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The original scary spy balloon
Decades before the recent spy scandal, a TV show terrified us with an accidental prop
When the Chinese balloon scandal first broke, I posted a clip from “The Prisoner” while making a joke that the balloon was actually Rover.
Now that balloons have become a thing, I wanted to go back and explain the reference for those who didn’t get it — because I’m the annoying type of man who loves Explaining Things.
“The Prisoner,” which I’ve posted about before, was one of the most inventive TV shows of the 1960s, decades ahead of its time. It was a British show, created by and starring Patrick McGoohan, which also aired here in the U.S. I was too young to have seen or appreciated it on its original U.S. run, but I do remember seeing some early reruns, and being terrified by Rover.
The premise of “The Prisoner” is that a British agent (McGoohan) who has just resigned his position is abducted — by whom, he doesn’t know — and taken to a beautiful but surreal facility called The Village. (Nearly) everyone in the village is referred to by number — McGoohan’s character is Number 6. You can never be certain who in the village is an inmate and who is a jailer, and so you never know whom you can trust.
