Doctor Who Club of Australia

[Theta Sigma]

From Broadcast:

"It's a cult classic which has provoked decades of speculation and interpretation. Now Number 6 is coming back to our screens in a remake of the 1960s adventure series The Prisoner.

The drama, one of TV's most original, will be remade by Granada and is currently being written by Bill Gallagher, the writer of Conviction, who will executive produce the show alongside Granada's Michele Buck and Damien Timmer.

Granada is in talks with Sky One commissioner Elaine Pike about airing an initial eight-part series next year. It is also approaching European and US networks about a co-production deal."

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/frames/master.asp

[dunmall]

well now...all i have to say is that it had better be good!

[SharazJek]

I hope they make a better ending than the original!

[Theta Sigma]

timkins posted at the Gallifrey and SFX forums saying that according to Dreamwatch the remake of The Prisoner has been shelved by Sky One possibly due to money issues.

[Theta Sigma]

The remake is back on:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4972194.stm

Chris Eccleston has been reported to be in negotiations to play the leading part originated by Patrick McGoohan.

If this is true then Chris's career has been turned upside down. I said that in a good way. After all he was the Ninth Doctor in Doctor Who and in The Prisoner he would be No. 6. If you turned 9 upside down it becomes a 6.

I just couldn't resist pointing that out.

[dunmall]

that's why McGoohan chose the number, it's the only number that becomes something else when you turn it upside down.

[Theta Sigma]

Chris looks a dead certainty for the role and the following Times article also made humour about him getting the part:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2164214,00.html

"New role for Doctor Who who became prisoner of own success
By Adam Sherwin, Media Correspondent

HE REVIVED Doctor Who, but now Christopher Eccleston is set to take on another television hero with the starring role in a remake of The Prisoner.
The 1967 series, starring Patrick McGoohan as a former secret agent who was kidnapped and imprisoned in a mystery village, baffled millions of viewers around the world .

The new version, made by Granada for Sky One, will incorporate the paranoia, conspiracy theories and hi-tech action sequences of modern-day spy dramas 24 and Spooks.

Lost, another offbeat hit series which has kept viewers hooked despite offering up few of its secrets, was influenced by The Prisoner.

Eccleston, who quit Doctor Who after last year’s hit revival, told the producers that it had long been his ambition to play Number Six, whose escape attempts are constantly thwarted by sinister forces.

Hollywood stars have also pitched for the role but discussions with Eccleston are at an advanced stage, according to production sources.

However, the Welsh tourist “village” of Portmeirion, where the original ATV show was filmed, will be replaced by a more exotic foreign location, probably outraging fans of the original.

While The Prisoner will compete against the third season of Doctor Who in a spring ratings battle next year, BBC One is reviving another action hero — Robin Hood will join the Saturday night line-up this autumn.

Damien Timmer, executive producer of The Prisoner, said: “The series is like Pandora’s box; it’s the ultimate conspiracy thriller. Like 24, the new series will entrap you from the opening scene.”

Granada hopes the series will tap into the show’s cult following, while also appealing to younger viewers. It is expected to appear before a long-mooted Hollywood film remake, and Granada is expecting to sell the show internationally.

McGoohan won a global fan base for the 17-episode series, which made regular use of his catchphrase: “I am not a number; I’m a free man.”

His nameless character — Number Six — was abducted after resigning from a top secret government position and relocated to a sinister village where nothing was as it seemed. However, Granada is promising a “radical reinvention” and a plot that will make sense to viewers who watch the six-episode series.

McGoohan wrote and directed some episodes. Other actors and actresses who featured in the original series included Leo McKern, Paul Eddington, Peter Bowles, Eric Portman, Patrick Cargill, George Baker, Mary Morris, Rosalie Crutchley and Donald Sinden.

It has its own fan club, the Six of One, formed in 1977.

It boasts more than 1,000 members and holds regular get-togethers at Portmeirion, the Italianate village in North Wales built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis 80 years ago. It is now a hotel complex.

As well as the distinctive architecture, The Prisoner featured Mini-Mokes, pennyfarthings and a massive balloons that would appear from the sea to smother anyone attempting to escape.

The series was shown in more than 60 countries."

In the original series No.6 was asked why did he resign. At Gallifrey forum jokes have already been made that the new series should be about why Chris resigned as Doctor Who.

