Talk:Fall Out (The Prisoner)

I removed the link to the Straight Dope article discussing the episode. Cecil shows a poor understanding of the show, and little effort to actually provide a cogent explanation -- not surprising, as early on, Cecil dismisses the show as "absurd." I don't think he bothered doing anything mroe than watching the episode once and then dashing off a few dismissive paragraphs. Really not worth linking to.


 * I've put it back. Whether it's a poor etc or not, it's The Straight Dope, a notable source. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 21:46, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

number six using gun
"(For the first and only time in the series, Number Six is shown shooting people, as "All You Need is Love" plays on the soundtrack"

this is not true, number six uses a gun in 'living in harmony'


 * yes - but as the whole LIH set-up isn't real (it's all a drug-induced hallucination, ultimately), he doesn't actually use the gun. It's much harder to argue the unreality of his gun-use in "Fall Out" - it's as real as anything in the series. 2fs 04:56, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Blowing up the switchboard
The claim that the episode generated so many complaints to ITV that it 'literally blew the switchboard' needs substantiating or clarifying. There were over 20 regional ITV programme companies in the UK at the time, and no single "ITV" entity that viewers would have called about things like this - calls would have gone to the programme companies instead, so claims that it caused phone system problems "at ITV" need to be referenced and clarified. I'd guess that the programme would have gone out with an ATV frontcap on it as it was produced by Lew Grade's ITC so some viewers may have called the originating company direct, but most people would have called their local ITV company. In other words - reference, please! --Mike 19:09, 30 April 2007 (UTC)


 * There is another factor working against the claim---that those various ITV companies didn't all air "The Prisoner" simultaneously, as is more-or-less done in the US (there is the matter of the many time zones covered here, which doesn't apply in the UK, of course). Some sources have indicated that there were variances of several days. Ted Watson 20:01, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Fourth Wall
"As he descends, Number Two becomes the only character in the series to break the fourth wall when he appears to turn to the camera and says, "Be seeing you". "

Apparently untrue - Sonia in The Girl Who Was Death smiles at the camera during the car chase scene's back-projection gag. Lee M 03:32, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Theprisonerfinale.jpg
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 * That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for the use in this article.
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This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. --12:13, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Number 1, Buckingham Place
The numeral "1" appears on the door of The Prisoner's home during the opening sequence of "The Prisoner" throughout the series, not just in this episode when Number Six returns there (as is suggested in the paragraph entitled "Escape?"). The exterior sequence was filmed in Buckingham Place, London, outside the house numbered "1". It is still there! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.157.131.14 (talk) 11:19, 13 May 2009 (UTC)


 * @81.157.131.14 I'm curious: it seems to me that the ”Village door” closing, with the butler still present, and the number 1 on the door is significant - showing that despite ”escape”, he is still a prisoner of the village, albeit an important one. Was this occurrence debated in crafting the article? Is the number 1 considered somehow coincidental as opposed to deliberate and/or symbolic? 67.71.42.241 (talk) 18:38, 11 September 2022 (UTC)

"Dem Bones"
The Four Lads who sang "Dem Bones" actually called their piece of music "Dry Bones", I suggest that whenever "Dem Bones" is mentioned in the article it is replaced with "Dry Bones". What are peoples thoughts on this? --pc (talk) 21:58, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

I think the song can be known as "Dry Bones" or "Dem Bones." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.27.159.94 (talk) 12:42, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

My edits
I just did a significant editing job on this article and found I simply could not adequately describe the work in the available space of the edit summary field, so here goes.

In Synopsis, I altered the description of the final minutes to more accurately represent what is actually seen in the episode. This includes the correct comment from the anonymous IP above that the number "1" can be seen on the door of The Prisoner's London flat in the standard opening title sequence in every episode which plays it. (I have also previously heard his claim that this number was indeed the actual number of the place where this was filmed, rather than a production addition or alteration.) In Cast notes, I properly formatted some titles (italics for the previously bare series, quotes instead of italics for episodes) and moved the discussion of the Beatles' song to Production notes, as it certainly has nothing to do with the cast; to that I also added it's use earlier in the episode. I removed the claim that McKern had shaved his beard and trimmed his hair for a film role as that has never been said anywhere that I am aware of, and he probably spent the time recovering from his collapse during "Once..." filming. Also from that sentence I removed the phrase "production hiatus" as work continued on the series between filming these two episodes, and hiatus means otherwise. In Production notes, I corrected the discussion of Alexis Kanner's prior series work, as it was already said that he and Griffith had both just been in "Girl...Death" and the third episode for Kanner was "...Harmony." I then revised a note again incorrectly describing the credits situation, especially wrong about PMG's executive producer credit. Finally, I removed a few unnecessary redirects. --Tbrittreid (talk) 22:34, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

Fairclough's claims r.e. cancellation
It seems bizarre that the page specifically cites Fairclough claims about the cancellation, only to go on to point out that virtually every other sources disagrees with him. Nick Cooper (talk) 10:09, 2 October 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree. I guess the disagreeing claims came later in an attempt to replace Fairclough's version while still giving the appearance of an unsettled point. It reminds me of creationist tactics. At the very least I would like to see some evidence cited for the claim that "most agree" with the dissenting opinion. Cutelyaware (talk) 08:19, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Unsourced iota
A bit of poking about suggests the full speech the Prisoner attempts may be "I feel that despite the devaluation of the pound nevertheless the next twenty years will feature a boom period for the British Economy followed by an economic recession which will last for at least the first half of the 1990's". However, the sources I found are so unreliable as to be worthless, and I personally can't make out anything past "nevertheless" on the DVD. Still, I thought it worth throwing in the "Talk" page in case anyone cares to try and track something down. Abb3w (talk) 02:55, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Removing a myth
A moment's glance at McGoohan's post-Prisoner filmography proves that he did in fact work in the UK again after the series, contrary to the longstanding myth. I just added two examples - the Vanessa Redgrave film Mary Queen of Scots in 1971 and The Best of Friends in the early 1990s. It is true he ramped up his American work afterwards but to say he never worked in Britain again is a myth. 68.146.70.124 (talk) 22:28, 30 March 2014 (UTC)