On the Saturday afternoon I joined an hour-long The Prisoner themed walk around Portmeirion village with a guide. He pointed out key locations from the TV series – such as the house occupied by Number Six, the eponymous Prisoner. Today it’s a shop selling Prisoner-themed gifts, including copies of the iconic blazer for £150. Needless to say, I didn’t buy one, though I did get a fridge magnet.
The Dome was Number Two’s house in The Prisoner TV series
The guide pointed out to us how the director had used clever camera angles to make The Village seem larger and more isolated than it actually is. There’s also a lot of trompe l’oeil on the buildings, with painted-on windows making the houses seem grander and more spacious than they really are. Most of the indoor scenes of the series were in fact shot at Borehamwood Studios in London, and the interior of Number Six’s house was at least three times larger than the building is in reality.
The tour was actually more interesting than I had expected, and fortunately you didn’t have to be an über-fan of the TV series to appreciate it. I was pleased though that I had re-watched the first two episodes of the series the previous week so that I had some context to hang it all from.
