THE PRISONER released on 'CHANNEL 5'

In 1986, Polygram were about to launch their then-innovative budget label called "Channel 5" (not to be confused with the later British TV channel) and had bought the distribution rights for the ITC range of TV series including The Prisoner which was to be their first project. It was going to be the first full release of the series in the UK, they wanted to get the packaging right and were willing to take advice about the design of the sleeves, posters and so on. They were keen to use as much prisoner-specific imagery as possible and to create a definitive Prisoner video release which would please both existing fans and new viewers. An associate of mine, Peter Jones, had just aquired a bunch of Prisoner and Danger Man costumes including the original Patrick McGoohan blazer and the black suit. (Long story made short - PMG had given them to his stand-in, Freddy, after TP finished. Freddy died a short while before we started the video project and his widow had given them to Peter who lived close by and had been in contact previously.) Polygram thought it would be a good idea to have a running-theme for the video sleeves and were interested in using the blazer. Peter acted as model as he was about the right build and anyway it was his ball - sorry, blazer. So, all the video sleeves feature Peter's body inside the blazer overlaid with different photos for each pair of episodes on each video sleeve. The blazer is a soft mohair material and surprisingly isn't black or even dark blue as it appears to be onscreen, it's actually a very dark but warm brown. Colours change and details get lost under harsh blue-white studio lights (even the outdoor scenes were shot with artificial light - believe me, Portmeirion isn't THAT sunny) and black is notoriously difficult to light - it just comes out as featureless. So, the dark brown blazer LOOKS black on film but the folds, backlighting and body movement effects don't get lost. Click the picture above for a larger view, you can just make the colour out. The blazer had Patrick McGoohan's name tag sewn inside it and there were even the remains of tobacco in the pockets. He's always been a heavy smoker and was forever lighting up, nipping the cigarette out just before he went in front of the camera and shoving the stub into his pocket. The blazer itself, along with the reversed white "Schizoid Man" jacket is now owned by Six of One's Roger Langley. The garments are occasionally exhibited at Six of One events.

The picture below is the design "team" comprising of Gary Shoefield (then the Channel 5 marketing manager), myself, Peter and the graphic designer. During the early days of the Polygram video release, PMG kindly autographed a few of the video covers and promotional posters. Here's a scan of one of them, note the vertical signature. Click the image for a larger view.

Patrick's wearing a slightly different jacket in this photo! Here's the man himself accepting an award for The Prisoner being Channel 5's most successful release at the time. I'd like to think it was the superb cover artwork that did it ( ! ) The award was basically the same blazer photo, printed a bit larger, with one of the video sleeves stuck over it and a plaque down below, all nicely framed beneath glass.

MPI VIDEO RELEASE

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POLYGRAM VVI RELEASE