The Village (The Prisoner)
Encyclopedia
The Prisoner
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
where the main character, Number Six
Number Six (The Prisoner)
Number Six is the central fictional character in the 1960s television series The Prisoner, played by Patrick McGoohan. In the AMC remake, the character is played by Jim Caviezel, renamed "Six"....
, is held with other former spies and operatives. The theme of the series is his captors' attempts to extract information from him and his attempts to learn the identity of Number One and escape.
Description
Many Happy Returns (Prisoner episode)
Many Happy Returns is the seventh episode of the television series The Prisoner.-Additional guest cast:* Group Captain - Brian Worth* Commander - Richard Caldicot* Gunther - Dennis Chinnery* Ernst - Jon Laurimore* Gypsy girl - Nike Arrighi...
", it is said to be on the coast of Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
or southern Portugal, possibly an island, and is located by Number Six in this area while making reconnaissance passes in an aircraft. Prior to this, in "The Chimes of Big Ben", it is claimed to be located in the vicinity of Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
and Poland, on the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
, though this may be part of an elaborate plot by whoever controls the Village. (The episode states "in Lithuania, 30 miles from the Polish border".) In the unbroadcast version of the episode "The Chimes of Big Ben", Number Six constructs a device that allows him to work out the Village's location; this scene was cut presumably to remove the reference to navigation by stars which would have allowed an estimation of the Village's region, at the least. This version of the episode is not considered part of the series canon.
Finally, the series finale episode, "Fall Out
Fall Out (The Prisoner)
"Fall Out" is the seventeenth and final episode of the allegorical British science fiction series The Prisoner, which starred Patrick McGoohan as the incarcerated Number Six...
", strongly suggests that it is located in England near London, and shows a sign for a road which is in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. Number Six and other characters are able to drive from the Village (or at least the Degree Absolute interrogation facility which may or may not be attached to The Village) to central London, indicating a location in Great Britain. Although a line of dialogue in "Many Happy Returns" has a character speculating that the Village is on an island, this is never confirmed in the series, and in fact all given locations (save for that in "Fall Out") should be considered unreliable evidence given the fact they are mentioned as part of a deception aimed at getting Number Six to reveal why he resigned from his secret British government job.
The Italianate architecture
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
of the Village is somewhat deceptive as the interiors of the buildings are frequently Georgian, 1960s 'Mod', or in a number of instances, an oddly sparse kind of 'ultra modern' design. Throughout the Village, music plays in the background, nearly all of it alternating between rousing marching band music and lullabies, periodically interrupted by public announcements. The media and signage consistently incorporate sailing and resort themes.
The Village has a logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
in the form of a canopied penny-farthing
Penny-farthing
Penny-farthing, high wheel, high wheeler, and ordinary are all terms used to describe a type of bicycle with a large front wheel and a much smaller rear wheel that was popular after the boneshaker, until the development of the safety bicycle, in the 1880s...
bicycle which appears on almost everything, including the daily newspaper called the Tally Ho. Exactly who operates the Village is deliberately obscured. Ostensibly, the Village is run by a democratically elected council, with a popularly-elected executive officer known as "Number Two
Number Two (The Prisoner)
Number Two was the title of the chief administrator of The Village in the 1967-68 British television series The Prisoner. More than 17 different actors appeared as holders of the office during the 17-episode series .The first...
" presiding over it and the Village itself, although internal dialogue indicates that the entire process is rigged. "Work units" or "credits" serve as currency
Currency
In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
in its shops, and are kept track of with a hole-punched credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
.
The exact size of the environs of the Village is never established on screen. Besides the townsite, which is known to include a hospital building, there are forested, mountainous and coastal areas. The Village is large enough that one episode ("Living in Harmony
Living in Harmony
"Living in Harmony" is an episode of the 1967-68 television series The Prisoner. It differs from most other episodes of the series in that it does not begin with the show's standard opening credits sequence...
") established that an entire Old West town was built somewhere in the vicinity. In "Arrival
Arrival (The Prisoner)
"Arrival" is the title of the first episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 29 September 1967 and was first broadcast in the United States on CBS on 1 June 1968....
" (and other episodes) Number Six views the Village from the air, yet is apparently unable to spot any surrounding towns or cities. In other episodes (depending upon the camera angle), buildings can clearly be seen on the far side of the bay. Nevertheless, all maps of the Village seen in the series display little beyond the central townsite.
