This short, affectionate spoof of the much-love British television science fiction series The Prisoner (1967) was a standalone spin-off from the hugely successful early-evening live music show The Tube (1982-1987), broadcast on Friday’s on Channel 4 and formerly hosted by one time Squeeze pianist Jules Holland who also stars in the film. At the time, Channel 4 were re-running The Prisoner, introducing a new generation of fans to Patrick McGoohan’s surreal masterpiece so the target audience would have been perfectly aware of the object of the film’s gentle lampooning, despite it then being two decades old.
The plot apes that of of the original series. Holland, having just incurred the wrath of the tabloid press and television watchdogs by swearing on live early evening trailer broadcast during the slot reserved for children’s television (“be there, or be an ungroovey fucker”) decides to walk out on The Tube (which was subsequently killed off by the controversy surrounding the trailer incident) and in a re-run if the opening credits of The Prisoner storms into a meeting held by the Head of Channel 4 (Terence Alexander) and his son and assistant (Hugh Laurie) (he drives there in the famous Lotus Seven car, registration plate KAR 120C seen in the original title sequence). Holland returns home, is gassed and wakes to find himself in The Village, the famous creepy, Italianate prison, now depleted and with only three prisoners left to be watched over by the latest No.2 (Stephen Fry). No.3 (Stanley Unwin) is an old man whose gobbledegook is completely incomprehensible, No.6 (Patrick McGoohan in stock footage) is still there refusing to conform and driving his captors mad and Holland – who seems to rather like his new-found captivity – is designated No.7.
Shot on location in the Welsh hotel resort of Portmeirion, the location made famous by the original shoot and with plenty of well-chosen clips that suggest that No.6 is interacting with the new cast, The Laughing Prisoner is clearly a very affectionate homage written by Holland, Fry, Laurie and Rowland Rivron (ho also appears very briefly) and directed by The Tube directors Chris Gabrin and Geoff Wonfor. All involved perfectly capture the wayward tone of The Prisoner while gently poking fun at it and all of the show’s iconic elements are present and correct, including surreal mobile security system Rover who’s “getting old and fat now” according to No.2.
As well as ribbing an old favourite, the screenplay takes pot-shots at the then current television landscape (No.2 describes The Tube as “one of the most popular child exploitation programmes on television”) and there are a number of caustic jibes at Holland’s own success which he appears to have been uncomfortable with. It was made at a time when Channel 4 were still willing to experiment, to take creative risks with little concern for audience viewing figures or critical approval.
Being an offshoot of a music programme, it’s perhaps no surprise that a number of musical interludes are uncomfortably crowbarred into the film. Siouxsie and the Banshees turn up to perform Iggy Pop’s The Passenger, XTC are on hand to play The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul, heavy metal band Magnum (“a super groovy rock ‘n’ roll group” according to Holland) run through Vigilante and Holland’s own band can be seen performing in a “dream reader” sequence before Holland turns up to perform the uncharacteristically electronic I Wish I Knew How It Felt To Be Free at the climax.
The Laughing Prisoner is rarely laugh out loud funny (though Hugh Laurie clapping along to Holland’s final performance raises a few chuckles) but as a tribute to one of British television drama’s finest achievements it’s loving and heartfelt and fans will easily fall for its charms. Today The Prisoner has returned to a niche interest show, adored by its army of fans but virtually unknown among younger audiences who probably won’t have bought the many disc releases and who haven’t had the opportunity to stumble upon it on television for many years and they would find The Laughing Prisoner as baffling as original audiences found The Prisoner. A DVD release was planned by Network but never seems to have materialised, leaving us only with less-than-optimal online videos – which is better than nothing but it deserves better.
The EOFFTV Review 