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Arrival (The Prisoner)
"Arrival" is the first episode of the allegorical British science fiction TV series ''The Prisoner''. It was written by George Markstein and David Tomblin, and directed by Don Chaffey. It was first broadcast in the UK on ITV ( ATV Midlands and Grampian) on Friday 29 September 1967, and first aired in the United States on CBS on Saturday 1 June 1968. The episode introduced the character of Number Six, portrayed by co-creator Patrick McGoohan, and introduced Guy Doleman and George Baker in the role of Number Two, the regularly changing administrator of The Village in which Number Six was incarcerated. The episode introduced most of the concepts of the series present throughout its run, as Number Two used various means to find out why Number Six had abruptly resigned from his intelligence job. Plot summary An unidentified British intelligence agent storms into his employer's London office to hand in his resignation. He returns home in his Lotus Seven and hastily packs a ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Prisoner
''The Prisoner'' is a British television series created by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan portrays Number Six (The Prisoner), Number Six, an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a The Village (The Prisoner), mysterious coastal village after resigning from his position. The allegory, allegorical plotlines of the series contain elements of science fiction, Psychological thriller, psychological drama, and spy fiction. It was produced by Everyman Films for distribution by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. A single series of 17 episodes was filmed between September 1966 and January 1968, with exterior location filming primarily taking place in the Welsh seaside village of Portmeirion. Interior scenes were filmed at MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. The series was first broadcast in Canada beginning on 5 September 1967, in the UK on 29 September 1967, and in the United States on 1 June 1968. Although the show was sold as a thriller in the mou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Village (The Prisoner)
The Village is the fictional setting of the 1960s UK television series ''The Prisoner'' where the main character, Number Six, is held with other former spies and operatives from various countries. The theme of the series is his captors' attempts to find out why Number Six resigned from his job and his attempts to escape from the Village and learn the identity of Number One. Ostensibly, those running the Villagethought by many to be countries around the worldbelieve that once Number Six is coerced into explaining the behind his resignation, all the state secrets he knows will come tumbling out. However, the ultimate use of these secrets is only intimated, but not overtly explored. Beyond its explicit physical setting, the Village is also viewed as an allegory for humanity and society during the Cold War era. Patrick McGoohan notes in various post-show interviews that the Village is "within all of us ... we all live in a little Village ... Your village may be different from oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Brace
Peter Brace (30 August 1924 – 29 October 2018) was a British film actor and stunt performer who worked alongside actors like Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Richard Burton and Michael Caine in a career that lasted nearly half a century and took in more than 100 credits on the big and small screen. Brace was born at Southwark in south-east London. He made his film debut at the age of 23 in Ken Annakin's ''Holiday Camp'' (1947). His name was unfamiliar to the general public, but his face and size (6 ft 4 in tall) made him instantly recognizable. He was a stunt performer and minor actor in the following James Bond films: '' Dr. No'' (1962), '' From Russia with Love'' (1963), '' Goldfinger'' (1964), '' Casino Royale'' (1967) and '' You Only Live Twice'' (1967). He also acted and did stunt work in films such as ''Ivanhoe'' (1952), '' A Night to Remember'' (1958), '' Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962), ''Where Eagles Dare'' (1968), ''Star Wars'' (1977), ''Flash Gordon'' (1980), ''Raiders of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Swanwick
Walter Peter Swanwick (29 September 1922 – 14 November 1968) was a British actor best remembered as the "Supervisor" (sometimes called the Controller) in the 1967 TV series, ''The Prisoner''. Swanwick's film career began with bit parts in films such as ''The African Queen (film), The African Queen'' (1951), and he became a recognisable face on British TV during the mid-1960s when he featured in a number of series, including ''The Avengers (TV series), The Avengers'' and ''Danger Man'' where he first worked with later ''Prisoner'' star and co-creator, Patrick McGoohan. According to several biographies Swanwick endured major health problems in the 1960s that resulted in his undergoing undisclosed operations that left him with a short time to live. Swanwick played the non-singing part of Herr Zeller in the original London stage production of ''The Sound of Music''. Selected filmography * ''Lilli Marlene (film), Lilli Marlene'' (1950) – Chief Interrogator * ''Madame Louise' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Benjamin (actor)
Christopher John Benjamin (27 December 1934 – 10 January 2025) was an English actor with many stage and television credits from 1958 to 2016. He played Henry Gordon Jago in the 1977 ''Doctor Who'' story ''The Talons of Weng-Chiang'', a role he reprised for the audio drama series ''Jago & Litefoot'' (2010–2017, 2021), and made two other appearances in the series, portraying Sir Keith Gold in ''Inferno (Doctor Who), Inferno'' (1970) and Colonel Hugh Curbishley in "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (2008). He also provided the voice of Rowf in the animated film ''The Plague Dogs (film), The Plague Dogs'' (1982). His radio acting career included two BBC Radio adaptations of Christopher Lee (historian), Christopher Lee's crime drama ''Colvil and Soames''. Early life Benjamin was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, on 27 December 1934. He served in the Royal Air Force for his national service and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Career Benjamin appeared regularly in television ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patsy Smart
