Checkmate (The Prisoner)

Last updated

"Checkmate"
The Prisoner episode
Checkmate The Prisoner.jpeg
Episode no.Series 1
Episode 9
Directed by Don Chaffey
Written byGerald Kelsey
Production code3
Original air date24 November 1967 (1967-11-24)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Dance of the Dead"		Next →
"Hammer into Anvil"
List of episodes

"Checkmate" is an episode of the allegorical British science fiction TV series, The Prisoner . It was written by Gerald Kelsey and directed by Don Chaffey and third to be produced. It was the ninth episode to be broadcast in the UK on ITV (ATV Midlands and Grampian) on Friday 24 November 1967 and first aired in the United States on CBS on Saturday 17 August 1968. [1] [2]

Contents

The episode stars Patrick McGoohan as Number Six and features Peter Wyngarde as Number Two. [3]

Plot summary

Number Six is persuaded to participate, as the white queen's pawn, in an oversized game of chess using people as pieces. A rebellious rook (Number Fifty-eight) is taken to the hospital for "evaluation". After the game is completed, Number Six talks with the Chess Master (Number Fourteen), who comments that one can tell who is a prisoner and who a guardian "[B]y their disposition. By the moves they make."

Number Six is later invited to visit the hospital to observe the fate of Number Fifty-eight (the rook), and sees him subjected to Pavlovian mind control treatment. The woman playing the queen (Number Eight), who had fraternised with Number Six during the game, is subjected to hypnosis to make her fall in love with him and report his whereabouts should he attempt to escape again. Number Six shuns her, but seeks an alliance with Number Fifty-eight and other villagers that he now believes he can identify as prisoners, not guardians.

They attempt an escape by making a two-way radio out of various pilfered electronic parts and then hailing a passing ship with a Mayday distress call, pretending to be a crashing airliner. Number Six discovers, however, that again he has been a pawn – Number Fifty-eight had mistaken the strong-minded Number Six for a guardian. Believing that the escape attempt was a test of his loyalty, he reported it all to Number Two. [1]

Cast

Production

"Checkmate" was the third episode to be produced, following on from "Free for All" the second. As this was an early episode in production, there is a reference in "Checkmate" to Number Six being "new" in The Village.

The episode's original title was to be "The Queen's Pawn", a play on the fact that Number Six had recently been in "Her Majesty's service". At the beginning of the episode, the lawn is seen uncovered by chessboard squares; a few moments later, it is shown as the chessboard. [4] The chessboard remained in place for a week during September 1966 during filming of this episode; when it was removed, the grass had been lightened and the pattern is clearly visible in prior episodes. [4]

The chess game is recreated annually by enthusiasts of the programme at their annual convention, held at Portmeirion. [5]

Broadcast

The broadcast date of the episode varied in different ITV regions of the UK. The episode was first shown at 7:30pm on Friday 24 November 1967 on ATV Midlands and Grampian Television, on Friday 1 December on Anglia Television, on Sunday 3 December on ATV London, whose broadcasts were also taken up by Southern Television, Westward Television and Tyne-Tees; on Thursday 7 December on Scottish Television, on Thursday 14 December on Border Television and on Friday 22 December on Granada Television in the North West. The aggregate viewing figures for the ITV regions that debuted the season in 1967 have been estimated at 9.1 million. In Northern Ireland, the episode did not debut until Saturday 2 March 1968, and in Wales, the episode was not broadcast until Wednesday 4 March 1970. [1]

Context

Apart from the obvious metaphor that life is a game of chess, the episode deals with conformity and pressures to conform, particularly peer pressure. Parallels have been drawn with the Milgram experiment, Asch conformity experiments and the Stanford prison experiment. [6] Similar techniques are used to make Number Six conform, hoping he will reveal the secret of his resignation. [6] However, Number Six discovers, as usual, that his trust is misplaced and the distinction between prisoner and warder remains blurred. [7]

The piece played by Number Six in the chess game is the same as that played by Alice throughout the story in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass (1871) – White Queen's pawn.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pawn (chess)</span> Chess piece

The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess. It may move one square directly forward, it may move two squares directly forward on its first move, and it may capture one square diagonally forward. Each player begins a game with eight pawns, one on each square of their second rank. The white pawns start on a2 through h2; the black pawns start on a7 through h7.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rules of chess</span> Rules of play for the game of chess

The rules of chess govern the play of the game of chess. Chess is a two-player abstract strategy board game. Each player controls sixteen pieces of six types on a chessboard. Each type of piece moves in a distinct way. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king; checkmate occurs when a king is threatened with capture and has no escape. A game can end in various ways besides checkmate: a player can resign, and there are several ways a game can end in a draw.

The endgame is the final stage of a chess game which occurs after the middlegame. It begins when few pieces are left on the board.

This glossary of chess explains commonly used terms in chess, in alphabetical order. Some of these terms have their own pages, like fork and pin. For a list of unorthodox chess pieces, see Fairy chess piece; for a list of terms specific to chess problems, see Glossary of chess problems; for a list of named opening lines, see List of chess openings; for a list of chess-related games, see List of chess variants; for a list of terms general to board games, see Glossary of board games.

