Who is No.1?
It’s 1967 and I am 11 years old and in my first term at “big school”. There is a tangible buzz in the playground before the bell for assembly goes with boys of all ages huddled in groups with only one topic on our minds… The Prisoner.
The long awaited new series from Danger Man star Patrick McGoohan has aired and for the most part we are mystified, what the hell is it all about. Of course some of the older boys are feigning knowledge, pretending that they get it, but the majority of us, well we haven’t a clue.
Some 56 years later and I willingly confess that I am still pretty mystified, but Messrs Mitchell and Nixon, two of Brighton’s most prolific and accomplished writers have set out to shed a little light on the whole story. Not exactly the story within the series, it soon becomes apparent that even those involved, including McGoohan, had little idea of what it was they were creating. No, they are setting out to explain the story behind The Prisoner.
It seems that celebrity and money have turned McGoohan into a deluded and arrogant monster, a man with a crazy idea and the power in the entertainment world to persuade TV mogul Lew Grade to back his bizarre project. Pretty soon things start to fall apart, McGoohan is unprepared to divulge much to both the producers and the backers and also the press, greedy for stories from the star, the highest paid actor in the world at that time, and his production team and the cast are equally in the dark. His behaviour is appalling and money is slipping away fast, so much so that he takes a Hollywood role to feed cash into the production.
Brian Mitchell and Jospeh Nixon once again have woven their magic and created a script that drives the story forward at a pace. It is never short of drama nor is it short of humour. Murray Simon is utterly convincing as McGoohan, suave and handsome, mesmeric even but pretty soon displaying the fatal traits of megalomaniacal arrogance. He is a man on a mission, a mission seemingly impossible and yet… yes despite the problems, the bad behaviour, the crazy soaring budget and the increasing demands of the broadcasters, he makes 17 episodes of a show that has gone down in history.
Ross Gurney-Randall is magnificent as east end Ukranian immigrant made good Sir Lew Grade, the dance hall baron who dominates British TV at the time.
Robert Cohen takes on, as do most of the cast, several roles and is rather marvellous slipping from one character to the next in this stripped down and simply staged production, using his voice to ring the changes to great effect.
Mitchell himself takes on the role of co-star Leo McKern, gradually crumbling as McGoohan’s demands on him become more and more challenging.
This is a fine ensemble piece, beautifully crafted and brilliantly played. It’s the sort of work that one hopes to find at the Fringe and one that surely has huge potential and certainly universal appeal.
The Prisoner is now regarded as a cult TV classic on a global scale, even those too young to have witnessed it in the late sixties may be aware of the Portmeirion setting, the blazers, the bouncing ball… and surely this iconic piece of television history paved the way for future TV series like Twin Peaks and maybe Lost?
One has to hope that this exciting Brighton born show goes on to find a wide audience, it certainly deserves to.
Andrew Kay
25 May
Ironworks Studio C
[rating 5/5]
