The Official "Prisoner" Companion [Paperback]

The book is divided into seven major parts (five chapters and two appendices). The first is a guide to all 17 episodes, with 5 to 8 pages per show. The guide gives cast and crew credits for each episode, a very thorough synopsis of the episode, and the authors' observations and comments about production details, script changes, deleted scenes, etc.

The second part is entitled "Notes, Anecdotes, and Nonsense" and it provides trivia and more production notes. It is shallow, and you can find more detailed explanations about the facts and issues elsewhere, but since one could make a several hundred page book out of this material alone, the authors can hardly be faulted for being selective in their presentation.

The third part is absolutely invaluable for new-comers to "The Prisoner". Entitled "The Great Debates", this section summarizes the major points of contention among the show's fans. Among them are: Was the Prisoner really John Drake from "Danger Man"? Who runs the Village? What is the proper order to watch the episodes in? If you are new to the series, be sure to read this section before you start posting to discussion groups, it will save you the embarassment of repeating some well-known points.

The fourth part, "What Does it All Mean?", discusses symbolism in the show, the philosophical implications of it, etc. This is also a section which could be deeper, but it is another good introduction.

Next is a brief biography/filmography of Patick McGoohan (the Prisoner/No. 6 himself). The highlight of this section is a 1985 interview McGoohan gave to New Video Magazine, which he claimed would be the last interview he would do about "The Prisoner". (McGoohan has actually discussed the show several times since then, but the interview is fascinating nonetheless.)

Sixth is a section on further sources of information about "The Prisoner". Unfortunately, it is rather out of date, since the last few years have seen a resurgence of interest in the series. However, it still has such useful facts as the address for The Prisoner Shop in Portmeirion or how you can contact the major fan clubs devoted to the series.

Finally, part seven has excerpts of shooting scripts from several episodes, including much of "Arrival", the Prisoner's campaign speech from "Free For All", and the ultimate battle of wits between the Prisoner and No. 2 in "Once Upon A Time".

My only major regret about this book is that I got it before I had seen the entire series. The synopses do give away secrets and twists from the episodes, so I would recommend that you see all 17 shows before you read this book to get the full impact of the series.

A final note: New information has come to light which resolves a contradiction the book mentions. There had been speculation for years about the original nature of "Rover" (the security device). The book argues that there is no evidence Rover was originally a blue VW bug (as popularly claimed) and asserts that a weather balloon was planned to be used from the beginning. However, production photos have subsequently been found which *do* show a blue VW bug as Rover. Obviously, this is not the authors' fault, but readers should be aware of the error.

I suspect that a lot of the shortcomings of this book are due to it being written no less than 20 years after the original airing of the series. Put this together with the fact that the authors are (apparently) Americans, and you can begin to see why the book fails to show any great depth of understanding of what is a very profoundly British TV series.

At one point, for example, we are told that the Scots, Irish and Welsh Napoleans (in 'The Girl Who was Death') "represent various components of the British Commonwealth". I guess they meant the British Isles, or the United Kingdom - though neither of those groups includes Ireland, of course, only Northern Ireland. And in any case, how does this explain the Yorkshire Napolean?

On a different note, in their "Observations" regarding the episode 'A Change of Mind', the authors suggest that "it is easy to make comparisons between the committee in this episode and McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee of the 1950s."
If the authors knew a little more about the period when The Prisoner was filmed they might have made the rather more relevant observation that the various events in this episode very closely resemble the excesses of the Chinese Cultural Revolution - of the 1960s.

I was also less than impressed by the actual episode guides. Most of these are written in a very uninspired style and contain regular, if largely trivial, errors of fact and grammar.
In the commentary for 'It's Your Funeral', for example, one of the photos shows McGoohan standing beside the helicopter with Eric Portman sitting at the controls and holding a phone. In fact, Number 2 in this episode was played by Andre Van Gyseghem (with Derren Nesbitt as his stand-in), whilst Eric Portman played Number 2 back in episode 4 - 'Free for All'.

Having said that, the book is certainly not a complete waste of space, containing material from production company handouts, script fragments, etc. As in The Prisoner itself, the reader simply needs to be careful about sorting fact (official material) from fiction.

Be seeing you 8¬)