Filming locations
Scenes of the Village were filmed in the grounds of Clough Williams-EllisClough Williams-Ellis
Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC was an English-born Welsh architect known chiefly as creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales.-Origins, education and early career:...
' Italianate Hotel Portmeirion
Portmeirion
Portmeirion is a popular 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....
, a resort near Penrhyndeudraeth
Penrhyndeudraeth
Penrhyndeudraeth is a village and community in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. It is located between Traeth Mawr , the now largely reclaimed estuary of the Afon Glaslyn, and Traeth Bach , the estuary of the Afon Dwyryd. The village is close to the mouth of the Afon Dwyryd on the A487 from...
in North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
. Principal location shooting took place over four weeks in September 1966, with a return visit for additional, second unit-style shots for later episodes in March 1967. Sections of the resort (such as Number 6's residence interior with exterior) were replicated at MGM Borehamwood
Borehamwood
-Film industry:Since the 1920s, the town has been home to several film studios and many shots of its streets are included in final cuts of 20th century British films. This earned it the nickname of the "British Hollywood"...
Studios in England. Later episodes were shot almost entirely on the sets on MGM's sound stages and backlot and locations within easy reach of the studio at Borehamwood, (e.g., in "It's Your Funeral
It's Your Funeral
It's Your Funeral is the eleventh episode of the television series The Prisoner. In this episode, a young successor to Number 2 plots to assassinate the retiring Number 2 and ensure his own success in the organization. -Plot summary:...
", "A Change of Mind
A Change of Mind
A Change of Mind is the twelfth episode of the television series The Prisoner, originally broadcast on 15 December 1967.-Synopsis:Number 6 is seen pursuing his daily exercise routine in the woods. Two thugs arrive and accuse him of being antisocial for not using the community gym, and a fight...
", "Living in Harmony", and "The Girl Who Was Death
The Girl Who Was Death
"The Girl Who Was Death" is a television episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 18 January 1968...
"), and by reusing Portmeirion footage from earlier episodes the production company was able to save a great deal of money that further principal photography at Portmeirion would have cost.
Village infrastructure
There is an extensive network of tunnels and caverns under the Village, connecting many of the public buildings, and a number of secret facilities and support services (plumbing, waste disposal, observation cameras, etc.). These are generally off-limits to all prisoners above, but they appear to be extensively utilised, given the amount of motorcycle traffic observed in them in the final episode. There appears to be a large liquid-filled underground chamber that looks similar to a lava lampLava lamp
A lava lamp is a decorative novelty item that contains blobs of colored wax inside a glass vessel filled with clear liquid; the wax rises and falls as its density changes due to heating from a incandescent light bulb underneath the vessel. The appearance of the wax is suggestive of pāhoehoe lava,...
, probably a short distance off the coast, in which Rover
Rover (The Prisoner)
Rover is a fictional entity from the 1967 British television program The Prisoner, and was an integral part of the way 'prisoners' were kept within The Village. It was depicted as a floating white ball that could coerce, and, if necessary, disable inhabitants of The Village, primarily Number Six...
resides when it is not being used. The normal background display of the large monitor in Number Two's office is a view of this chamber, and lava lamps are visible in virtually every public building in the Village, giving rise to the speculation that these lamps may have functioned as some extension of Rover itself. This was never directly referred to on screen.
The Girl Who Was Death
"The Girl Who Was Death" is a television episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 18 January 1968...
", the population includes several children, implying that some prisoners are so resigned to their fates that they have married and started families.
The Village has its own daily newspaper (The Tally Ho), a cinema, a statue garden, a retirement home, a gymnasium, a fully equipped hospital, taxi service, a radio station (like George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
's telescreen
Telescreen
Telescreens are most prominently featured in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, although notably they have an earlier appearance in the 1936 Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times...
s in Nineteen-Eighty-Four, the receivers cannot be turned off), a television studio (used mostly for news reports and announcements), a restaurant, a music shop, several other stores, and its own graveyard. In addition, there are extensive recreation facilities. The local economy functions on a credit chit system. The final episode also revealed that the Village conceals a missile launch facility deep underground.