Since The Prisoner will be competing against Doctor Who on British TV next year, this means that Chris will battling against his successor as the Doctor, David Tennant for the ratings.
All I can say is that the clash between the two Doctors better not happen on Australian TV.

[Theta Sigma]

I just found out from Wikipedia, that back in May, Chris' agent has denied to Radio Times that he has anything to do with the role. Radio Times has also reported that the remake will be called Number Six not The Prisoner.

Meanwhile Christopher Nolan is close to a deal in making the movie of The Prisoner:
http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/725/725002p1.html

[Theta Sigma]

The Prisoner remake will begin production in 2007 for a worldwide premiere in January 2008:
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-amcprisonerremake,0,4479646.story?coll=zap-news-headlines

"AMC Locks Into 'Prisoner' Remake
Get ready to meet the new No. 2 and No. 6 in early 2008
December 19, 2006

AMC is coming on board to co-producer a remake of the seminal paranoid thriller series "The Prisoner" with Sky One and Granada International.

Details on how the companies plan to update or alter the "Prisoner" formula are scarce, but the property is being presented as an hour-long drama with production between in spring 2007. The plan is to have "The Prisoner" set for a worldwide premiere in January 2008.

"'The Prisoner' redefined what was possible in the Sci-Fi/Thriller category and remains on of the most iconic classics of our time," says AMC's Executive Vice President of Programming and Production, Rob Sorcher. "AMC's new series will stay true to the conceptual and visual brilliance of the original and will provide a new generation with an understanding and appreciation of Patrick McGoohan's work."

Masterminded by writer-producer-star McGoohan, "The Prisoner" premiered in 1967 and ran for only 17 episodes. A political parable, it turn the story of a government agent who resigns and immediately finds himself drugged, kidnapped, and plunked down on an isolated island known only as The Village. Despite his protestations that he's not a number, he's becomes Number Six. Amidst escape attempts, he's interrogated by the person he believes to be in charge, the mysterious Number Two, who was played by an assortment of different actors.

The new series will be written by Bill Gallagher ("Conviction," "Clocking Off"). When rumors of the "Prisoner" first began circulating back in May, Christopher Eccleston's name was bandied about for a lead role. It's unclear if the erstwhile Dr. Who remains involved.

There have been regular attempts to mount a big screen "Prisoner," with "Batman Begins" and "The Prestige" director Christopher Nolan attached to the latest incarnation, set up at Universal."

[Theta Sigma]

Sky One has dropped out of the project due to disagreements with co-producer AMC on who should play No. 6.

More here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/04/27/nosplit/bvtvprisoner26.xml

[phase5]

"Who is Number One?"
"You are Number Six".
Check his house address.

[Theta Sigma]

The Prisoner remake is dead according to Sky One chief Richard Woolfe due to creative differences:
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33786

[Theta Sigma]

Plans to remake The Prisoner are back again but this time it is from ITV instead of Sky One which dropped out of the project (and now doing Blake's 7 instead):
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/2008/04/26/plans-confirmed-to-remake-the-prisoner-91466-20823183/

From Wikipedia:
"On April 17, 2008, ITV announced that they were planning to make a new series based on the original but starring an American actor."

[Theta Sigma]

http://www.sixofone.org.uk/Prisoner-Remake.htm

The six episode mini-series next year will have are all written by Bill Gallagher. Sir Ian McKellen is Number Two and James Caviezel is Number Six. The producer is Trevor Hopkins (Dracula; Agatha Christie: Poirot; William and Mary) and direction is by Jon Jones (Cold Feet; Northanger Abbey; Diary of Anne Frank).

[paisley-sage]

While it's sad that the third Best Doctor (Eccleston) will not be taking over Patrick McGoohans role in by far the best series of the 60's and possibly the 70's 80's and 90's as it seems to have been shelved, I await in anticipation for Christopher Nolan and his brothers movie version due out in mid 2009. With movies such as Momento and The Prestige among others everything the guy touches is pure genius.

[Greg]

Is the Nolan movie version still happening?

Recent news is that ITV are remaking this for TV - with Jim Caviezel as number 6 and Sir Ian McKellen as number 2. See this media release (of 30/6/0 for info.