The Prisoner To Be Remade On U.K. TV

An anonymous reader writes "Various UK news sites are reporting that Sky One is to commission a remake of the cult 60s UK TV series, The Prisoner. See u.tv and This is London." From the This Is London story: "The series, which made its debut 1967, is today credited by its fans as being ahead of its time. Featuring McGoohan as a former secret agent trapped in an isolated seaside village, it was shown in more than 60 countries. The new version will not be placed in the original setting, the north Wales village of Portmeirion, or have the arty, 'pop' feel of the original, according to the magazine Broadcast. Damien Timmer, who has been lined up to executive produce the show, told the television and radio industry magazine that the new series 'takes liberties with the original'."

Comments

Re:Why do we need a remake?

[negative3]

And what exactly do they mean by "take liberties with the original." That is probably code for "when we got done with this bitch it will be damn near unrecognizable."

Please recreate that sense of disorientation

[G4from128k]

The Prisoner was great because of the disorienting plot lines and characters - it was seldom clear why #6 was there, what they wanted him to do, or how they were manipulating him. Half the time he seemed to be getting away with some little bit of rebellion only to find that he was doing exactly what they wanted him to do.

I can understand that they may not be able to reuse the old setting, but I hope that they can recreate some place for the "Prison" that has a similar feel of idyllic ordinariness to contrast with the surreal psychological drama.

Uh, what happened to the movie?

[PhantomHarlock]

There was going to be a Prisoner movie, did it go away? There's no mention of it in IMDB anymore even. Here's something at least: http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hp&cf=prev&id=18084 05507

Re:Why do we need a remake?

[sg3000]

> Seriously. The Prisoner is a classic.

Agreed! The Prisoner (minus the last two incomprehensible and silly episodes) was an incredible show. I remember it came on one night late on PBS (after Red Dwarf), and I recognized it from the description on The Straight Dope.

We were all set to make fun of it (hey, look! a campy 1960s era show!), but we quickly became engrossed in the plot (it was one of the better episodes -- The Schizoid Man). I was actually quite surprised how much I enjoyed it.

I ended up buying the A&E boxed set, and I was amazed at McGoohan's understanding of how society tries to mold its citizens. Plus the whole "spy versus spy" part was an intriguing bonus (particularly "Hammer and Anvil").

This is a show that doesn't need to be remade. Today, they'd have to cut it in half, make Number 6 run around shooting people with a machine gun, and have a hooter babe leading woman.