Is it true that The Prisoner first appeared as a one-off TV play?
A. Not quite. There was certainly a one-off play called “The Prisoner” starring Patrick McGoohan transmitted on BBC-TV in the UK on the 21st February 1963 at 9pm, but apart from the co-incidence of the name, it had nothing to do with the later TV series in any way. It was a play written by Bridget Boland and set in an un-named totalitarian state. The action revolves around a battle of wits between a Cardinal (played by Alan Badel) and an interrogator (played by Patrick McGoohan) who is trying to prove the Cardinal guilty of treason. Whether it inspired anything later is unknown, I’ve never heard PMG even mention it. He made his reputation from TV plays prior to “Danger Man” and did a fair number of them in the late 50’s and early 60’s but the only one he ever refers to nowadays is “Brand” which he’s always wanted to turn into a film but never has. For the REAL trivia buff, the original choice to play the Cardinal was Kenneth Griffith. However, McGoohan felt that he was too well known f
