My parents didn’t watch much TV when I was a kid, but when they did it was usually obscure and/or vintage and/or British. One show that I have vague memories watching alongside my dad at a young age was an oddball series that hit all three of the above requirements: The Prisoner.
My only lasting memory of the show was that whenever someone tried to escape, an ominous white sphere, like an oversized exercise ball or a weather balloon that had fallen to earth, would come and get them. As the person was captured, there would be a shot of the person’s face being pressed up against the ball as they shrieked in terror, the plastic stretched across their contorted features.
Source: tellyspotting.org
It was usually at this point that I would politely excuse myself from the room, hiding my abject horror behind feigned boredom.
Recently, I’ve been re-watching the show on YouTube and have become mildly addicted. I mean, it’s not that good. In some ways it’s horribly dated, and some elements are laughable. But I can’t stop watching it.
The set-up is simple: a high-level British spy has resigned, and wakes up to find he has been kidnapped and brought to a bizarre village from which he can’t leave. Apparently, he knows things that make him a security threat, and his captors (communists? Terrorists? The British government themselves?) can’t risk him roaming free with this information. They are determined to break him and get him to admit why he resigned, and he’s determined to keep his lips sealed.
Perhaps the strangest thing about the series is that nobody can agree on the order in which you’re supposed to watch the episodes. Apart from the obvious first episode, and then the last two, there are over a dozen episodes in between that could be watched in just about any order, as the plot depends very little on continuity from one episode to the next.
The order in which they were originally aired (an order which executive producer and series star Patrick McGoohan never approved of) is different from the DVD release, which is different from the official fan club’s preferred order…if you ever decide to watch it, Wikipedia lists nine different viewing sequences you can choose from.
The Prisoner was an earnest attempt at something different; elements of it were cashing in on the 1960s spy craze that spawned James Bond and countless others, but although the main character is a spy, it feels more like an early attempt at something like Lost than a spy show. (Minus the white balloons, which I’m happy to report are much less frightening when you’re a grown-up.)
Whatever it is about The Prisoner that has earned it a dedicated following half a century later, it seems to also have infected French beatmaker Anthon Jean-Paul, who claims to have been inspired by the show in the making of this song.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The instrumental elements seem pulled straight from the 60s spy film playbook: high strings, vibraphones, the occasional female vocalization.
2. The way it alternates between those two chords – a slightly unsettling 1-6 progression – makes it unsettling in a strangely beautiful way.
3. Hidden within the percussion are some lightly brushed drums that add a nice bit of texture.
Recommended listening activity:
Playing chess against an imaginary opponent.