Prisoner remake splashes the cash

Although I’m trying to reserve judgement, it’s hard not to engage Sceptic-mode and think of the forthcoming Prisoner remake as nothing more than an attempt to cash in on something successful (you may not understand it, but the original is still very popular 40+ years after it first puzzled its viewers) as hard pressed TV show makers look for new plunder to justify their astronomical pay packets. Sky One is reviving Blake’s Seven, and BBC1 has a ‘reimagining’ of Survivors scheduled for arrival in the autum.

We’ve already ticked the box requiring “names” to be involved with the remake:

Jim Caviezel will play the title role of Number Six and two-time Oscar nominee Ian McKellen will co-star playing the role of Number Two. No. 313 will be played by Ruth Wilson, a BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated actress. No. 4-15 will be played by Hayley Atwell, being pushed in numerous TV productions at the moment, and a film actress. No. 147 will be played by Lennie James who has had a prolific career on television, film and in theater. No. 11-12 will be played by Jamie Campell-Bower, best known for his portrayal of Anthony, alongside Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd.

There’s been some dire viral marketing,  unveiled at Comic-Con, where delegates were invited to seekthesix.com. (Watching paint dry would have been more fun than this effort.) The convention floor was  also populated with dozens of numbered men in black suits who randomly uttered the iconic phrase “I Am Not A Number”, but no other clues to their purpose other than “the truth is right beside you”. (Inspired idea, wan’t it?)

In another Sceptic-mode moment, I see that the original run of six episodes (six? that was a handy coincidence) “could” be increased, and the mini-series may run longer than stated in the original announcement.

It would seem that the location for the series is just a short hop around the corner, in sunny Namibia.

I wonder if a note about the producers having been “in touch” with Patrick McGoohan, but noting that at the moment, he’s not scheduled to appear in the mini-series, is a euphemism for his reply. We’ll see.

The TV execs are desparate for something to keep their audiences, because recent series like “Lost” and the like start of looking interesting and intriguing, but then suffer from having no real plot, and a dependence on dolls, hunks, and gossip to maintain interest, or like the new “Bionic Woman” which I think I saw has just been cancelled, spend too much time on angst and deep-thinking, instead of just getting on with the action, which their more successful predecessors did.

Keep up to date on the remake faster than me by checking the Unmutual website, where developments are being watched much more closely.