"The Chimes of Big Ben" 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
Vincent Tilsley
Vincent ( la, Vincentius) is a male given name derived from the Roman name Vincentius, which is derived from the Latin word (''to conquer'').
People with the given name Artists
*Vincent Apap (1909–2003), Maltese sculptor
*Vincent van Gogh ...
and directed by
Don Chaffey
Donald Chaffey (5 August 1917 – 13 November 1990) was a British film director, writer, producer, and art director.
Chaffey's film career began as an art director in 1947, and his directorial debut was in 1953. He remained active in the indu ...
and fifth to be produced. It was the second episode to be broadcast in the UK on
ITV (
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 6 October 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 8 June 1968.
The episode starred
Patrick McGoohan as
Number Six and introduced
Leo McKern
Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. His notable roles include Cla ...
as
Number Two. McKern's Number Two would return for the last two episodes of the series.
Plot summary
The episode opens with the relentlessly cheerful voice of the radio announcer encouraging every Villager to participate in an upcoming crafts show. Number Six is playing chess near the beach when Number Two (
Leo McKern
Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. His notable roles include Cla ...
) joins him. During their conversation, a helicopter lands and an unconscious woman (
Nadia Gray
Nadia Gray (born Nadia Kujnir; 23 November 1923 – 13 June 1994) was a Romanian film actress.
Biography
Gray was born into a Jewish family in Bucharest. Her father moved to Romania from Russia, and her mother was from Akkerman (Bessarabia). ...
) is taken out on a stretcher. Later, Number Six is invited to The Green Dome where he and Number Two watch the woman wake up on the main viewing screen. Number Two says that she is the new Number Eight and that she will be Number Six's new neighbour.
When Number Six returns to his cottage, Number Eight emerges, confused, and asks for directions to The Green Dome. When she returns later, she reveals to him that her name is Nadia, but she claims to be suspicious that he is a Village spy. The following day, Nadia tries to escape by swimming out to sea but is brought back by
Rover
Rover may refer to:
People
* Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian
* Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer
* Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist
Places
* Rover, Arkansas, US
* Rover, Missouri, US
...
and interrogated in the hospital. In response, Number Six makes a deal, agreeing to participate more in Village life – for instance, by entering the craft show – if this puts an end to her torture.
Number Six and Nadia become closer and eventually plan to escape. She tells him that she knows the location of The Village: On the
Baltic coast of
Lithuania about from the Polish border.
At the craft show (where every entry except Number Six's is a depiction of Number Two in some medium), Number Six presents his work, a multi-piece abstract sculpture called "Escape". He is then awarded first prize and uses the "work units" he has won to purchase a tapestry, the entry of one of the other prize winners. At night, he and Nadia escape in his exhibit, which is really a carved boat, using the tapestry as a sail. Rover is suspiciously AWOL.
When they reach land, they meet Nadia's contact. Number Six borrows the contact's watch as his own has stopped. Number Six and Nadia then hide in a packing case as they travel to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. They end up in Number Six's old office and meet his former bosses. When they suspect him of being a
double agent
In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organ ...
, Number Six agrees to tell them why he resigned if Nadia is given protection.
However, as he is about to talk, Number Six hears the familiar
chimes of
Big Ben. He looks at his watch and finds that it shows the same time – not the one hour time difference if the contact had actually been from Lithuania/Poland. Realising he has been tricked, he begins a search of the office and discovers a tape recorder recreating the background sounds of London. He exits the building, finding himself back in The Village, with Nadia standing with Number Two – revealing she was an operative all along.
Cast
*
Leo McKern
Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. His notable roles include Cla ...
. . .
Number Two
*
Nadia Gray
Nadia Gray (born Nadia Kujnir; 23 November 1923 – 13 June 1994) was a Romanian film actress.
Biography
Gray was born into a Jewish family in Bucharest. Her father moved to Romania from Russia, and her mother was from Akkerman (Bessarabia). ...
. . . Nadia
*
Finlay Currie . . . General
*
Richard Wattis
Richard Wattis (25 February 1912 – 1 February 1975) was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s.
Early life
Richard Cameron Wattis was born on 25 February 1912 in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, the ...
. . . Fotheringay
*
Angelo Muscat . . . The Butler
*
Kevin Stoney
Kevin Stoney (22 January 1921 – 22 January 2008) was an English actor. He was best known for his television roles, in which he became familiar for his "portrayal of establishment types".
During the Second World War, Stoney served with the Ro ...
. . . Colonel J.
*
Christopher Benjamin . . . Number Two's assistant
* David Arlen . . . Karel
*
Peter Swanwick . . . Supervisor
* Hilda Barry . . . Number 38
* Jack Le White . . . First Judge
*
John Maxim
John Maxim (20 July 1925 — 20 January 1990), sometimes credited as John Wills, was an English film and television actor.
Career
Between 1958 and 1988, he appeared in six films and nine television productions including the films ''The Fri ...
. . . Second Judge
*
Lucy Griffiths . . . Third Judge
*
Fenella Fielding
Fenella Fielding, OBE (born Fenella Marion Feldman; 17 November 1927 – 11 September 2018) was an English stage, film and television actress who rose to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s, and was often referred to as "England's first lad ...
. . . The Announcer/Telephone Operator (voice only)
Alternative version
During the production of the last four episodes of ''The Prisoner'' series (the episode "
Living in Harmony" was being made) ITC arranged for a press conference to take place at MGM-British studios in Borehamwood on 20 September 1967 - a week before the scheduled broadcast on some British TV channels. At the press coverage Patrick McGoohan (at the start wearing his ''kosho'' uniform, a made-up martial art used in the series) was interviewed inside the cage shown in the episode "
Once Upon a Time
"Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 (according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'') in storytelling in t ...
". Also present was
Angelo Muscat, the mute butler seen in many episodes and
Alexis Kanner. Two episodes – "
Arrival" and "The Chimes of Big Ben" – were shown to the press. The alternative version of "The Chimes of Big Ben" includes a sequence that was later cut where Number Six uses a
triquetrum (an ancient Greek measuring device) to locate the general position of the Village. The end titles also finished with the smaller wheel of the
penny farthing resolving into the Earth while a galaxy of stars fills the bigger wheel and then the canopy on the bicycle. The Earth then expanded to a single word 'POP'.
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 6 October 1967 on
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 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 Sunday 8 October on
ATV London,
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 12 October 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 Friday 13 October 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 Thursday 26 October 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 3 November 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 10.1 million. In Northern Ireland, the episode did not debut until Saturday 13 January 1968, and in Wales, the episode was not broadcast until Wednesday 14 January 1970.
References
Sources
* – script of episode
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chimes of Big Ben, The
The Prisoner episodes
1967 British television episodes
fr:Le Carillon de Big Ben (Le Prisonnier)
it:Episodi de Il prigioniero#I rintocchi del Big Ben