RIP, Patrick McGoohan (1928-2009)
Number Six has finally escaped The Village.
Saddened to hear this morning that the star (and sometimes co-creator) of what I still consider some of the best television ever has passed away. Patrick McGoohan of Secret Agent (John Drake) and the all-time great The Prisoner (Number 6) passed away in Santa Monica.
Although some think Secret Agent (and its predecessor, Danger Man) was intended to cash in on the 60s James Bond spy boom, it actually came before Dr. No. And John Drake was no 007. He was the thinking man's spy, probably closer to Fleming's Bond than Broccoli's Bond in many ways. It's a brilliant show, especially in those moments when Drake found himself uncomfortable with (and sometimes betrayed by) his superiors. It would lay the seeds for the show that would follow, The Prisoner.
And what a show that was. There was nothing, NOTHING on television before, during or since like The Prisoner. Shows like Lost and movies such as The Truman Show obviously took their cue from The Prisoner, but never push it as far -- nor challenge the audience -- in the same way. The Prisoner was the reason I finally bought my first VCR, and one of the reasons I have into DVD. The Prisoner was McGoohan's baby, the story of a secret agent who dared to resign, only to wake up one morning with no explanation in a place known only as The Village, and known now as No. 6. He'll spend the rest of the series trying to escape the Village, trying to thwart No. 2 (who changed every week), and ultimately find out who the mysterious No. 1 was. Whether or not No.6 was John Drake was never known. The show would examine and turn upside down everything from politics, war, computers, identity, trust, nations and the fate of the world. It was, and still is, genius.
Be seeing you, Patrick.