A Number of Any Kind

The Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan’s groundbreaking 60s drama series, is well-known for having a production history as complex and intriguing as the show’s narrative. This affected the show’s running order when it was first broadcast for various reasons (some of which we’ll get to later in this piece), and over the next five decades there have been a great many arguments about what order they should actually be watched in. So, whilst scrabbling around for something to write a blog post about, I thought I’d have a go myself.

I had four primary resources in writing this article: The Prisoner FAQ, The Prisoner Handbook by Steven Paul Davies, The Official Companion by Rob Fairclough and the book of production notes that comes with Network’s release of the series by Andrew Pixley (all of which are well worth reading for anyone with even a passing interest in the series). I also rewatched the series and used my own thoughts, feelings and observations to come up with the order.

Before we start, there are two things worth knowing about the show’s production:

1. Patrick McGoohan originally only wanted to make 7 episodes; Lew Grade, the managing director of ITC, wanted 26 (2 series of 13 episodes each), and the 17 episodes that were ultimately produced seems to be a compromise between the two. McGoohan maintained that only 7 episodes of the series “really count”; they are, in McGoohan’s recommended viewing order, “Arrival”, “Free for All”, “Dance of the Dead”, “Checkmate”, “The Chimes of Big Ben”, “Once Upon a Time” and “Fall Out”. (These were the first six episodes to be filmed (apart from “Fall Out”, which was the last), although McGoohan’s order is different to production or broadcast.)

2. Production of the series was split into two blocks. Block 1 was made up of the first 12 episodes in original broadcast order plus “Once Upon a Time”, which went out sixteenth; the other four were part of Block 2. One notable difference between the two blocks was that the programme’s script editor George Markstein, who viewed the series as a more conventional spy thriller and clashed with McGoohan repeatedly over this, quit after Block 1. Block 2 – which, by its end, saw McGoohan trying to oversee all aspects of production – is resultantly marked by some of the show’s most surreal, allegorical episodes.

McGoohan’s seven episodes that “really count”, and their recommended viewing order, all seem pretty Teflon. All of those episodes between “Arrival” and “Once Upon a Time” have to come pretty early, as they mostly involve Number Six being unfamiliar with the Village and being introduced to some new aspect of it, and as Fairclough points out “Chimes” makes sense to go last of them as Number Six shows a softened attitude and his apparent escape has more impact after a run of failed attempts. And it would be an interesting interpretation of the series that chose not to put “Arrival” first and “Time” and “Fall Out” as the finale. Plus, you know, McGoohan created the series and all, I’m pretty sure he knew what order it should go in. So let’s assume that the remaining ten episodes go between “Chimes” and “Time”, and deal with them one by one in original broadcast order.

“A. B. and C.” and “The General”

“A. B. and C.” was the third episode to be broadcast, and “The General” sixth; however, the two episodes are connected and it’s important to discuss them together in order for this to make any sense.

Both episodes feature Colin Gordon as Number Two, the only person apart from Leo McKern to play the part more than once, and “A. B. and C.” was recorded first, then “The General”. However, in the opening sequence’s dialogue, Gordon says “I am Number Two” (in response to “Who are you?”), when every other episode to feature that dialogue uses the line “The new Number Two”. This by itself indicates that “The General” (where he is “the new Number Two” as usual) should go first, but there’s more evidence on top of that. For one thing, in the original ending of “The General” Number Two died, but this was rewritten later. Gordon’s Number Two is an assured, arrogant man almost dismissive of his superiors in “The General”, but in “A. B. and C.” he’s absolutely terrified of the cost of failure and is obviously terrified of his masters. Fairclough suggests that there was some retroactive continuity going on so “The General” was meant to be set first even though it was recorded after “A. B. and C.”, and it’s difficult to see any other explanation for all this. (“A. B. and C.”, incidentally, is one of the many reasons why the original broadcast order was so jumbled; they couldn’t do much filming in Portmeirion for it, and it seems the transmission order was designed to balance the episodes with extensive Portmeirion filming with those largely set elsewhere.)

