''In My Mind'' is a 2017 British

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about

Patrick McGoohan Patrick Joseph McGoohan (; March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an Irish-American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television. Born in the United States to Irish emigrant parents, he was raised in Ireland and Engla ...

and the making of ''

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 ...

'', the late 1960s

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 th ...

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 univers ...

TV series. The documentary was created and narrated by Chris Rodley for the 50th anniversary of the original airing of the TV series in the UK. The film follows the events surrounding Rodley's visit to interview McGoohan in 1983 for a 1984 documentary about the making of the original series. It premiered at 'Fall In', a celebration of the Prisoner TV series held at the original outdoor location of

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 com ...

in north Wales and was released on Blu-ray Disc on 30 October 2017.

Summary

In 1983,

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, the newly created fourth television channel in the UK, repeated all 17 episodes of the original series of ''The Prisoner''. Following the airing of the final episode – " Fall Out" – in 1984, the channel had arranged to create a special one-hour programme discussing the making of the series called ''Six Into One – The Prisoner File''. During the creation of this programme, Chris Rodley flew to California to interview

, the co-creator of the TV series as well as acting, writing, directing and producing the series. Since the original UK broadcast of the series during 1967 and early 1968, McGoohan had given very few interviews about what ''The Prisoner'' meant. Rodley had arranged to interview McGoohan in an empty house in

Laurel Canyon Laurel Canyon is a mountainous neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills region of the Santa Monica Mountains, within the Hollywood Hills West district of Los Angeles, California. The main thoroughfare of Laurel Canyon Boulevard connects the neighb ...

in Los Angeles. The recording of this interview was not used and McGoohan requested that they reconvene and re-shoot the interview in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

. Excerpts from this interview were used in the Channel 4 programme. It was only after McGoohan's death in 2009 that Rodley revisited the original interview and created the ''In My Mind'' documentary about the process of interviewing McGoohan. The documentary includes previously unseen interviews, excerpts from the original series, and portions of McGoohan's 1977 interview in Canada with

Warner Troyer Warner Troyer (6 January 1932 – 15 September 1991) was a Canadian broadcast journalist and writer. Troyer was born in Cochrane, Ontario, the son of Gordon Troyer, a Presbyterian circuit minister. He lost his leg at a young age, and later worke ...

. Additionally, interviews recorded in 1983 are included with

Lew Grade Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 ...

whose company financed the series,

David Tomblin David Tomblin, OBE (18 October 1930 – 20 July 2005) was a film and television producer, assistant director, and director. As a producer, he was best known for ''The Prisoner'' TV series. As a first assistant director, he worked on a number of ...

who wrote the first script (with

George Markstein George Markstein (29 August 1926 – 15 January 1987) was a British journalist and writer of thrillers and teleplays. He was the script editor of the British series ''The Prisoner'' for the first thirteen episodes, and appeared briefly in its ti ...

) and produced the series, writer

Lewis Greifer Lewis Greifer (19 December 1915 – 18 March 2003) was an English writer for television, film, and radio. Greifer was born in London, England. After wartime service in the Royal Air Force (RAF), he pursued a career in journalism and joined the Lon ...

and art director

Jack Shampan Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

. McGoohan's daughter, Catherine, is also interviewed and gives insights into her father's time on the series. McGoohan later saw the cut of the Channel 4 documentary and hated it. He then produced his own interview documentary, known as the ''L.A. Tape'', excerpts of which are shown in the Rodley documentary. The Channel 4 programme ''Six Into One – The Prisoner File'' has never been repeated since first broadcast.

Appearances

- actor, writer, director and producer * Catherine McGoohan - daughter of Patrick McGoohan *

- ITC media owner *

- producer, writer *

- art director *

- writer

Release

The documentary was premiered at the 50th anniversary gathering at

, the village in mid-Wales that was used to portray The Village (the prison 'resort' where McGoohan's character Number Six was incarcerated). It was subsequently released by the Network imprint.

References

External links

* *
Review by the Unmutual Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:In My Mind 2017 films 2017 documentary films British documentary films The Prisoner Documentary films about fandom 2010s English-language films 2010s British films