by Andrew K. Shenton

Miwk Publishing, out now

An indepth examination of the themes explored in The Prisoner, comparing it to a number of other TV shows.

Former lecturer Dr Shenton certainly knows his pop culture and in the introduction to his collection of essays he’s quick to point out that there’s already an awful lot of books out there about The Prisoner, and that there really is only so much to say. Much has been written on the meaning of the show – why Number 6 resigned, why he was incarcerated, who was Number 1, etc. – and while there’s always room for a new theory, we will never get something definitive. Even McGoohan refused to be drawn on the meaning, stating that everything you needed is up there on the screen.

Shenton wisely does not try to resurrect theories old and new and instead focuses on contextualising The Prisoner in the wider world of TV drama. His work first appeared as essays on Rick Davy’s excellent The Unmutual website and has now been expanded to book length. I really enjoyed the context setting of where people are at theories-wise and I love the matrix grid which breaks down each of the 17 episodes into one of three styles – escape, self-preservation and subversion – as well as who ‘wins’ the episode: Number 2 or Number 6.

There’s also a really detailed summary of the various TV worlds that have been touched in some way by The Prisoner, with a lot of foot notes and references for you to follow up on if required. There’s a lot of footnotes at the end of each chapter – it’s not a criticism, just indicative of the academic approach taken to the text, though ultimately occasionally hobbles the flow with one too many asides. The in-depth chapter on Blake’s 7 takes on the task of finding the comparisons over the show’s four seasons, with 149 footnotes – this is not something that was thrown together over a weekend.

The meat of the book is individual chapters on The Prisoner as it is applied to some very popular and lesser-known sci-fi fantasy and adventure shows. Some of the essays focus on individual episodes or serials, while others look at the entire series. This is not a problem in itself, though it does mean that one chapter is looking at the four seasons of Blake’s 7 while another zooms in on specific half-hours from Joe 90 and Yes, Prime Minister. We look at the entirety of The Twilight Zone and then a single episode of Night Gallery goes under the microscope. It’s not a problem per se, and I suggest that each essay works better on its own rather than in an omnibus like this where the differences in focus are more apparent. The most crippling thing one might say is ‘Ok, but so what?’ And that’s not being flippant or unhelpful, but such is the depth of scrutiny that one challenges at what point the parity between two sources has enough interest to a readership that it needs to be shared.

Comparative studies rely on a certain assumed level of knowledge about the subject, and that’s probably why I got more from the chapters on The Twilight Zone, Blake’s 7 and Logan’s Run (the TV series). I’m not familiar with Knights of God or Cloud Burst, and as they aren’t readily available I’ll take the author’s observations at face value. His points are passionately argued and I have no reason to doubt his logic. And while I might need to swot up on Codename Icarus and Children of the Stones to fully appreciate the arguments being presented, why shouldn’t the less obvious suspects be used to make the point?

Verdict: Unique, but similar is a very apt description of this book. It’s the first book (as far as I’m aware) about The Prisoner to deep-dive other shows for similarities and influences. The niche nature of some of the chapters may limit the broader appeal, but bravo for doing something different, and kudos to MIWK for publishing it. 6/10

Nick Joy

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