“The Schizoid Man”

As per Fairclough, “The Schizoid Man” takes the action in an interesting new direction after four failed escapes. This could probably go before or after the two Colin Gordon episodes, but my own feeling is that Number Two’s plan here belongs after “A. B. and C.”, the first story which is devoted to the Number Two of the week trying to get the secret of Six’s resignation.

“Many Happy Returns”

This was the final episode of the first production block, and Fairclough states that it was meant to be a possible season finale, where “Number Six gets out, but has to be recaptured in case the series continues”. “The Schizoid Man” is specifically dated to 10 February, and Fairclough works out that “Returns” begins around 23 February, so this seems to be pretty straightforward – “Returns” belongs after “Schizoid”.

“Hammer into Anvil”

“Anvil” marks an interesting change of direction for the series: Six isn’t trying to escape, but spends the whole thing focused on winning a victory against this week’s Number Two. This episode seems it should be placed fairly late on; Six must have a lot of confidence and familiarity with the system to try and turn the whole thing against Number Two.

“It’s Your Funeral”

One of the biggest helps in placing “Funeral” is the bizarre game of kosho, in which hand combat meets trampolining with water thrown in for good measure. The game was created for this episode, but also features briefly in “Anvil”, so it seems pretty sure that “Funeral” should come first. (Fairclough also points out that Number Six’s fake bomb – part of his campaign of paranoia against Number Two – in “Anvil” is more meaningful if you’ve already seen “Funeral”, which also features a disguised bomb.)

“A Change of Mind” and “Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling”

I’d be tempted to put “Change” inbetween “Hammer” and “Time”, except that would make it the second episode in succession where Six manages to manipulate the situation into deposing that week’s Number Two. “Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling” was the first episode of the second production block and features a reformatted title sequence; according to Davies, many fans believe it was meant to start a second series. For the purposes of my ordering, then, I’ve placed “Darling” inbetween “Anvil” and “Mind”.

“Living in Harmony”

“Harmony” features surely one of the most drastic attempts to get Number Six to reveal why he resigned – a hallucinogenic-induced dreamscape so realistic that two other residents of the Village are completely involved in it even after they wake up, leading to their deaths. It was originally to be aired twelfth (and would have come between “Checkmate” and “Change”), but came up against another reason for the shifting broadcast order – it simply wasn’t ready in time. In my order I’ll put it just before “Time” (undeniably the ultimate attempt to divulge Six’s resignation) for now.

“The Girl Who Was Death”

“The Girl Who Was Death” was produced with the intention of showing it fifteenth, it was broadcast fifteenth, and I can’t find any suggested viewing order for the show that doesn’t put it fifteenth. However, as Fairclough points out, the original broadcast order dilutes the impact by having two episodes back to back where the viewer is displaced from the Village setting, and in the closing moments the Prisoner’s enemies are revealed to be Number Two and his assistants. It also features, in hoping Number Six will ‘let his guard down around children’, undeniably the worst plan to discover why he resigned that any Number Two ever comes up with. (You may be aware that the episode was a reformatted Danger Man script.) As against that, it does work quite well as a quick breather before the epic two-part finale… but ultimately, for my running order I decided to move it up one or two:

1. Arrival

2. Free for All

3. Dance of the Dead

4. Checkmate

5. The Chimes of Big Ben

6. The General

7. A. B. and C.

8. The Schizoid Man

9. Many Happy Returns

10. It’s Your Funeral

11. Hammer into Anvil

12. Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling

13. The Girl Who Was Death

14. A Change of Mind

15. Living in Harmony

16. Once Upon a Time

17. Fall Out

There – I don’t think that produces any major continuity errors, and with “Darling” supposedly meant to be the start of the ‘second season’ I think “Girl” works quite well coming right after it. I also like other little details, like the idea that after Six interferes with the assassination attempt in “Funeral” and deposes a Number Two in “Anvil” they come up with the rather extreme plan seen in “Darling” as some sort of punishment.