Time for Cakes and Ale

Welcome to The Tally Ho, a new podcast about the classic TV series The Prisoner.

In this episode we look at The Schizoid Man, the fifth episode of The Prisoner. Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan) is pitted against his doppelgänger Number 12 who has assumed Number 6’s identity within The Village. Number 2 (Anton Rogers) oversees the elaborate ruse to make Number 6 doubt his own perception of himself and question his identity. Meanwhile, Number 24 (Jane Merrow) is drawn into the web to perpetuate this intricate plan.

Join us as we discuss this expertly plotted tale of bluff and double-bluff, and take a detour into the striking similarities with Dale Cooper’s arc in the recent revival of Twin Peaks, muse on the clever use of Hamlet, and get distracted by the appearance of so many doubles.

We are also joined by the wonderful Jane Merrow to discuss her time working on The Prisoner and her extensive career on stage and screen in both the UK and the US, and her recent foray into independant filmmaking.

Direct download: Episode 5: The Schizoid Man

Jane guest-starred in many classic ITC shows of the 60s, including multiple episodes of Danger Man where she worked with Patrick McGoohan, The Avengers, The Saint, Man in a Suitcase and Randell and Hopkirk (Deceased), as well as many BBC drama productions.

Her role in The Lion in Winter alongside Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn earned her a Golden Globe nomination. In the US she appeared in many cult classics of the 80s including The Incredible Hulk, Magnum, P.I., The Six Million Dollar Man, Airwolf, MacGyver, St. Elsewhere, and Mission: Impossible where she guest-starred with Leonard Nimoy.

More recently, together with Patricia Doyle, Jane has produced a series of short films based on classic horror tales under the banner New Chilling Tales. A teaser trailer for one of our favourites – The Yellow Wallpaper – can be watched below, and more information is available on her website. They are all available on DVD and can also be watched online on Jane’s YouTube Channel.

Jane runs a wonderful blog where she discusses her own career and her thoughts on film and television. She can be found on Twitter @janemerrow. A huge thank you to Jane for joining us for a chat!

We also get a news round-up from Rick Davy of The Unmutual on what’s happening in the world of The Prisoner. More details about the Patrick McGoohan celebration event at Elstree, mentioned by Rick, and organised by The Unmutual Website and Quoit Media can can found here.

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.

If you enjoy our podcast, please subscribe, leave us a review, and let us know what you think by getting in touch on Twitter, Facebook and here on the website. We’d love to hear from you!

Be seeing you!

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.