The fifty-move rule in chess states that a player can claim a draw if no capture has been made and no pawn has been moved in the last fifty moves. The purpose of this rule is to prevent a player with no chance of winning from obstinately continuing to play indefinitely or seeking to win by tiring the opponent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V. R. Parton</span> English chess variant inventor (1897–1974)

Vernon Rylands Parton was an English chess enthusiast and prolific chess variant inventor, his most renowned variants being Alice chess and Racing Kings. Many of Parton's variants were inspired by the fictional characters and stories in the works of Lewis Carroll. Parton's formal education background, like Lewis Carroll's, was in mathematics. Parton's interests were wide and he was a great believer in Esperanto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cylinder chess</span> Chess variant

Cylinder chess is a chess variant. The game is played as if the board were a cylinder, with the left side of the board joined to the right side. Cylinder chess is one of six chess variants described by the Arabic historian Ali al-Masudi in 947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Chimes of Big Ben</span> 2nd episode of the 1st series of The Prisoner

"The Chimes of Big Ben" is an episode of the allegorical British science fiction TV series, The Prisoner. It was written by Vincent Tilsley and directed by Don Chaffey and fifth to be produced. It was the second episode to be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Friday 6 October 1967 and first aired in the United States on CBS on Saturday 8 June 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. B. and C.</span> 3rd episode of the 1st series of The Prisoner

"A. B. and C." is an episode of the allegorical British science fiction TV series The Prisoner. It was written by Anthony Skene and directed by Pat Jackson and eleventh produced. It was the third episode to be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Friday 13 October 1967 and first aired in the United States on CBS on Saturday 22 June 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hexagonal chess</span> Set of chess variants played on a board with hexagonal cells

Hexagonal chess is a group of chess variants played on boards composed of hexagon cells. The best known is Gliński's variant, played on a symmetric 91-cell hexagonal board.

Free for All (<i>The Prisoner</i>) 4th episode of the 1st series of The Prisoner

"Free for All" is an episode of the allegorical British science fiction TV series The Prisoner. It was written and directed by Patrick McGoohan and the second episode to be produced. It was the fourth episode to be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Friday 20 October 1967 and first aired in the United States on CBS on Saturday 29 June 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Girl Who Was Death</span> 15th episode of the 1st series of The Prisoner

"The Girl Who Was Death" is an episode of the allegorical British science fiction TV series, The Prisoner. It was written by Terence Feely and directed by David Tomblin and was the sixteenth produced. It was broadcast in the UK on ITV on Thursday 18 January 1968 and aired in the United States on CBS on 7 September 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">It's Your Funeral</span> 11th episode of the 1st series of The Prisoner

"It's Your Funeral" is an episode of the allegorical British science fiction TV series, The Prisoner. It was written by Michael Cramoy and directed by Robert Asher and eighth produced. It was the eleventh episode to be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Friday 8 December 1967 and first aired in the United States on CBS on Saturday 10 August 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Change of Mind</span> 12th episode of the 1st series of The Prisoner

"A Change of Mind" is an episode of the allegorical British science fiction TV series, The Prisoner. It was written by Roger Parkes and directed by Patrick McGoohan and ninth produced. It was the twelfth episode to be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Friday 15 December 1967 and first aired in the United States on CBS on Saturday 24 August 1968.

A pawnless chess endgame is a chess endgame in which only a few pieces remain, and no pawns. The basic checkmates are types of pawnless endgames. Endgames without pawns do not occur very often in practice except for the basic checkmates of king and queen versus king, king and rook versus king, and queen versus rook. Other cases that occur occasionally are (1) a rook and minor piece versus a rook and (2) a rook versus a minor piece, especially if the minor piece is a bishop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Checkmate pattern</span> Chess patterns

In chess, several checkmate patterns occur frequently enough to have acquired specific names in chess commentary. By definition, a checkmate pattern is a recognizable/particular/studied arrangements of pieces that delivers checkmate. The diagrams that follow show these checkmates with White checkmating Black.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of chess</span> Overview of and topical guide to chess

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chess:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cross chess</span> Chess variant

Cross chess is a chess variant invented by George R. Dekle Sr. in 1982. The game is played on a board comprising 61 cross-shaped cells, with players each having an extra rook, knight, and pawn in addition to the standard number of chess pieces. Pieces move in the context of a gameboard with hexagonal cells, but Cross chess has its own definition of ranks and diagonals.

Chess on a really big board is a large chess variant invented by Ralph Betza around 1996. It is played on a 16×16 chessboard with 16 pieces and 16 pawns per player. Since such a board can be constructed by pushing together four standard 8×8 boards, Betza also gave this variant the alternative names of four-board chess or chess on four boards.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Pixley, Andrew (2007). The Prisoner: A Complete Production Guide. Network. p. 195.
  2. ↑ "Checkmate". anorakzone.com. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  3. ↑ Davies, Steven Paul (2007). The Prisoner Handbook. Pan. p. 109. ISBN   978-0-230-53028-7.
  4. 1 2 "FACTS 1 – 50". Archived from the original on 21 August 2008. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
  5. ↑ "2008 Convention". Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
  6. 1 2 "The Prisoner: Checkmate". 13 May 2007. Archived from the original on 22 December 2008. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
  7. ↑ White & Ali 1988 , p. 78

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.