The Prisoner

The Prisoner (1967)

194 mistakes in season 1

(3 votes)

Arrival - S1-E1

Continuity mistake: Watch the stone boat in the background as Number 6 and Number 2 discuss the oldsters having "every comfort." Between shots, the senior citizens vanish from the boat.

Jean G

Arrival - S1-E1

Continuity mistake: Rover drags Number 5 back out of the water to the beach and drops him with his feet pointing toward the recovery vehicle. He starts to get up, but when the shot cuts, he's lying flat again and has changed orientation on the sand, his head now pointing toward the vehicle.

Jean G

Arrival - S1-E1

Continuity mistake: The dwarf Butler climbs in to pilot the helicopter - but when the aircraft actually takes off, it's obvious that the pilot is a full-sized person.

Jean G

Free for All - S1-E4

Audio problem: During the campaign, the marching band is striking up a lively tune, and the bass drummer is pounding away on his drum - but there's no drum beat in the sound mix.

Jean G

Arrival - S1-E1

Continuity mistake: When Number 6 first wakes up in his new house in the Village, there's an ornately carved wood panel covering the window. When he stands, it has disappeared.

Jean G

Fall Out - S1-E17

Audio problem: Number 48 is still singing when he's carried out near the end - his lips are moving but we don't hear anything. A few shots later, we can hear him again, but his lips aren't moving in sync with the sound.

Jean G

Hammer into Anvil - S1-E10

Continuity mistake: When Number 2 is shouting at Number 14, calling him a traitor, Number 2's long strands of hair are flying all over his head. In the very next shot, though, his hair has nicely combed itself and he's well-groomed again.

Jean G

Once Upon A Time - S1-E16

Deliberate mistake: The credits list "Number 86" as played by John Maxim. But no such character appears in the episode. Apparently, 86 was left on the cutting room floor, but the titles weren't altered accordingly.

Jean G

Checkmate - S1-E9

Continuity mistake: Number 39 is writing notes on the word association test in her notebook. When the shot cuts to a close-up, however, the notebook disappears from her hands. It's back a short time later.

Jean G

Checkmate - S1-E9

Audio problem: During a fight with Number 6, one of the Village keepers falls from the bell tower. His fall terminates in the sound effect of a loud splash - but the bell tower isn't anywhere near any water.

Jean G

Free for All - S1-E4

Continuity mistake: Number 6 grabs the boat hook and pulls the mechanic into the water. With a sudden shift in camera angles, the hook instantly vanishes from the falling man's hands.

Jean G

Arrival - S1-E1

Continuity mistake: The telephone kiosk Number 6 uses at the beginning changes both its shape and its location between takes. Sometimes it's under an archway: in other shots, it's next to the restaurant instead. And in some shots, the hood above the phone has square/straight edges, while in others, its edges are round.

Jean G

Many Happy Returns - S1-E7

Other mistake: They search for the location of the Village by using map co-ordinates, which are checked out using a military aircraft. The Village is eventually discovered and found to be on an island somewhere in the Mediterranean sea. Number 6 is ejected from the aircraft back to the Village. However, in the final episode, i.e. 'Fall Out,' the Village is found to be in somewhere in the UK. They escape in a truck and end up traveling to London.

Many Happy Returns - S1-E7

Factual error: Number 6 wakes up to find the Village deserted, but the central plaza fountain is still running - until he looks at it from the bell tower, when it's suddenly off. The Village fountains never appeared to be on timers (they were always on, day and night), and no one is there to turn the water off, yet it's somehow still off when Number 6 returns at the end.

Jean G

Free for All - S1-E4

Continuity mistake: While Number 6 and the maid are in the kitchen, the toast rack moves itself several feet in between takes. It's on Number 6's right, then suddenly appears on his left instead.

Jean G

Number 6: Be seeing you.

More quotes from The Prisoner

Living in Harmony - S1-E14

Trivia: This episode was not shown in the initial U.S. airing of "The Prisoner" on CBS. There was speculation that its pacifist, anti-violence moral might have been construed as a Vietnam War protest, but the network's reason for censoring the episode has never been disclosed.

Jean G

More trivia for The Prisoner

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: 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.

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

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