masada Wilmot
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Made on location in the grounds of the Hotel Portmeirion, Penrhyndeudraeth, North Wales, UK and at Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios, Borehamwood, UK.
with recurring characters:
Angelo Muscat as The Butler
Peter Swanwick as The Supervisor
and Frank Maherstunt double for Patrick McGoohan
Although The Prisoner was first transmitted in Canada, the UK received it's very first screening on Friday the 29th September 1967 at 7:30pm. British television was split across several broadcasting companies and ATV Midlands and Grampian transmitted it simultaneously. The rest of Britain had to wait a bit but "Arrival" went out on Sunday the 1st of October at 7:25pm on ATV London, Southern television, Westward, Channel and Tyne Tees. Scottish viewers got it next on the 5th of October at 7:30pm, Anglia on the following day at 8pm and Border on the 19th of October at 7:30pm. Finally Number Six was seen waking up in The Village for the first time on the 27th of October at 8pm on the Granada channel.
Two episodes of "Danger Man" were screened over December 1967 and January 1968, these being "Koroshi" and "Shinda Shima". Some regions inserted these into the Prisoner slot, suspending the series for two weeks. These were the only Danger Man episodes to be shot in colour and with a similar star, cast, crew and "look" to The Prisoner, the unwary viewer would have been more than a little confused. However, it's possible it might have been done to buy time, because the Prisoner series was still filming and well behind schedule.
The Prisoner continued it's run in the UK but despite a promising start it gradually alienated the viewing population and the ratings plummeted, resulting in it's cancellation and termination at episode seventeen. All the TV regions showed the entire series but some shifted it into a late-night slot. Granada was the last company to air "Fallout" on Friday the 1st March 1968 at 7:55pm.
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Most of the British TV companies never took up the option of a repeat run but some did and it was one of these in 1974 which prompted the formation of Six Of One, The Prisoner Appreciation Society and which, arguably, began the transition from confusing failure to acclaimed cult. Despite it's emerging respectability, TV companies still found the series too off-beat for their mainstream audiences and repeats continued to be spasmodic and incomplete.
It was not until late 1983/early 1984 that The Prisoner was shown again on national television on the relatively new Channel Four. Even then they managed to show episodes in the wrong order, some prints had missing sequences and one episode went out minus sound for several minutes.
The series has never had another terestrial British screening although it has been variously available on video and now on regular DVD release for some years. With the advent of satellite broadcasting in the UK, the series had a re-run in the mid-nineties, albeit to a limited audience at the time. By 2001, satellite had gone digital and the audiences were much larger. The UK Sci-Fi channel has shown the entire series several times now with an enthusiastic response.
The order in which episodes have been screened in different countries has varied widely and, while this is usually due to incompetence or disinterest on the part of the TV companies, many people will argue for or against a particular sequence of events. For example, while "Arrival" might be considered a logical first and "Fallout" last, there are those who favour the "circular" theory which means that "Fallout" might well be the first one. The series was certainly not shot in any sort of coherent order, but this is the nature of filming and production dates are of no use in determining a "proper" screening order. To avoid madness, and for the purposes of this guide, the original UK screening order is adhered to. This in no way suggests that this order is any more coherent - the episodes were shown as they were finished, not because they followed each other in logical order. I'm indebted to Andrew Pixley for providing most of the screening and production dates.
Many people are interested in the background and career of the actors, writers, directors and production personnel involved in the making of the series. The Internet Movie Database is recommended for those who wish to look for this sort of information (www.imdb.com).
SPOILER
ALERT
If you really are seeing this programme for the first time and don't want to know what happens, don't proceed any further into this section. Watch the episodes and then come back.
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