Dance of the Dead (The Prisoner)

"Dance of the Dead"
The Prisoner episode
Episode no.	Episode 8
Directed by	Don Chaffey[1]
Written by	Anthony Skene[1]
Original air date	17 November 1967
Guest stars
Number Two - Mary Morris Doctor - Duncan Macrae Observer - Norma West[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous "Many Happy Returns" Next → "Checkmate"
List of The Prisoner episodes

Dance of the Dead is the eighth episode of the television series The Prisoner.

Synopsis

Number 6 learns that a mysterious Carnival is to be held in the Village. He makes an attempt to escape that night but he is stopped by Rover on the beach. He then collapses due to exhaustion. After coming round he discovers a dead man's body floating in the sea, and using it as a buoy, attempts to send out a message to sea. On that man's person is a radio. When Number 6 tries to reach a high point to listen to it, at first he gets only static and a muffled, seemingly foreign, language channel. Then suddenly there is a mysterious message:

"Nowhere is there more beauty than here. Tonight, when the moon rises, the whole world will turn to silver. Do you understand? It is important that you understand.

"I have a message for you. You must listen. The appointment cannot be fulfilled. Other things must be done tonight. If our torment is to end, if liberty is to be restored, we must grasp the nettle, even though it makes our hands bleed. Only through pain can tomorrow be assured."

Hidden in the caves, Number 6 meets a former colleague who has been broken. Remembering his acquaintance with this man, Number 6 refers to him by name: Roland Walter Dutton. Dutton says he has told his captors all he knows, but they believe he is withholding further secrets, and they will soon be employing harsher methods to extract the information from him, destroying his mind in the process.

Later, Number 2 tells Number 6 that the body he floated out to sea has been discovered, and the corpse will be altered to resemble Number 6, so that the outside world will assume he has died at sea. The Carnival ends in a courtroom session with Number 6 on trial for the possession of the radio. Number 6 asks for Roland Walter Dutton to be called as a character witness, but when Dutton is revealed he is dressed in a Jester's costume, and is clearly a mindless vegetable. The trial ends with Number 6 being sentenced to death; he is pursued through the corridors of the town hall by enraged Villagers, but escapes into a back room. There Number 2 informs him that "they don't realise you're already dead". Number 6 swears that he'll never give in to the Village. In the final line of the episode Number 2 wryly observes, "Then how very uncomfortable for you, old chap!"

Additional guest cast

• Town crier - Aubrey Morris
• Psychiatrist - Bee Duffell
• Day supervisor - Camilla Hasse
• Dutton - Alan White
• Night supervisor - Michael Nightingale
• Night maid - Patsy Smart
• Maid - Denise Buckley
• Postman - George Merritt
• Flowerman - John Frawley
• Lady in corridor - Lucy Griffiths
• Doctor - William Lyon Brown
• The Announcer/Telephone Operator: Fenella Fielding (voice only)

Trivia

• The music box theme heard throughout is the original theme from Josette du Pres' music box in the classic gothic soap Dark Shadows.
• Although this is not the only episode in which a female Number Two is seen, it is the only one in which her voice is heard in the opening dialogue.
• The small transistor radio that Number 6 listens to is a Juliette brand 7 transistor model. ^[2]

References

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} episode credits
2. ^ Juliette 7 Transistor Radio

Bibliography

• Fairclough, Robert, ed. The Prisoner: The Original Scripts. vol. 1. foreword by Lewis Greifer. Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 978-1903111765. OCLC 61145235.  - script of episode

External links

• The Prisoner: Dance of the Dead at the Internet Movie Database