The Schizoid Man (1967 episode)

"The Schizoid Man" is a television episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It was first broadcast on 27 October 1967.

Plot summary
As the episode begins, Number Six is assisting Number Twenty-four ("Alison"), a telepathic young woman, in practising mind reading with Zener cards. In an extremely complex plot of bluff and double bluff, Number Two brings a lookalike of Number Six, referred to as "Number Twelve", to The Village. Number Twelve (also played by McGoohan, apart from a few shots with a double) is not a clone, but an agent of The Village who happens to bear a very strong resemblance to Number Six.

The real Number Six is subjected to an intensive course of aversion therapy, altering his tastes and instincts, and training him to do everything left-handed. He is drugged to wipe his memory of the treatment. When he awakes, he is treated as "Number Twelve", while the lookalike assumes the role of Number Six. The real Number Six is informed by Number Two of the plan to break "Number Six" (the impostor) by convincing him that he is not Number Six at all.

Six and Twelve engage in various challenges to prove which is the real Number Six; the aversion therapy allows the impostor to behave more like Number Six than the real one does. In the presence of Number Two and Number Six, Number Twelve is challenged to demonstrate that his fingerprints are Number Six's. They are. He also has his characteristic left wrist mole, which Number Six has lost. Finally, Number Twenty-four is summoned because she supposedly has a unique "mental bond" with the real Number Six, but they fail a test with the Zener cards.

Just as he appears to be "breaking", the real Number Six mentally overcomes his brainwashing when he discovers a bruise on his fingernail that he got when Number Twenty-four tried to get his picture - a bruise that, furthermore, has migrated from the base of his fingernail to midway, confirming that days or weeks have passed, not the single day shown on his calendar. He then gives himself an electric shock to reverse the therapy. He also physically overcomes the impostor, who reveals his name as Curtis. After being forced to reveal his password and remove the fake mole from his wrist, Curtis escapes and is then mistakenly killed by Rover.

Pretending to be Curtis, Number Six reports to Number Two that "Number Six is dead. Rover got him." Having "failed", he is to return to report failure. He is put blindfolded onto the helicopter to leave The Village. He believes himself to have duped Number Two into letting him escape, but the helicopter promptly returns to The Village. Number Two reveals that he deduced the truth when Number Six agreed to give his regards to Number Twelve's wife, Susan, who died a year ago.

Cast

 * Patrick McGoohan as The Prisoner

Guest Stars

 * Jane Merrow as Alison
 * Anton Rodgers as Number Two

with

 * Angelo Muscat as The Butler
 * Earl Cameron as Supervisor
 * Gay Cameron as Number Thirty-Six
 * David Nettheim as Doctor
 * Pat Keen as Nurse
 * Gerry Crampton as 1st Guardian
 * Dinney Powell as 2nd Guardian

Uncredited

 * Patrick McGoohan as Number Twelve
 * Maxwell Craig as Helicopter Guard
 * Peter Madden as Undertaker (opening sequence)
 * Frank Maher as Number Six / Number Twelve
 * George Markstein as Man Behind Desk (Title Sequence)
 * Frank Maher as stunt double (Patrick McGoohan)

Crew

 * Written by Terence Feely
 * Script Editor: George Markstein
 * Produced by David Tomblin
 * Directed by Pat Jackson
 * Executive Producer: Patrick McGoohan
 * Production Manager: Bernard Williams
 * Director of Photography: Brendan J. Stafford B.S.C.
 * Art Director: Jack Shampan
 * Camera Operator: Jack Lowin
 * Editor: Geoffrey Foot G.B.F.E.
 * Theme by Ron Grainer
 * Musical Director: Albert Elms
 * Assistant Director: Gino Marotta
 * Sound Editor: Stanley Smith
 * Sound Recordist: John Bramall
 * Music Editor: Eric Mival
 * Casting Director: Rose Tobias-Shaw
 * Continuity: Doris Martin
 * Set Dresser: Kenneth Bridgeman
 * Make-Up: Eddie Knight
 * Hairdressing: Pat McDermot
 * Wardrobe: Masada Wilmot

Uncredited

 * property master: Mickey O'Toole
 * props: Charlie Parfitt
 * fight choreographer: Frank Maher