"QUITE DEEP FOR A CONVENTIONAL
ESCAPIST
TV SERIES"
Dave Barrie rief 1976 die PRISONER Appreciation Society "Six Of One" ins leben.
nr6de: Dave, nice to meet you here at the PRISONER convention 2008. I think without your initiative there would be no SIX OF ONE at all. How did it all start?
DB: Yes. I think it would have happened sooner or later by someone who'd have triggered it all.
I was watching the series in 1976. There was a chap from the TV station who came over and said various people had written in, comments about the series. And if I wanted to meet these people. So I wrote to the TV station but they said we can't
 DIESES INTERVIEW AUF DEUTSCH
reveal the names and addresses of our viewers. But we can transmit your details after the last episode. So I said that sounds good. So, after the very last episode "Fall Out", at half past twelve at night, my name and address was transmitted. And, off I went to bed little realising that I'd be woken up two hours later by people knocking at my front door. And there were people arriving during the night knocking on the door and coming in for coffee. They drove from various towns like Birmingham and Oxford, and we talked about it. And on the Sunday more people came round and by the end of the first week I had over 300 letters. So, I thought I'd better do something like starting the Society...
INTERVIEW: MAX HORA
INTERVIEW: STEVE RAINES
INTERVIEW: MARY MORRIS AND NORMA WEST
MEHR ÜBER SIX OF ONE
ÜBER PORTMEIRION
DIE ANTHONY-SKENE-TRILOGIE
SURREALISMUS IN NUMMER 6
VILLAGE TAXI: FAHREN SIE MICH SO WEIT SIE KÖNNEN!
nr6de: Did you imagine it would develop the way it eventually did?
DB: I honestly thought, you know, it'd be only half a dozen people somewhere who'd sit in a bar and would say what a great TV series it was. And then would be gone. We'd go on in our lives and that would be that. We never ever dreamed, or I never dreamed, that anything like this would happen. It's inconceivable that here we are, all these years later, over about 30 years later, that we'd all still be meeting for further conventions. It's just been a dream that's come true. Quite extraordinary.
nr6de: You told us you read in the newspaper about filming taking place in Portmeirion when you were here for holiday. That you met George Coulouris (darsteller in "Schachmatt"). Did you also meet Patrick McGoohan?
DB: I'll tell you what happened... We're talking about the summer of 1966. And I was on holiday nearby in the little town of Porthmadog. And I read in the newspaper that Patrick McGoohan was filming his latest TV series over here in Portmeirion. So I thought let's go and have a look. So I came over and the Village was alive with colour. It was a beautiful September, very good weather. And I came and I saw the chessboard was still there. And they had all the Mini Mokes in the Piazza where they were filming the carnival scene from "Dance of the Dead". George Coulouris was around, Ronald Radd, Rosalie Crutchley and Patrick McGoohan was walking about with a clipboard under his arm.
If you know anything about film making you know that nothing happens. You just spend hours waiting for something. And in the end I got bored... (lacht). I wandered off and I saw the little Butler, Angelo Muscat, had his sleeve rolled up and was fishing in the sand for dabs (schollen) which is a particular type of small fish. I looked at this, he was dressed up in his Butler's uniform. And the chessboard was down and all these people in carnival outfits. - What's all this about? This is very unusual. I've been used to DANGER MAN which was far more, if you like, conventional. And I didn't know what was going on. But I thought I'm really looking forward to seeing this when it comes on TV. It looks like it could be something a bit different.
nr6de: What would you say, what is the intention of THE PRISONER?
DB: THE PRISONER, after all these years, entertains me. And it's something that you really have to think about. And it means different things to different people. Some people like the spectacle of it or the escapism. It's been described as an allegorical conundrum. That's an allegory that's a puzzle. That's how I see it. I go for the inner meanings that are in it. For me it's very intriguing. Each week there's a different facet of society dressed up as entertainment. But it's examined at a very deep level, whether it's the way we have education or the way we run elections and have so-called freedom and democracy. But ultimately, really, it's all about the last episode where each of us is our own, apart from being Number Six, we're our own Number One. So within each of us lurks the beast. We are or can be our own worst enemy. We can also be the finest thing in creation. So, it's all about the inner self and the search for the inner self. Which is quite deep for a conventional, escapist TV series.
nr6de: Your favourite episode is "Dance Of The Dead" which in Germany is known as "Die Anklage" with brilliant actress Mary Morris and also Norma West who met last year on the convention. What's the essence of "Dance Of The Dead" knowing that Patrick McGoohan didn't like this episode very much.
DB: Each episode has a different feeling to it, a different ambiance. If you take "Arrival", the scene setter, there's a lot happening. "Free For All" is all about electioneering. "Dance Of The Dead" stands out because it's extremely difficult to work out what the plot is. You think you know what's going to happen. But you're drawn along by dream-like atmosphere. The author (Anthony Skene) who I corresponded with said that when he went to find out what the series was all about they just couldn't tell him very much and said "go away and write something about this spy who's been taken to a village." And the author said when in doubt I write about a trial. He said he'd been influenced by the film THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER and also by the films of the Frenchman Jean Cocteau. There's a lot of Cocteau in it. But what I like about it is that it's heavily influenced by females. So it's quite balanced as against the strident Number Six who's a kind of alpha male. So you've got the gentle influence of the women, the nurturing side. And Number Six is struggling to find out what it's about. It's not action-adventure. There's not a punch-up in it, the acting and the story's driven by other factors. Its quality, in essence, is the scene on the beach between Mary Morris and Patrick McGoohan where they're debating about what is real and what isn't real. That is really to me the whole essence of the series. It's a wonderful episode steeped in mystery and atmosphere and colour.
So, when one is looking at this episode it examines the nature of what is real and what is unreal.
nr6de: Can you say something to German PRISONER fans who would like to learn more about the series and maybe would also like to come to the Village, to Portmeirion? What does coming to the Village mean to you? What would it mean to others to come here?
DB: What I'd say to everybody is it's really well worth making the pilgrimage. You must come to Portmeirion. You'll be utterly captivated and enchanted. You think you know Portmeirion, you think you see it. And what you see is what you get. But Portmeirion is far more than that. It has a magical atmosphere and when the sun goes down in the evening the Village takes on a life of its own. The loudest sound is the tinkle of water in the fountain. The buildings are lit by a soft glow. You will come here and experience another world and a timeless world. Do come!
nr6de: Thank you very much for this interview! And "Be seeing you" again! - "Wir sehen uns" wieder!
DB: A pleasure.
INTERVIEW: MAX HORA
INTERVIEW: STEVE RAINES
INTERVIEW: MARY MORRIS AND NORMA WEST
MEHR ÜBER SIX OF ONE
ÜBER PORTMEIRION
DIE ANTHONY-SKENE-TRILOGIE
SURREALISMUS IN NUMMER 6
VILLAGE TAXI: FAHREN SIE MICH SO WEIT SIE KÖNNEN!
Interview: Michael Brüne während der PRISONER Convention 2008,
Videoaufzeichnung: Jürgen Staeder,
Transkription und bearbeitung: Arno Baumgärtel. Dave Barrie rief 1976 die PRISONER Appreciation Society "SIX OF ONE" ins leben.
|
