The Prisoner (2009 miniseries)

The Prisoner
Promotional poster
Written by	Bill Gallagher
Directed by	Nick Hurran
Starring	Ian McKellen James Caviezel Hayley Atwell Ruth Wilson Lennie James Rachael Blake Jamie Campbell Bower
Country of origin	United Kingdom United States Australia
No. of episodes	6 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Trevor Hopkins
Running time	45 min (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel	AMC ITV (ITV1/STV/UTV)
Original run	November 15, 2009 (2009-11-15) – November 17, 2009 (2009-11-17)
External links
Website

The Prisoner is a 2009 television miniseries based on the 1960s TV series The Prisoner about a man who awakens in a mysterious, picturesque village from which there is no escape and wonders who made the village and why. It was co-produced by American cable network AMC with the British channel ITV.

Background

A remake of the original series has been in the works, in one form or another, since 2005. The series premiered on November 15, 2009 as a miniseries on North American cable channel AMC in cooperation with British broadcaster ITV. The six part series premiered in the UK on 17 April 2010.

Plot overview

The series begins with an unidentified man waking up in a desert and finding himself in the middle of a pursuit as mysterious guards chase an elderly man through a canyon. The old man dies soon after, but not before passing a message on to the younger man: "Tell them I got out."

Exploring the desert, the man arrives in an enigmatic community, whose residents inform him that it's called simply The Village. Everyone he meets is known only by a number—he learns his number is 6—and he discovers that they have no knowledge or memory of the outside world.

6 himself is unable to remember his real name, or much of his life before the Village, only snippets of memory of New York City and a mysterious woman he met in a diner and took home. Meanwhile, he soon finds himself locked in a battle of wills against 2, the Village's leader, who goes to great lengths to make 6 assimilate into life in the Village. 6, meanwhile, tries to contact "dreamers" – Village residents who, like himself, have been experiencing flashes of memory of their life outside the Village. Along the way, he befriends 147, a Village taxi driver; 313, a doctor with whom 6 develops a romantic connection but who has her own secrets; and "11-12", 2's son, who begins to question the reality of the Village.

Each episode of the series shares its title with an episode of the original programme.

Cast

Main cast

• Ian McKellen as 2 / Curtis
• James Caviezel as 6 / Michael
• Ruth Wilson as 313 / Sarah
• Jamie Campbell Bower as 11-12
• Hayley Atwell as 4-15 / Lucy
• Rachael Blake as M2
• Lennie James as 147
• Renate Stuurman as 21-16

Guests

• John Whitely as 93 – Episode 1, "Arrival"
• Jessica Haines as 554 – Episode 1, "Arrival"
• David Butler as 37927 / The Access Man – Episode 1, "Arrival" and Episode 5, "Schizoid"
• Jeffrey R. Smith as 16 – Episode 2, "Harmony"
• James Cunigham as 70 & Shadow 70 – Episode 2, "Harmony"
• Leila Henriques as The Winking Woman – Episode 2, "Harmony"
• Vincent Regan as 909 – Episode 3, "Anvil"
• Warrick Grier as 1955 – Episode 3, "Anvil"
• Lauren Dasnev as 1100 – Episode 3, "Anvil"
• Sara Stewart as 1894 – Episode 4, "Darling"

Production

The Prisoner went into production in June 2008. Location filming for The Village was in Swakopmund, Namibia. A production diary is available.

After 18 weeks of shooting, principal photography wrapped on December 12, 2008. AMC streamed all 17 episodes of the original Prisoner series in advance of showing the remake.

According to Patrick McGoohan's widow, producers of the new series had hoped that McGoohan would play a part in bringing the revival to the air. "They wanted Patrick to have some part in it, but he adamantly didn't want to be involved. He had already done it," she said in an interview shortly after McGoohan's death. This however was contradicted by Ian McKellen in an interview featured in the November 2009 edition of SFX Magazine where he was quoted as saying:

"He was asked to be in the first episode, there being a part that would have been very ironically fitting, but apparently he said that he didn't want to do it unless he was offered the part of Number Two."

The miniseries was promoted at 2008 San Diego ComicCon via a skywriter airplane that sketched the phrase "Seek the Six" on the sky over San Diego. Although "Seek the Six" was initially thought to be a catchphrase of some sort, there was no reference to it in the final program .

A further promotional event for the miniseries was held at the 2009 ComicCon, including a spoiler-heavy, 9-minute trailer and a cast and crew discussion panel, during which producer Trevor Hopkins confirmed that he had invited McGoohan to play the role of the Number Six-like old man encountered by Caviezel's character early in the first episode. This is suggested by the jacket worn by the old man – the same style jacket as worn by number Six in the first series. McGoohan declined, but suggested he could play Number 2 instead.

