The Prisoner

The Prisoner (1967)

194 mistakes in season 1

(3 votes)

It's Your Funeral - S1-E11

Visible crew/equipment: At the end of the episode when Number 6 gives Number 2 the device and tells him to leave the island immediately you can see the shadow of the boom microphone on the stone wall behind them at the top right of the screen. (00:47:17)

Jack Vaughan

It's Your Funeral - S1-E11

Visible crew/equipment: Just before Number 6 and the woman break into her father's watch shop there is a shot of the shop's front door, as the camera moves in on the door you can see the face of the cameraman reflected in the door glass in the bottom right. (00:32:01)

Jack Vaughan

It's Your Funeral - S1-E11

Audio problem: During the scene when Number 6 warns Number 2 of a potential assassination attempt on him Number 2 brushes it off and says "it's the little watchmaker that concerns you" but his mouth does not match this. (00:29:43)

Jack Vaughan

Hammer into Anvil - S1-E10

Visible crew/equipment: When Number 6 is listening to classical music in the listening booth, each time he puts his head into the booth (after switching records) there is a specific shot behind his shoulder where you can see the heads of two crew members reflected in the glass of the listening booth. This happens 3 times and is very visible on Blu-ray. (00:10:33)

Jack Vaughan

Checkmate - S1-E9

Continuity mistake: Number 6 gets into the buggy with the hypnotised woman (Number 8, I think) however, when seen from behind, as the vehicle drives away, there is now only one person in the buggy. (00:29:47)

Jack Vaughan

Checkmate - S1-E9

Visible crew/equipment: When Number 6 and Number 2 are observing the fate of "the rebel rook", who is being subjected to Pavlovian mind control treatment, there is a moment when the shadow of the boom microphone can be seen cast on the wall at the top-centre of the screen and bobs around for a while. When Number 6 says "you must be proud of yourself." (00:14:36)

Jack Vaughan

The Schizoid Man - S1-E5

Visible crew/equipment: After uncovering the deception Number 6 enters his doppelgängers home to confront him. As the door opens you can see the shadow of a crew member on the wall next to the door. He is hidden behind the partition. (00:39:18)

Jack Vaughan

The Schizoid Man - S1-E5

Revealing mistake: When Alison enters Number 2's chamber we see a POV shot of Number 6, Number 2 and the doppelgänger facing the camera. If you look closely you can see jittery lines at various points on the screen were the two Number 6's have been poorly overlaid. (00:26:24)

Jack Vaughan

The Schizoid Man - S1-E5

Revealing mistake: Throughout the shooting competition between Number 6 and his Dopplegänger there are numerous shots where both Number 6's are facing the camera and you can see a jittery line running down the middle of the shot where the shots were poorly overlaid.

Jack Vaughan

The Schizoid Man - S1-E5

Revealing mistake: When Number 6 lights up a cigar with the other Number 6 you can see by watching the cigar smoke that there is an exact point on the screen where the cigar smoke cannot travel beyond, revealing that there are two shots being overlaid. (00:16:41)

Jack Vaughan

Number Two: I'm the boss.
Number 6: No. One is the boss.

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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

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

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