Prisoner star McGoohan dies.

[ellenyoung31]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7829267.stm

Hello some of you may remember this actor. Ellen.

[morag]

I always enjoyed his work, Ellen, used to watch Dangerman all the time, sorry to hear he has passed on.

[scottmccallumuk]

I worked in a hotel in London in spring 1971 and Patrick McGoohan was a guest. One night there was a small fire on the roof and we called the fire brigade who came and put the fire out. As a precaution, when they arrived, they asked us to inform all the guests of the situation. I did the second floor where he was staying and I told him the situation and he thanked me and went back into his room. I thought nothing more about it till the following afternoon the London Evening Standard opened with the one inch high headline

DANGERMAN FLEES HOTEL INFERNO

with a totally fabricated sequence of events. Just to sell a newspaper?

I also delivered him a sandwich once and nodded hello in the corridor a few times. He was very polite and tipped for the sandwich.

Scott McCallum - Glasgow

[Colmac]

I worked in a hotel in London in spring 1971 and Patrick McGoohan was a guest.

I'd love to know if his room number was number 6? Oh the irony.

Best known for the Prisoner - not the Australian cell block series bearing a similar name.! Strange series and one possibly ruined by success. McGoohan defined 7 episodes as the ultimate series but network demands resulted in another ten being filmed - affecting the quality of the storylines. One episode was banned in the U.S because the idea of a character defending himself without a weapon didn't send out the right message at a time when the Vietnam war was raging.

Oddly enough, I looked out my box set of the series a month ago and compared to some series from that decade, it hasn't dated as much - possibly because the weird clothing still looks weird and not unfashionable. I remember applying to join the appreciation society and one of the stipulations was that you should, if attending a Prisoner convention, be prepared to dress up and participate in various events -including a chess match on the huge board in the grounds!

By all accounts, the setting for the village, Portmeirion in Wales, has unique architecture and it's coastline location seemed ideal for the series - plenty of escape attempts and where better to hatch an escape plan than by boat?

The series was based around the character demanding to know who was number one. The final episode was very confusing - revealing that McGoohan's character was actually number one! Didn't come as any surprise really since we are told the answer at the start of every episode.

McGoohan: Who is number one?

Number 2: You are number six.

Or if you think about that last answer: You are, number 6! Mystery solved! No. I didn't notice that either at the time.

All this talk of number one's and two's - I'm off to the loo!