Fall Out Mr. McGoohan!

    Regarding the credits for ‘Fall Out.’ While many names appear in the usual format at the end of each episode, three names appear credited in a different way. The names of Alexis Kanner, Angelo Muscat {although his name does also appear in the regular closing credits of the episode} and Leo McKern, appear on the screen as the action takes place. Number 48 thumbing a lift somewhere on the A20, the Butler about to enter No.1 Buckingham Place, and Number 2 about return to the Establishment within the Houses of Parliament. Possibly so to make the names of these three actors stand out. While Patrick McGoohan is not credited. Apparently he did not want to take an acting credit in ‘Fall Out.’ In fact Patrick McGoohan doesn’t take any credit for this episode whatsoever! However when the Lotus Seven turns off Bridge Street, the single word ‘Prisoner’ appears on the screen. This has always been interpreted by fans and enthusiasts to mean that the man known as Number 6, is still a Prisoner. Except that single word Prisoner is not supposed to suggest that. It was actually the film editors, Noreen Ackland and Eric Boyed-Perkins, way of giving an acting credit to Patrick McGoohan without his name appearing on the screen. However had the name Patrick McGoohan appeared on the screen instead of the word Prisoner, the result would still have been the same. With ‘Fall Out’ ending with the same opening scene to ‘the Prisoner,’ that of a long deserted runway {there should have been the sound of thunder at this point, only the film editors got it wrong, and put the sound effect over Leo Mckern instead} the green, yellow nosed Lotus Seven speeding out of the distance, and face of the Prisoner appearing on the screen, they would still be right. But perhaps without the use of that single word ‘Prisoner,’ the end result might have appeared more shocking as ‘the Prisoner’ is brought full circle, the Prisoner’s end being his beginning in such a vicious circle!

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