The exact dimensions of the Village are never explicitly defined. Although a map of the Village is shown on screen on several occasions, it only seems to show the core residential and business area of the village, which is shown as being surrounded on three sides by mountain ranges and the fourth by "the sea". The episode "Living in Harmony
Living in Harmony
"Living in Harmony" is an episode of the 1967-68 television series The Prisoner. It differs from most other episodes of the series in that it does not begin with the show's standard opening credits sequence...
" reveals that the Village is large enough to house a complete western town mock-up (presumably an area ear-marked for "official" use, and therefore not shown on the Village maps). Other episodes also indicate that the Village includes an expanse of beach and seaside cliffs (with caves). The jurisdiction of the Village over water is said to extend for several miles, or otherwise the range of Rover, the Village guardian system.
There is visual evidence in many episodes that the Village also includes large areas of countryside (with residences) as these are often visible in the distance in aerial shots and views looking out to sea.
- The small JeepJeepJeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
-like vehicles used as taxis in the Village are Mini MokeMini MokeThe Mini Moke is a vehicle based on the Mini and designed for the British Motor Corporation by Sir Alec Issigonis. The name comes from "Mini"—the car with which the Moke shares many parts—and "Moke", which is an archaic dialect term for donkey...
s. - The Village's ubiquitous typeface is a modified AlbertusAlbertus (typeface)Albertus is a glyphic, serif typeface designed by Berthold Wolpe in the period 1932 to 1940 for the Monotype Corporation type foundry. Wolpe named the font after Albertus Magnus, the thirteenth-century German philosopher and theologian....
.
Village authorities
Whenever the council is seen, none of its members speak or move in any way.
In actuality, the Village is a brutal dictatorship, best described by Number Six himself as "This farce, this 20th century Bastille
Bastille
The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. The Bastille was built in response to the English threat to the city of...
that pretends to be a pocket democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
." It is ruled by a revolving series of Chief Administrators designated "Number Two", some of whom return to the office after lengthy absences. They vary greatly in personality and in methodology: some of them are quite amiable, some are sadistic, and some are mere bureaucratic functionaries bordering on functional impotence. Number Two appears to be directly answerable to unseen superiors, the shadowy "They" or "Number 1" pulling all the strings from behind the scenes, with direct contact via a red hotline
Hotline
In telecommunication, a hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook...
phone. It appears that Number Two is continually being observed by hidden cameras, and indeed one of the Number Twos confides to Number Six in "The Chimes of Big Ben", "I'm as much of a prisoner here as you are. We're both lifers, my boy!" Whether Number Two literally means that he is a captive is not known for certain; several Number Twos are shown coming and going from the Village at will, and the very first Number Two, when he receives orders regarding his replacement in "Arrival", takes it calmly with understanding (as opposed to other Number Twos such as the one in "A. B. and C.
A. B. and C.
"A. B. and C." is the title of the third episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 13 October 1967 and was first broadcast in the United States on CBS on 22 June 1968....
" who live in fear of such an order). However, when the Number Two of "Chimes of Big Ben" returns in "Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a Time (The Prisoner)
"Once Upon a Time" is the title of the 16th episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan as Number Six...
", it is made clear that it is against his will. In the final episode, "Fall Out
Fall Out
"Fall Out" was the first single released by The Police. It was originally released in May 1977 and then re-released in 1979. "Fall Out" was a 7" single with "Nothing Achieving" on its B-side...
", Number Two makes it clear that he had been kidnapped in much the same way as Number Six, but chose to quickly give in instead of fighting his captors.
The episode "It's Your Funeral
It's Your Funeral
It's Your Funeral is the eleventh episode of the television series The Prisoner. In this episode, a young successor to Number 2 plots to assassinate the retiring Number 2 and ensure his own success in the organization. -Plot summary:...
" suggests that most of the Number Twos encountered in the series are in fact only temporary appointments, standing in for an older Number Two who has been away from the Village for reasons not explained. This Old Number Two eventually returns, ostensibly in order to retire, but becomes the target of an assassination plot by the current "temporary" Number Two.
Exactly who operates the Village is deliberately obscured. At first glance, it appears to be run by Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
types, suggesting it is a holding cell for captured western agents. Later on it appears to be operating with some assistance from British Intelligence, implying that it is a holding area for western agents who have been compromised, or are feared to be untrustworthy by their own agencies. Several of the Number Twos in the course of the show appear to be unclear as to whom they are actually working for, and one explicitly says, "It doesn't matter which side we're working for, my boy! This is the future: one great big happy global Village." Another Number Two implies that both East and West are covertly operating the Village together for unknown reasons. The overall impression given by the series is that some kind of nebulous organisation is manipulating all the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
powers for its own ends.