Critical reception

The airing of the miniseries resulted in mixed reviews, scoring 46 out of 100 on Metacritic. Los Angeles Times television critic Robert Lloyd wrote "why anyone, on either side of the screen, should be particularly interested in his fate, is never made clear nor compelling," and further states "the payoff is weak, and more than a bit daffy." In a comparison with the miniseries to AMC's hit series Mad Men, he writes "the difference [is] that 'Mad Men' is never boring."

In Entertainment Weekly, TV critic Ken Tucker writes "it lacks the wit and zip of the original Prisoner," and concludes "It's self-absorbed to the point of incoherence."

Chicago Sun-Times reviewer Paige Wiser declares "There's also a reason why I am not conking myself on the head with a croquet mallet, but The Prisoner somehow has the same effect," and with reference to viewing all six hours of the miniseries, concludes "I urge you to heed my advice: Opt out while you can."

San Francisco Chronicle critic Tim Goodman writes "The Prisoner is not compelling. It rambles too much. Its vagaries are not interesting, its unorthodox storytelling not special enough."

However New York Times reviewer Alessandra Stanley struck a contrary note: "This version of The Prisoner is not a remake, it's a clever and engaging reinterpretation by Bill Gallagher, who shaped the script to contemporary tastes and sensibilities — notably, a postmodern fatigue with ideology and big thoughts." She concludes "The 21st century adaptation pays only lip service to the human condition, and instead explores a power struggle between two human beings. It's unlikely to prove as lasting, but the new series still manages to be thrilling." Furthermore it was positively reviewed in the Radio Times and also by Sam Wallaston who writing for the The Guardian, described it as "a triumph with something of The Truman Show about it" with "a tension and a claustrophobia that gnaw away at you, making you look at your own psyche."

Episodes

#	Title	Original series title which inspired this title	Original airdate
1	"Arrival"	Arrival	November 15, 2009 (2009-11-15)
6 wakes up in the desert, where he sees an old man, 93, being shot at and chased. Wounded, 93 is dragged into a cave by 6, where he tells him to "go to 554" before dying. 6 buries 93 in a shallow grave, and wanders into the Village, where he meets 2 and finds himself grilled over the location of the old man he encountered. Ultimately he finds a confidant in 554, who is killed on orders of 2 as he formally introduces 6 to his new permanent home.
2	"Harmony"	Living in Harmony	November 15, 2009 (2009-11-15)
As 6 struggles to find allies to escape from the Village, 2 introduces 6 to 6's brother's family in the Village in an attempt to convince him of his belonging. 6 is confused; he had a brother in the real world before the Village, but the brother died in childhood in a drowning accident. As 6 begins to doubt himself, his brother admits to the facade and the pair make a failed attempt at escape from The Village. Though his brother dies in the attempt (by drowning, following an encounter with Rover), 6 renews his faith in himself. Meanwhile, 2 and 11-12 are seen discussing 11-12s apparent lack of childhood memories.
3	"Anvil"	Hammer Into Anvil	November 16, 2009 (2009-11-16)
2 offers 6 the opportunity to become an undercover agent, spying on suspected dreamers within The Village. Both parties openly opposed to each other, 6 accepts, in a complex gambit of keeping one's enemies closer. However, the situation quickly becomes a tangled Spy vs. Spy as 909, the man 6 is working with, is spying on 6, and 6 strives to use his position to learn more about the dreamers in the Village. 6 soon turns 909s game against him by following him into the Go Inside bar, where he finds him meeting with his secret lover, 11-12. He uses the information to blackmail the two men. Rather than allowing them to be found out, 11-12 kills 909. 6 then uses this information to blackmail 11-12, who helps him rescue 313 who's been captured and sent to the clinic.
4	"Darling"	Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling	November 16, 2009 (2009-11-16)
The Village Matchmaking Service targets 6, pairing him with a woman, 4-15. 6 recalls 4-15 from a brief encounter his New York alter ego, Michael, had with her shortly before he was taken to the Village. 4-15, however, pretends that she does not remember 6. 4-15 and 6 become lovers, and ultimately plan to marry, until 313 intervenes. 4-15 reveals to 6 that she is indeed Lucy, the woman Michael knew in New York; 2 has brought her to the Village to "break his heart," and break 6 in the process. 4-15 apparently dies by jumping into a bottomless hole that has appeared in the Village; in a concurrent flashback to New York, Lucy apparently is killed by an explosion in Michael's apartment.
5	"Schizoid"	The Schizoid Man	November 17, 2009 (2009-11-17)
2 has embodied 6's animal desires in an identical double named 'Two Times Six'. 6 must find a way to reconcile himself with his desires, or risk being manipulated by 2 through them. Meanwhile, 11-12 confronts his mother, 313 sees more visions of her past, and 2 relaxes for a day as 'UnTwo.' In New York, Michael returns to Summakor to find answers. 11-12's mother reveals that when she is awake, bottomless holes (or voids) appear in the Village.
6	"Checkmate"	Checkmate	November 17, 2009 (2009-11-17)
The episode begins with 6 encountering new arrivals which contradicts claims the village is all there is. Meanwhile 2 is showing off a new area of houses and the fact the village is expanding. 6 confronts 2 about the newcomers but soon forgets as 2 reveals he has afflicted 6 with a disease that will kill him, believing the threat of death will break him. 6 confronts 11-12 when he meets him at 909's grave, and then again at the Go Inside bar. But 11-12, unable to reconcile himself with his existence as a lie, proceeds to smother his dreaming mother, and hang himself. In New York, Michael is escorted to a car so he may meet "Mr. Curtis." Events in New York and The Village begin paralleling each other synchronously, and Michael is aware of it. 6's determination does not waver in the face of death, and 2 allows him to live. However, 2 intends to use 6's sense of nobility to finally control him. In New York, Curtis, who is 2, introduces Michael to Curtis' wife, who seems to be in a sort of waking dream, and reveals the purpose of the Village to 6. Curtis explains that the Village is a form of therapy used to help people that Summakor has identified, although without regard to those people's own desires. It exists within the mind of his wife, who 'discovered' the Village—a dream present in everyone at a level of consciousness deeper than the subconscious—and was its first inhabitant. Michael was drawn into the village because he worked so well at Summakor, finding people who needed 'help', and Curtis does not want Michael to resign. In The Village, at his son's funeral, 2 rallies The Villagers and tells them 6 is the only solution to the holes, while in New York, Curtis introduces Michael to Sara, the real world counterpart of 313, who is homeless and insane because of childhood trauma. Michael is overcome with his humanity and desire to help Sara and the villagers, and replaces Curtis as the head of Summakor. In The Village, 6 becomes the new 2, while 313 becomes the dreamer who keeps the Village in existence, freeing Curtis' wife from being the dreamer and allowing her to return fully to the real world. 6 begins planning how to 'do The Village right' and 313, a long way off from her healing, sheds a tear, still lost in her childhood trauma.

