Tag Archives: The Prisoner

Columbo: Identity Crisis (Review)

There’s something about Nelson Brenner (Patrick McGoohan) that seems familiar: the clothes he wears, the Mediterranean architecture of his home, his career as an “operative”, the regularity with which he says “be seeing you”. Could this be… surely not. For … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, Television | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Prisoner: Shattered Visage

The Prisoner ends with Fallout which is such a major piece of television history that it almost defies description.  But not content to end there, I read the graphic novel Shattered Visage, which takes place 20 odd years later and … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Doctor Who, Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Prisoner: Fall Out

What an extraordinary episode, and I approach writing about it with some trepidation, knowing that it is going to be impossible to do it justice. Perhaps it is necessary to first deal with what this episode is not. It is … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | 4 Comments

The Prisoner: Once Upon a Time

What an exceptional piece of television. I wasn’t around in the 1960s but I have since watched a lot of the television of the era, and it seems to have been an extraordinarily inventive time. It was also a time … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Prisoner: The Girl Who Was Death

I think I have a new favourite episode of The Prisoner. I can’t pretend this is anything other than a 50 minute James Bond film, but it is just so much fun. It’s far from being an episode that has … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Prisoner: Living in Harmony

Come back Nigel Stock, all is forgiven. I’ll take anything over a Western. It has actually been quite sad to see the decline of this series, which started so brilliantly, reached it’s peak with Hammer into Anvil, and has since … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Prisoner: Nobody’s Fool

We are going to take a little sidestep today on our Prisoner viewing marathon to take a look at the recently discovered episode of The Prisoner, previously assumed to be missing forever: Nobody’s Fool. I’ll be doing the writing duties … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Prisoner: Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling

The start of this episode shows a great deal of promise, with a pre-credits sequence for the first time and a code hidden somewhere in a set of photographs. Unfortunately we are quickly into our silly sci-fi idea of the … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Prisoner: A Change of Mind

This one is another dud, at least by the high standards we have come to expect from The Prisoner, and it doesn’t have the benefit of a memorable Number Two to pull it out of the fire like last week. … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | 3 Comments

The Prisoner: It’s Your Funeral

Last week Number Six turned the tables on Number Two by playing some mind games of his own. That theme continues this week, with the concept of “jamming” (not in the Bob Marley sense of the word), whereby an oppressed … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Prisoner: Hammer into Anvil

“Why did you slash your wrists, Number 73?” What an opening line! Immediately it is evident that this is going to be a very different kind of episode of The Prisoner, with Number Two showing a suicidal woman evidence of … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | 3 Comments

The Prisoner: Checkmate

A glance around the internet reveals a few people drawing parallels between this episode of The Prisoner and the Stanford Prison and Milgram experiments. However, those experiments were about dividing people up into those with power and those who lack … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Prisoner: Dance of the Dead

After a run of episodes featuring escapes, near-fatal dream manipulation, a doppelgänger and a return to London, Dance of the Dead feels like the lowest key, lowest stakes episode for a while. It also doesn’t feel like it belongs in … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Prisoner: Many Happy Returns

The Prisoner is at this point fast becoming a series that is enormously enjoyable to watch, as long as you switch off your brain before you start each episode. This one is nothing more than an extended escape and recapture, … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Prisoner: The General

Oh look, it’s Colin Gordon again, and he’s “the new Number Two”. Hold on a second. There’s really no way to rationalise this that works, apart from the episode order being screwed up. In his previous appearance, the Colin Gordon … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Prisoner: The Schizoid Man

The start of this episode finds Number Six looking a lot more settled in the village and he seems to have a real friend for the first time. How much time is passing between episodes remains a puzzle. However, it … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Prisoner: Free For All

This seemed like an episode that was trying to say something. It gave us a sham election with a show of propaganda and newspaper reporting, and eventually both candidates basically saying the same thing, offering rewards in exchange for information. … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Prisoner: A. B. and C.

It’s early days but things seem to be settling down into a formula. Each week we have a new Number Two, who tries a new scheme to get Number Six to answer questions. This episode the question is slightly different, … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Prisoner: The Chimes of Big Ben

I presume at this point there’s going to be a different Number Two every episode, and it’s not just a chronic case of actors getting ill or something. Seeing a British television series from the 1960s is such a delight … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Prisoner: Arrival

I have never seen The Prisoner. As a fan of 60s television I realise that makes me somewhat unusual. It’s a popular, cult series with a strong following. So when I was in the mood for watching something from the … Continue reading

Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television | Tagged , | 1 Comment