Patsy Smart (14 August 1918 – 6 February 1996) was an English actress, best remembered for her performance as Miss Roberts in the 1970s ITV television drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. She also appeared in: ''Danger Man'', '' Only When I Laugh'', ''Dixon of Dock Green'', ''Z-Cars'', ''The Prisoner'', '' The Avengers'', '' The Sweeney'', ''Doctor Who'' ('' The Talons of Weng-Chiang''), '' Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson'' (''The Case of the Final Curtain''), ''Blake's 7'', ''Danger UXB'', ''The Chinese Detective'', ''Minder'', '' Rentaghost'', ''Terry and June'', '' Farrington of the F.O.'', ''Casualty'', '' Hallelujah!'', and ''The Bill''. In her later roles, she was expert at playing dotty old ladies, her Mrs Sibley and Miss Dingle characters in ''Terry and June'' being examples. Another example was as the wife of the gardener in the ''Miss Marple'' episode "The Moving Finger" which starred Joan Hickson. Her films included '' Sons and Lovers'' (1960), '' The Tell Tale Hea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick Piper
Frederick Piper (23 September 1902 – 22 September 1979) was an English actor of stage and screen who appeared in over 80 films and many television productions in a career spanning over 40 years. Piper studied drama under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Never a leading player, Piper was usually cast in minor, sometimes uncredited, parts although he also appeared in some more substantial supporting roles. Piper never aspired to star-status, but became a recognisable face on the British screen through the sheer volume of films in which he appeared. His credits include a number of films which are considered classics of British cinema, among them five 1930s Alfred Hitchcock films; he also appeared in many Ealing Studios productions, including some of the celebrated Ealing comedies. Stage career Born in London, England in September 1902, Piper worked as a tea merchant before starting his acting career on the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver MacGreevy
Oliver John MacGreevy (25 July 1928 – October 1981) was an Irish actor who appeared in many British films and television series from the mid 1950s until he retired in 1980, often as brutish, shaven-headed villains. Among his roles he played Housemartin in ''The Ipcress File'' (1965) and made an appearance as both the Gardener and the Electrician in the first episode of ''The Prisoner'' TV series ("Arrival", 1967). He also appeared in an episode of ''Thriller'' (1975). On stage, he appeared in Tom Murphy's ''A Whistle in the Dark'' at Joan Littlewood's Theatre Royal, Stratford East, in London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ..., 1961. Filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macgreevy, Oliver 1928 births 1981 deaths Irish male stage actor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denis Shaw
Douglas "Denis" Findlay Shaw (7 February 1921 – 28 February 1971) was a British character actor who specialized in portraying villains. Biography Shaw was born in Dulwich on 7 February 1921. In the 1950s and 1960s, he was frequently cast as villains in films and television shows, most notably as the German guard Priem in ''The Colditz Story'' (1955), as well as a number of British horror films including ''Jack the Ripper'' (1959), '' The Mummy'' (1959) and ''The Curse of the Werewolf'' (1961). He was cast in the leading role of '' The Great Van Robbery'' (1959) as the judo-throwing Interpol detective Caesar Smith. Shaw's television credits include ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'', '' The Avengers'', ''Danger Man'', ''Dixon of Dock Green'', ''The Prisoner'', ''Sherlock Holmes'' and ''Z-Cars''. Shaw died from a heart attack in London on 28 February 1971, at the age of 50. A familiar face around the bars of Soho in London, he is mentioned in Keith Waterhouse's play ''Jeffrey ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fabia Drake
Fabia Drake OBE (born Ethel McGlinchy; 20 January 1904 – 28 February 1990) was an English actress whose professional career spanned almost 73 years during the 20th century. Drake was born in Herne Bay, Kent. Her first professional role in a film was in Fred Paul's '' Masks and Faces'' (1917), and her last role was as Madame de Rosemonde in Miloš Forman's ''Valmont'' (1989). Drake was a lifelong friend of Noël Coward and Laurence Olivier. Early life Born Ethel McGlinchy, the actress's Irish father, a caterer, was an actor manqué. She passed an entrance test to the Academy of Dramatic Art (later to become RADA) in December 1913. (It was the high-ups at the ADA who decided McGlinchy was too difficult to pronounce and too hard to remember for a stage name so she changed it, ultimately by deed-poll, to Drake which was the second of her father's Christian names and to Fabia which was the second of her baptismal names, chosen because she was born on St Fabian's Day) (P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbara Yu Ling
Barbara Lee (4 November 1933/1938 – 6 April 1997), who used the stage name Barbara Yu Ling, was a Singapore-born actress of stage, screen, and television who was based in Britain from the 1950s. One of the first Singaporean Chinese actresses to gain attention in Europe, she appeared in productions of ''Madame Butterfly'' and '' The World of Suzie Wong''. Among the films she appeared in were ''The Satanic Rites of Dracula'' (1973), ''Ping Pong'' (1986), and ''Peggy Su!'' (1997). Biography Lee was born in Singapore. Her father was a schoolteacher, and her mother died young. A protégée of Malcolm MacDonald, Britain's Commissioner-General to Southeast Asia, she worked as a teacher before moving to England in 1955 to study at London's Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art. MacDonald introduced Lee to Dame Sybil Thorndike, who aided Lee with her performing career. Her sister Dorothy Lee, who joined her in England, later became th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angelo Muscat
Angelo Muscat (24 September 1930 – 10 October 1977) was a Maltese-born British character actor. He is primarily remembered for his role as the silent butler in the 1967 television series ''The Prisoner''. Life and career Muscat was born on 24 September 1930 in Malta to a policeman father. He was distinctly diminutive at only , although both his parents and his three brothers were over in height. Muscat initially found work as a kitchen porter and then as a stoker at an RAF base in Malta. After the death of his parents and finding himself largely alone, he moved to England where he worked in a zip-fastener factory. In 1961 Muscat joined a production of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' that was to tour the United Kingdom. Moving into television, he played a Chumbley robot in the ''Doctor Who'' serial ''Galaxy 4'' (1965), played the part of a clown in the ITV series '' Emergency – Ward 10'' and appeared as the Queen's Servant in the BBC television adaptation of ''Alice i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
