The Prisoner

Free for All - S1-E4

Continuity mistake: Number 6's bed tidies itself in the scene where the spying lamp is lowered from the ceiling. First the bedcovers are rumpled and disarrayed. Then in the next shot, all is straight with the blanket neatly folded at the foot.

Jean G

Many Happy Returns - S1-E7

Continuity mistake: While the gunrunner is untying the raft, he's holding a half-eaten green apple in one hand that wasn't there in the previous shot. It disappears again as the raft floats away. Then it comes back - but it has now become a red apple instead of a green one.

Jean G

The General - S1-E6

Continuity mistake: At the Village cafe, the menu on the table turns itself 90 degrees between the master shot and the close-up. Number 6's hand position and one of the chairs also both change positions instantly.

Jean G

The General - S1-E6

Continuity mistake: In The General's office, the professor pulls the sheet of paper he's been typing on out of the typewriter and inserts it head-first into the computer. When we cut to a close-up of the paper going in, however, it is now being inserted bottom-first.

Jean G

Hammer into Anvil - S1-E10

Continuity mistake: Number 6 points the mirror out to sea and tries to send a signal. But when we see him from the POV of the security camera, he's pointing the signal mirror toward the Village instead. When the shot cuts back to him on the beach, the buildings are again behind him and he's facing seaward again.

Jean G

Fall Out - S1-E17

Continuity mistake: In the final scenes, as helicopters are taking off from the Village, the bell tower that's always been there is visible in some shots, but in others, it has disappeared.

Jean G

Living in Harmony - S1-E14

Continuity mistake: Twice in this episode (once in the saloon and once in the sheriff's office), Number 6's coat is unbuttoned when he's inside, but has instantly buttoned itself up when he runs outside.

Jean G

It's Your Funeral - S1-E11

Continuity mistake: The towel in Number 6's locker changes colors. When we first see the locker opened, the towel is white. A few shots later, when it's opened again, the folded towel has turned blue.

Jean G

Checkmate - S1-E9

Continuity mistake: Rover herds the boat back to the beach, and several people who were aboard minutes before (some of them unconscious) have somehow disappeared from its decks.

Jean G

The Chimes of Big Ben - S1-E2

Continuity mistake: Number 6 chooses a rather thin tree to cut down and fashion into his canoe. Somehow, when he's finished hewing out the wood to form the boat, it's considerably wider than the tree he started with.

Jean G

More mistakes in The Prisoner

Number 6: Unlike me, many of you have accepted the situation of your imprisonment, and will die here like rotten cabbages.

More quotes from The Prisoner

Fall Out - S1-E17

Trivia: The bizarrely existential ending of the series, which answered none of the questions posed by earlier episodes (but rather seemed to say, "The answer is there is no answer!") upset viewers so much that Patrick McGoohan says he was forced to go into hiding. His phone had been ringing constantly and people who'd found his address were banging on his door to complain.

Jean G

More trivia for The Prisoner

Answer: It's even more obvious than you think, you know who number 1 is in the very first episode. When 2 replies to the question "who is #1?" Change the way he answers from you are number one (in the monotone or accented answer to, "You are, number 6. The comma gives you the answer. #6 is #1. It's the tone of the answer.

Chosen answer: We were never told. In the series finale [Spoiler alert] Number 6 demands an answer to that question, only to be shown his own reflection.

Jean G

Answer: The Prisoner was first shown on British television in 1967. I did not watch it then, but the series was was repeated on UK television in 1977, at which point it became a massive cult. Certainly, I was hooked. Well, ten minutes after I started watching The Prisoner, I was 110% certain as to who Number 1 was. In my opinion, the identity of Number 1 was so utterly, glaringly obvious that I could not understand how anybody could even ask such a question. I thought there was only one candidate for the identity of Number 1, and it was so plainly visible that nobody could even vaguely consider it to be anybody else. So, who did I think Number 1 was? you all ask. My answer? Himself! Patrick McGoohan (or rather, the character Patrick McGoohan played in The Prisoner) was Number 1. I was proved right. In Fall Out, the seventeenth and final episode, "The Prisoner" gets to meet "Number 1." Now this is a real "blink and you'll miss it" moment, but Number 1 has his face covered. The Prisoner pulls off the covering to see a mask, he pulls off the mask, to see himself! The Patrick McGoohan in Number 1's costume laughs in The Prisoner's face and runs away. Unfortunately, I don't know why Patrick McGoohan should be both The Prisoner and Number 1. I don't think anybody does.

Rob Halliday

More questions & answers from The Prisoner

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.