Number Two believes that Number Six resigned because he was going to sell out. Using dream manipulation, Number Two tries to determine which one of three possible candidates Number Six was d... Read allNumber Two believes that Number Six resigned because he was going to sell out. Using dream manipulation, Number Two tries to determine which one of three possible candidates Number Six was dealing with.Number Two believes that Number Six resigned because he was going to sell out. Using dream manipulation, Number Two tries to determine which one of three possible candidates Number Six was dealing with.
- 'B'
- (as Annette Carrell)
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
- …
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis is the only episode in which during the opening credits Number Two identifies himself as 'I am Number Two' instead of 'The new Number Two', which strongly suggests that this episode is an immediate sequel to 'The General', especially since Colin Gordon plays Number Two in both episodes.
- GoofsNumber 6 is supposedly under constant surveillance in The Village, and yet he is able to break into Number 14's lab undetected.
- Quotes
[Number Six lets Number Two see a track mark on his wrist. Number Two does not react]
Number Six: Anyone who had nothing to hide would ask where I got it.
Number Two: Where did you get it, Number Six?
Number Six: In my sleep.
Number Six: Oh, you must be restless. Perhaps you need a checkup.
Number Six: I have a favorite doctor.
Number Two: Really?
Number Six: Number Fourteen.
- Alternate versionsWhen "A. B. and C." was screened by the UK Channel 4 in 1983 a badly-abridged print was used, omitting all of Number Fourteen's manipulation of B. This was a rare lapse in Channel 4's usual commitment to screen material in unabridged form.
With a sure feel for "tradecraft" (the inner workings of the spy biz), Anthony Skene scripts a brilliant scenario: Newly arrived at the Village, the deceptively serene detention facility for troublesome spies, Number Fourteen (Sheila Allen) has developed a powerful if dangerous drug that enables a person's dreams to be manipulated by introducing information into the person's subconscious in order to elicit his or her motives or intentions, with all of this able to be projected onto a screen for others to view.
Number Two, convinced that Number Six was about to "sell out" and divulge his sensitive secrets to the highest bidder, has identified three likely accomplices--whom he dubs "A., B. And C."--and the location where all four were likely to have rendezvoused: a lavish party hosted by Parisian socialite Madame Engadine (Katherine Kath). "A" (Peter Bowles) is Number Six's former colleague notorious for his well-publicized defection, "B" (Annette Carell) is a mysterious Mata Hari type with an intriguing relationship to Number Six, and "C" is, at this point, even more mysterious.
So, despite Number Fourteen's protest that her procedure isn't quite ready yet, Number Two charges ahead, spurred on by distressing calls from his superiors demanding results, determined to plumb Number Six's subconscious for its secrets on his resignation and potential sellout.
Being a clever fellow, Number Six, despite being drugged unconscious prior to being delivered to the secret laboratory for his dreamy interrogation, is already piecing together what is going on and formulating how to thwart it. The prominent injection mark on his wrist might be a clue, which brings us to Pat Jackson, a director whose vocabulary lacks the word subtlety.
The most egregious symbol of Jackson's heavy-handed approach--which defuses the rich intrigue of the various scenarios--is the giant red telephone reserved for Number Two's masters that looms menacingly in the foreground, poised to telegraph plot pressure on him, and no amount of milk will dilute his acid indigestion as the obviousness of Number Two's plight stifles "A., B. And C." to the point of eye-rolling irritation.
To his credit, Jackson captures the sumptuous splendor of Engadine's gala affair, a prime Swinging Sixties blowout, particularly during Number Two's psychedelicized third scenario--dig Albert Elms's groovy incidental music!--that overall is reminiscent of Patrick McGoohan's previous series "Danger Man." And in that third scenario, keep an eye on the guest played by Georgina Cookson, who crops up in the subsequent "Prisoner" episode "Many Happy Returns" and who might make you wonder what exactly she was up to here.
With its suggestions of "The Manchurian Candidate" and, in retrospect, subsequent revelations of the Central Intelligence Agency's MK-ULTRA mind-control program and its experiments with psychedelic drugs and subconscious manipulation, "A., B. And C." illustrates the sophisticated mechanics of the tradecraft used to coerce Number Six into divulging his secrets, but the execution is dumb brute force that undercuts the intelligence of "The Prisoner." Remember: The red phone is for telegraphing plot pressure only.
Episode order continuity conundrum: Colin Gordon is the only actor besides Leo McKern to play Number Two more than once; Gordon also appears in "The General," which many sequencings, including the proposed initial UK broadcast order, place after "A., B. And C." However, not only is Gordon's Number Two in "The General" far more relaxed than he is here, where it is made clear that he faces dire consequences should he fail, but in the episode intro for "The General," he states that he is the "new Number Two" whereas in "A., B. And C." he states, "I am Number Two," implying that he is been in the position for some time.
- darryl-tahirali
- Apr 1, 2022