Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-37232329

Still one of the most influential SpyFi series ever on TV, The Prisoner celebrates the start of production filming today on 5th Sep in 1966.





If you haven't watched The Prisoner, you really should.

Since no-one has commented I will precis The Prisoner for those who have not yet watched it.

In the opening episode, an unidentified British secret agent played by Patrick McGoohan resigns his position in a rage and goes home to take a long holiday in an exotic location.

While he is packing, undertaker arrive at his flat and pump gas in. He falls unconscious, to awaken some unknown time later in... The Village, an Italianate style coastal small town, located... somewhere... inhabited by people who don't have names, only numbers. They seem all to be retired secret agents. The Prisoner himself is assigned Number 6, and given a cosy apartment.

The Village is run by... some unknown government, and ruled over by Number 1, who never appears and is represented by his deputy Number 2. Number 2's main job is to discover why Number 6 resigned. Each episode, Number 2 tries and fails to discover Number 6's secret, and is replaced by a new Number 2 for the next episode. Meanwhile, as well as resisting Number 2's plots, Number 6 works on his own escape plans.

It really is difficult to explain the charm and interest of the whole series, since the themes range across adventure, horror, psychological warfare, politics, espionage, love, and comedy. The production design features characteristic symbols like the stripy umbrellas and capes of the Villagers, and the weird retro-futuristic technology that probably didn't seem "realistic" when the show was shot in the late 1960s.

It was an ITV series originally.

There was actually a remake a few years ago, which didn't get very good reviews.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner_(2009_miniseries)