"Hammer into Anvil" is an episode of the

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory t ...

British

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

TV series, ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...

''. It was written by

Roger Woddis Roger Woddis (17 May 1917 – 16 July 1993) was a British writer and humorous poet. One of his most famous poems, ''Ethics for Everyman'', deals with double-morality of ethical principles. His early writing career included some involvement with ...

and directed by

Pat Jackson Patrick Douglas Selmes Jackson (26 March 1916 – 3 June 2011) was an English film and television director. Biography Born in Eltham, to a formerly affluent family which was severely affected by the Wall Street Crash in 1929, and his father' ...

and twelfth produced. It was the tenth episode to be broadcast in the UK on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

(

ATV Midlands Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and ...

and

Grampian Grampian ( gd, Roinn a' Mhonaidh) was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. The region t ...

) on Friday 1 December 1967 and first aired in the United States on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

on Saturday 31 August 1968. The episode stars Patrick McGoohan as Number Six and features as Number Two

Patrick Cargill Patrick Cargill (3 June 191823 May 1996) was an English actor remembered for his lead role in the British television sitcom ''Father, Dear Father''. Career Cargill was born to middle-class parents living in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex. After educati ...

. The central themes of this episode are

insecurity InSecurity is a Canadian spy comedy television series that aired on CBC Television from 2011 to 2012. The series centres on a team of covert operatives working for the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), a fictional Canadian intelli ...

paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy co ...

, and conspiracy thinking in a leader.

Plot summary

Number Two interrogates a stubborn female prisoner, Number Seventy-Three, in the Village Hospital. Frustrated, he attacks her; she screams, and Number Six rushes to her aid. The commotion allows her to leap from her bed and kill herself by jumping out the first-floor window. Number Six swears to Number Two that he will pay for his cruelty. Number Two forcibly has Number Six brought to the Green Dome and the two begin a war of nerves. Number Two quotes

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

: ''Du mußt Amboß oder Hammer sein'' ("You must be Anvil or Hammer"). "And you see me as the anvil?" asks Number Six, to which Number Two answers "Precisely. I am going to hammer you." Already aware that he is being watched by the Village's hidden camera and spies at every turn, Number Six proceeds to act in a highly suspicious manner, as if he were some sort of spy or double agent. He takes six copies of the same record of Bizet's ''L'Arlésienne'' suite at the music store and plays them, eyeing his watch. He then writes out a message, that Number Fourteen retrieves a copy of, which claims to be from "D-6" to "XO4." Number Two is convinced that Number Six is a

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

. Number Two and Number Fourteen follow Number Six to where he drops a document in the cabin of the stone boat. They retrieve it, but the pages are all blank. After having them tested, Two suspects the technician of working with Number Six. Number Six then goes to place an ad (a quotation from

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

) in the next issue of the ''Tally Ho.'' He then calls the head of Psychiatrics, posing as a superior who wants a report on Number Two's mental state. Two monitors the call and starts to become more paranoid at the behaviour of Number Six and those around him. Later, Six asks the town band to play the ''

Farandole The Farandole is an open-chain community dance popular in Provence, France. The Farandole bears similarities to the gavotte, jig, and tarantella. The carmagnole of the French Revolution is a derivative. Traditional dance The farandole is consi ...

'' from the same Bizet piece, and when the band starts playing, he promptly leaves so that he is not around to hear it. He leaves a fake message in a dead drop that is from a deceased person, wishing him a happy birthday. Number Two becomes increasingly agitated, wishing he could get away with killing Number Six. Number Fourteen offers to do so, making it appear an accident, and challenges Number Six to a game of "kosho" – a Japanese, trampoline-based contact sport – but is unable to "accidentally" drown his opponent. Number Six leaves a

cuckoo clock A cuckoo clock is, typically, a pendulum clock that strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo call and has an automated cuckoo bird that moves with each note. Some move their wings and open and close their beaks while leaning forwards ...

in front of Number Two's door, causing him to panic and summon a

bomb squad Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the milit ...

