Time for Cakes and Ale

Welcome to The Tally Ho, a podcast about the classic TV series The Prisoner. In this episode we look at It’s Your Funeral, the eleventh episode of The Prisoner. When he is tipped off by Number 50 (a terrific guest turn by Annette Andre), Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan) is drawn into an assassination plot apparently targeting the new Number 2 (Derren Nesbitt). As he tries to uncover the truth, Number 6 learns about the “jammers” – Village residents who use misinformation and confusion tactics to undermine the Village hierarchy as a means to resist their captors – and tries to subvert the assassination and prevent Village reprisals against its own citizens. The mystery deepens when he realises that the plot is in fact being orchestrated by the Village and implemented by the new Number 2, and the real target is the retiring Number 2 (Andre van Gyseghem).

Join us as we discuss this unusual episode which deepens the mythology of the show and features an array of new Village characters involved in this intricately plotted caper. We also take detours into some of the behind-the-scenes anecdotes that influenced the shape of the episode, Number 6’s waterskiing skills, the number of Number 2s in the episode and the return of kosho!

We are also joined by the wonderful Annette Andre (who starred as Number 50 in this episode) to discuss her time working on The Prisoner and her incredible career on stage and screen, where she is perhaps best remembered as Jeannie Hopkirk in classic TV show Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). And stay tuned for the news from the world of The Prisoner from Rick Davy of The Unmutual.

Direct download: The Tally Ho – Episode 11: It’s Your Funeral

Annette began her career as a ballet dancer, before moving to the stage and radio, and eventually television. A series of highly regarded television and film appearances, as she moved from her native Australia to Europe, led to the start of a hugely successful acting career. Her celebrated performances include guest appearances on many classic 60s/70s television shows (such as The Avengers, The Saint, The Baron, The Prisoner, The Persuaders, The New Avengers, Return of the Saint) and later roles on Crossroads and Prisoner: Cell Block H. She always maintained her love of the stage and in the 70s, performed in an array of many acclaimed West End and touring productions in the UK and Australia. However, Annette is most well known for her role in the eternally popular Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) as Jeannie Hopkirk opposite Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope.

More recently, Annette has become an advocate of animal welfare issues through her association with the Born Free Foundation and is also an accomplished artist. Annette’s autobiography Where Have I Been All My Life has recently been released by Quoit Media and it is a wonderful read.

We would like to thank Annette for joining us to chat about her role in The Prisoner, and her celebrated career on stage and screen.

Annette runs a wonderful website with news and updates, and can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

To follow our podcast, there are several places to find The Tally Ho. Episodes will be available through our main stream – called Time for Cakes and Ale – from all the usual places including iTunes, Pippa, Stitcher, TuneIn, Android, or directly via our RSS feed . Updates will be posted on our Twitter and Facebook pages. Of course, our episodes will also be available for direct download on this website.

You can find all of our 2018 Tally Ho episodes, beginning with Arrival, right here! The page is updated with each new edition of the podcast.

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The Tally Ho episodes will run concurrently with our regular Time for Cakes and Ale ones and are available via our main podcast feed. Find out more here.