Village security
Weapons, alcohol, and tools are forbidden in the Village, but there are no walls or visible barriers to prevent escape, and no apparent prison guards. Indeed, aside from Number Two functioning as warden, the Village at first appears to have no real security infrastructure. This is merely a ruse, however, as subsequent episodes reveal that many of the other people in the Village are, in fact, warders planted unobtrusively in the community and reporting back to the current Number Two. It is strongly implied that "They" (the never-revealed masters of the Village) have several plants in the Village as well, whose identities are unknown to Number Two, and who report back to Them directly; one of the more sadistic Number Twos (seen in "Hammer Into AnvilHammer Into Anvil
"Hammer into Anvil" is an episode of the 1960s television program The Prisoner. It is one of the minority of episodes that do not deal with Number Six attempting to escape or the Village authorities attempting to coerce him into revealing information....
") is particularly paranoid
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
about this possibility.
An underground control centre monitors closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
cameras located throughout the Village. Observers continually spy on Villagers and foil escape attempts with the aid of Rover, a large white balloon-like device that chases would-be escapees. The perimeter of the Village is surrounded by a pleasant wooded area, including one or two caves (which may or may not connect to the network of underground tunnels). Beyond this, Rover patrols: if anyone ventures too far from town, they will be intercepted and nudged back towards home. If anyone attempts to escape, Rover will capture them and they wake up in the Village hospital. Rover has also been shown to kill on several occasions; the exact cause of death is not revealed (in the first instance, seen in "Arrival
Arrival (The Prisoner)
"Arrival" is the title of the first episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 29 September 1967 and was first broadcast in the United States on CBS on 1 June 1968....
", the target is "enveloped"/suffocated; this also happens to the victim in "The Schizoid Man
The Schizoid Man (The Prisoner)
The Schizoid Man is an episode of The Prisoner.-Plot:In an extremely complex plot of bluff and double bluff, Number 2 brings a lookalike of Number 6, referred to as "Number 12", to The Village. Number 12 is not a clone, but an "agent" of The Village who happens to bear a very strong resemblance to...
").
Salute (Village farewell) and clothing
Citizens use the phrase "Be seeing you" as a farewell, accompanied by a waving gesture consisting of thumb and forefinger forming a circle over the eye, then tipped forward in a saluteSalute
A salute is a gesture or other action used to display respect. Salutes are primarily associated with armed forces, but other organizations and civil people also use salutes.-Military salutes:...
. This may be a reminder that in the Village you are under constant surveillance; anyone may be a Warder, a stooge working for Number Two—although a simpler theory of the salute could be that the fingers are formed into the shape of a number six. Moreover, the hand gesture resembles the show's revolving penny-farthing
Penny-farthing
Penny-farthing, high wheel, high wheeler, and ordinary are all terms used to describe a type of bicycle with a large front wheel and a much smaller rear wheel that was popular after the boneshaker, until the development of the safety bicycle, in the 1880s...
bicycle logo. In their book, The Official Prisoner Companion, Matthew White and Jaffer Ali state that actress Norma West said that McGoohan told her the gesture was used by early Christians; it was the sign of the fish (the documentary The Prisoner Video Companion, originally released on VHS in the 1980s and later on DVD by A&E, also makes this statement). In Danger Man and Secret Agent, John Drake uses that expression often.
Most (but not all) guards wear the same style of resort clothing and numbered badges as the prisoners, and mingle seamlessly among the general population. Thus, it is nearly impossible for prisoners to determine which Villagers can be trusted and which ones cannot.
Fate of the Village
When last seen in the finale episode, "Fall Out", the Village is evacuated after Number Six primes a missile or rocket (located within a silo beneath the Village) to launch. The episode and the series never reveal what happens to the Village or its people after Number Six finally escapes.The Village did appear again in a DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
mini-series based on the series published in the 1980s, which picked up the story 20 years later. In this version (published later as the graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
, Shattered Visage
Shattered Visage (The Prisoner)
The Prisoner: Shattered Visage is a four-issue comic book mini-series based on The Prisoner, the 1967 television series starring Patrick McGoohan. The name is a reference to Percy Shelley's famous poem Ozymandias, which forms part of the introduction.The series was illustrated by Mister X creator...