. Six captures a pigeon, attaches a message to its leg and sets it free in the woods. The bird is intercepted by Number Two's forces, and Two sees that the message states that Six will send a visual signal the next morning. Six goes to the beach and sends a visual signal (in light-flash Morse code) – a nursery rhyme with no apparent hidden meaning, all witnessed by Two. Later, Number Six is able to trick Number Two into believing that Number Fourteen is conspiring against him. When the other keepers of the village cannot discern the hidden meaning in Number Six's messages, Number Two suspects everyone working for him of being part of a

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agre ...

. Number Fourteen fights with Number Six, who throws him out of a window. In the end, Number Six confronts an unnerved and agitated Number Two, who expresses the belief that Number Six is really "D-6", a man sent by "XO4" to test his security. Feeding on Number Two's paranoia, Number Six charges Number Two with treason: if Number Two's belief was true, then he would be duty-bound not to interfere. At Number Six's suggestion, Number Two calls the hotline to Number One to report his own failures and ask that he be replaced.

Cast

. . . Number Two *

Victor Maddern Victor Jack Maddern (16 March 1928 – 22 June 1993) was an English actor. He was described by ''The Telegraph'' as having "one of the most distinctive and eloquent faces in post-war British cinema." Life and career Born in Seven Kings, ...

. . . Band Master *

Basil Hoskins Basil William Hoskins (10 June 1929 – 17 January 2005) was an English theatre and film actor. Hoskins, a native of Edmonton, London, was educated at the Edmonton County School. Hoskins studied acting at RADA and joined the Nottingham Playhous ...

. . . Number Fourteen * Norman Scace . . . Psychiatric director * Derek Aylward . . . New supervisor *

Hilary Dwyer Hilary Dwyer (6 May 1945 – 30 March 2020), also known as Hilary Heath, was an English actress, businessperson, and film producer. She was best known for her acting roles in films such as '' Witchfinder General'' (1968) and ''Wuthering Heights ...

. . . Number Seventy-Three * Arthur Gross . . . Control room supervisor * Peter Swanwick . . . Supervisor *

Victor Woolf Victor John Woolf (1911–1975) was an English people, English actor, both on stage and on screen. Stage credits include the stage manager in the 1969 West End theatre, West End production of ''Mame (musical), Mame''. Select appearances Film * ...

. . . Shop assistant * Michael Segal . . . Laboratory technician * Margo Andrew . . . Shop kiosk girl * Susan Sheers . . . Female code expert * Jackie Cooper, Fred Haggerty,

Eddie Powell Eddie Powell (9 March 1927 - 11 August 2000) was a British stuntman and actor. Powell performed stuntwork in several films for Hammer Studios, serving as a regular stunt double for Christopher Lee. His credits during this time included portra ...

, George Leech . . . Guardians

Notes

* Several key exterior scenes featuring Patrick McGoohan were filmed on location in

Portmeirion Portmeirion is a tourist village in Gwynedd, North Wales. It was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of an Italian village, and is now owned by a charitable trust. The village is located in the co ...

. None of the other principal actors in this episode appear in actual location footage, although a double is used for Number Fourteen in some location scenes. *

, who plays Number Two, also appears in the episode " Many Happy Returns" as Thorpe. It is left ambiguous as to whether or not it is the same character. * This is one of few episodes where Number Six makes no attempt to escape the Village, or resist its attempts to control or condition him. Instead, he subverts its close monitoring of his behaviour, movements and actions to drive the increasingly paranoid Number Two to breaking point. *The fictional martial art of "kosho" was devised for the prior episode "

It's Your Funeral "It's Your Funeral" is an episode of the allegorical British science fiction TV series, ''The Prisoner''. It was written by Michael Cramoy and directed by Robert Asher and eighth produced. It was the eleventh episode to be broadcast in the UK o ...