Note: AMC's original airing of the series combined the episodes, with episodes 1 and 2 airing on day 1, etc., with only one set of opening and closing credits for both. The DVD release restores the 6-episode format.

Awards and Nominations

• Satellite Award:

- Best Miniseries (nominated)

- Best Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television: Ian McKellen (nominated)

• PGA Awards:

- Television Producer of the Year in Longform: Michele Buck, Damien Timmer, Rebecca Keane and Trevor Hopkins (nominated)

• Emmy Awards:

- Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie: Ian McKellen (nominated)

- Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or a Movie: Florian Hoffmeister for the episode "Checkmate" (nominated)

• Art Directors Guild:

- Excellence In Production Design Award: Michael Pickwoad, Claudio Campana, Delarey Wagenar, Emilia Roux and Delia de Villiers Minnaar (nominated)

• Saturn Award:

- Best Presentation on Television (nominated)

DVD release

In early 2010, Warner Home Video released The Prisoner in DVD format in Region 1/North America in a 3-disc collection. (No Blu-ray release has as yet been announced.)

Special features include deleted scenes for all episodes (including scenes from "Arrival" that explicitly indicate that 2 orders the bombing of the diner), and commentaries on "Arrival" and "Checkmate".

Featurettes in the set include:

• "A 6 Hour Film Shot in 92 Days: The Diary of the Prisoner" – behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the series, featuring footage previously available online.
• "Beautiful Prison: The World of the Prisoner" – a second behind-the-scenes documentary.
• "The Prisoner ComicCon Panel" – Jim Caviezel, Lennie James, Bill Gallagher, and others discuss the then-upcoming series at the 2009 San Diego ComiCon.
• "The Man Behind 2" – Jamie Campbell Bower conducts a tongue-in-cheek interview with his TV father, Ian McKellen.

ITV Studios Home Entertainment have announced a UK DVD and Blu-ray Disc release for 3 May 2010. The listed extras include the deleted scenes, ComicCon panel and McKellen interview, but differ otherwise. They will reportedly include:

• "The Making of" for all 6 episodes
• "Inside The Prisoner" for all 6 episodes
• The Prisoner Read Through
• Character Profiles

External links

• The Prisoner at AMCTV.com
• The Prisoner at itv.com
• The Prisoner at the Internet Movie Database