), the Village is abandoned and falls into disrepair. Number Six seemingly never left the Village, instead choosing a hermit-like existence as its Number One. This existence comes to an end when Number Two writes a book about the Village, inspiring a joint effort by American and British agents to investigate the site. However, a young woman washes ashore before their arrival, awakening to find herself dubbed Number Six. One and Six are able to establish an odd camaraderie before Two arrives, seeking to complete unfinished business. Ultimately, in this version of the storyline, the Village is destroyed in a massive explosion.
In reality, Portmeirion
Portmeirion
Portmeirion is a popular 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....
continues to be a popular tourist attraction in Wales, and frequently hosts events related to celebrating the series. The building in Portmeirion shown in the series as Number Six's house was later converted into a shop selling Prisoner-related souvenirs, with a penny-farthing bicycle parked outside.
In other media
In The SimpsonsThe Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes
The Computer Wore Menace Shoes
“The Computer Wore Menace Shoes” is the sixth episode of The Simpsons twelfth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 3, 2000. In the episode, Homer buys a computer and creates his own website to spread gossip...
", Homer Simpson
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
is imprisoned in a location called "The Island" after accidentally uncovering a secret flu shot scheme. He escapes by stealing Number Six's raft (which he had spent thirty years building) and uses a spork to pop the Rover sent to capture him. Patrick McGoohan guest-starred in the episode, reprising the role of Six. It is revealed in this episode that the reason for Six's imprisonment was his invention of the bottomless peanut bag.
In Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
's crossover comic, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier is an original graphic novel in the comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill. It was the last volume of the series to be published by DC Comics. Although the third book to be...
, the Village is stated as having been built by the Thought Police
Thought Police
The Thought Police is the secret police of Oceania in George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.It is the job of the Thought Police to uncover and punish thoughtcrime and thought-criminals, using psychology and omnipresent surveillance from telescreens to monitor, search, find and kill...
to house enemies of Big Brother. After the death of Big Brother and the collapse of the Ingsoc
Ingsoc
Ingsoc is the political ideology of the totalitarian government of Oceania in George Orwell's dystopian science fiction novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.-Fictionalised origin of Ingsoc:...
regime, MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
continues to operate the Village. In the comic, the Village is specifically stated as being located in Portmeirion.
In the TV series The Invisible Man
The Invisible Man (2000 TV series)
The Invisible Man is a Sci-Fi American television series starring Vincent Ventresca, Paul Ben-Victor, Eddie Jones, Shannon Kenny and Michael McCafferty...
, the episode "A Sense of Community" featured a village called "The Community" where troublesome spies were forced to 'retire' to.
In the 2009 remake, the Village is located in the middle of a desert, instead of by the sea. The area that was used for filming was Swakopmund
Swakopmund
Swakopmund is a city on the coast of northwestern Namibia, west of Windhoek, Namibia's capital. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. As a seaside resort, the weather is cooler here in December to January so the territorial administration moves to Swakopmund for these months...
, Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
.
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
wrote a song that appeared on their 1982 release of The Number of the Beast
The Number of the Beast (album)
The Number of the Beast is the third studio album by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 29 March 1982 through EMI and on its sister label Capitol the US. The 1998 re-issue was released by EMI and Sanctuary/Columbia in the US...
called "The Prisoner". The group later wrote a second composition that appeared on the Powerslave
Powerslave
Powerslave is the fifth studio album by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 3 September 1984 on EMI in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in the US ....
album called "Back in the Village".
In the second volume of the Tales of the Shadowmen
Tales of the Shadowmen
Tales of the Shadowmen is an annual anthology of short stories edited by Jean-Marc Lofficier and Randy Lofficier, published by . As of 2010, seven volumes have been released, with a eighth slated for late 2011...
anthology series, Xavier Mauméjean
Xavier Mauméjean
Xavier Mauméjean is a French writer born in 1963. He teaches philosophy at a college in Valenciennes, Northern France.-Books in French:* Les Mémoires de l'Homme-Eléphant, Le Masque * Gotham, Le Masque...
's short story "Be Seeing You!" describes the origin of the Village. It was established in 1912 by Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, the original Number 1, to interrogate his enemies, including Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
.