". It involves a contest between two helmeted combatants who spring at each other from two trampolines between which is a tank of water. (There is in fact a real martial art called "

Kosho Shorei Ryu Kempo Kosho may refer to: *Emperor Kōshō, the fifth imperial ruler of Japan to appear on the traditional list of emperors * Kōshō, a Japanese era spanning from 1455 to 1457 * Kosho Shorei Ryu Kempo, a martial art system of Kenpo *Koshō, a premodern ...

".) Although "It's Your Funeral" was the eighth episode produced, and "Hammer Into Anvil" the twelfth, some of the kosho footage from the latter episode appears in the previous one, as despite the quick edits some shots of Number Six's opponent are clearly that of Number Fourteen, played by

. *Among the other records seen in the shop are ''

Four Saints in Three Acts ''Four Saints in Three Acts'' is an opera composed in 1928 by Virgil Thomson, setting a libretto written in 1927 by Gertrude Stein. It contains about 20 saints and is in at least four acts. It was groundbreaking in form, content, and for its all-b ...

'', an opera written by American composer

Virgil Thomson Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclass ...

in the 1920s for an all black cast (ground breaking at the time); '' Beyond the Sea'' by

Frank Chacksfield Francis Charles Chacksfield (9 May 1914 – 9 June 1995) was an English pianist, organist, composer, arranger, and conductor of popular light orchestral easy listening music, who had great success in Britain and internationally in the 1950s and e ...

, an English big band and easy listening conductor; and a record by

Annie Fischer Annie Fischer (July 5, 1914April 10, 1995) was a Hungarian classical pianist. Biography Fischer was born into a Jewish family in Budapest and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music with Ernő Dohnányi and Arnold Szekely. She began he ...

, a Hungarian-Jewish classical pianist who fled to Sweden to escape the Nazis. *One of Number Six's provocations is publishing a Spanish quotation from ''

.'' He says, ''Y mas mal in Aldea que se suena,'' but the actual quote from

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best kno ...

's novel is, ''Hay mas mal en el aldehuela que se suena'' There is more evil in the little village than is heard" The newspaper saleswoman, however, reading the quotation that Six has written on a slip of paper, begins with "Hay," and charges him for nine words, the length of the correct Spanish quotation. *When Number Six says "And you see me as the anvil?" he is apparently aware (and Number Two apparently is not) of the George Orwell quote: "It is always the anvil that breaks the hammer, never the other way about."

Broadcast

The broadcast date of the episode varied in different ITV regions of the UK. The episode was first shown at 7:30pm on Friday 1 December 1967 on

and

Grampian Television Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and now named STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isles, Western Isles, Highlands (except Fort William a ...

, on Friday 8 December on

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

, on Sunday 10 December on ATV London, whose broadcasts were also taken up by Southern Television,

Westward Television Westward Television was the first ITV (TV network), ITV franchise-holder for the South West England, South West of England. It held the franchise from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward Television provided a ...

and Tyne-Tees; on Thursday 14 December on

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is th ...

, on Thursday 21 December on

Border Television ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 service provided by ITV (TV channel), ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Anglo-Scottish border, England/Scotland border region, ...

and on Friday 29 December on Granada Television in the North West. The aggregate viewing figures for the ITV regions that debuted the season in 1967 have been estimated at 9.1 million. In Northern Ireland, the episode did not debut until Saturday 9 March 1968, and in Wales, the episode was not broadcast until Wednesday 11 March 1970.

Sources

* – script of episode

References

External links

* {{Subject bar , portal1= Television, portal23=United Kingdom, portal2= 1960s , commons=yes, commons-search=The Prisoner , q=yes, q-search=The Prisoner , d=yes The Prisoner episodes 1967 British television episodes Television episodes directed by Pat Jackson fr:Le Marteau et l'Enclume (Le Prisonnier)