The Tally Ho talks Titan’s ‘The Prisoner’ comic with David Leach and Peter Milligan, plus Q&A with Colin Lorimer

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

In this special episode we look at the new comic book series based on The Prisoner from Titan Comics. We chat to editor David Leach and writer Peter Milligan about the genesis of the project and their interest in the show, and they give us a hint at what to expect! We also had the chance to ask artist Colin Lorimer a few questions. Check out our Q& A below.


Direct download: The Tally Ho talks The Prisoner comic with David Leach and Peter Milligan

A Q&A with artist Colin Lorimer:

Have you always been a fan of The Prisoner?
I would have discovered it in the late 70’s, early 80’s and at being such a young age I obviously hadn’t a clue what was going on. However it’s visuals and sheer weirdness did leave a lasting impression on me. On revisiting it again years later I became a huge fan of the show and remain so this day.

The Prisoner had a very distinctive visual style. How did you go about translating such an iconic aesthetic into the comics?
I purposely went for quite a traditional, old-school style with the art so that it had an almost ‘aged’ quality to it. When I was checking out Joana’s first colour pass my son looking over my shoulder remarked that it had an old seventies 2000AD vibe to it. I can live with that.

Are there any particular features of The Prisoner that you have enjoyed drawing?
I love drawing architecture so being surrounded by tons of reference photos of the wonder that is Portmeirion (The Village) has been a true joy. Also, the 60’s vibe with the clothing, etc, is something that I’ve always been drawn to, so that’s a plus.

Are the visuals already incorporated and described in Peter’s script, or have you had flexibility in how you interpret the material?
Peter’s scripts are quite succinct in their descriptions and he’ll pop in the odd reference picture if there’s something specific he had in mind but like most good writer/artist relationships it’s a pretty organic process.

Did you look at any of the Kirby/Kane adaptation?
I only found out about that quite recently through that glorious two-page spread of The Village that’s been floating around the internet. Kirby really played to the beat of his own drum and like most projects he worked on added a visual flair that most of us can only dream about. I’ll be picking up the new Titan print of this for sure. I should add that plug is completely unintentional.

The Village. Artwork by Colin Lorimer, colours by Joana Lafuente. Copyright Titan Comics.

Much of the look of The Prisoner comes from the wonderful architecture of Clough Williams-Ellis who built Portmeirion. Have you visited the village? How much leeway do you have to depart from the geography of the original show, which often took liberties with the landscape of Portmeirion itself?
As mentioned above, I’m trying my best to be as faithful to the original series as possible and getting The Village right is key to that. Of course I do have to fudge and cheat some aspects as I just don’t have the appropriate reference, but the fact that this book is set fifty years after the original series gives us a bit of leeway as we can expect a few things may have changed in the interim.

You worked before with colourist Joana Lafuente on The X-Files and Millennium, which captured the look and feel of the original shows. How does the relationship work between an artist and a colourist when putting together a finished comic, especially for an adaptation?
Yes, those projects are what brought us together. I have Denton J. Tipton at IDW to thank for the introduction. Joana and I have a really good rapport and have worked on numerous projects together (some outside of comics). In regards to The Prisoner we tried to keep it as close in tone to the original series as possible adding some comicbook flourishes where we could. I suggested the films of Powell and Pressburger and the art of Andy Warhol and Peter Blake for inspiration.

As well as The Prisoner, can you tell us about any other projects you are working on?
I’ve another book in the works that I’m writing and drawing which should hit before the end of the year. I can’t say too much about it at this point bar to say that like my last book, The Hunt, it’s another horror tale.

We’ve had a preview of the first issue and we love it! We’ll review the series later in the year. Issue 1 of the four-issue The Prisoner miniseries is availble on April 25th. There are several variant covers available for the first issue:

Cover 1: Art By Mike Allred. Colors By Laura Allred
Cover 2: Photo cover
Cover 3: Art By Jack Kirby. Inks by Mike Royer. Colors by Mike Allred
Cover 4: Art By Colin Lorimer. Colors By Joana Lafluente
Cover 5: Art by John McCrea. Colors by Michael Spicer
Cover 6: Art by Mike Allred (black and white Cover 1)
Big Finish exclusive available direct from Big Finish, or through a pre-order of Volume 3 of the wonderful The Prisoner audiodrama. Details here.
Diamond UK exclusive featuring the 50th anniversary artwork by Chris Weston.

   

These are available from all good comic book shops and through numerous online comics retailers.

Finally, a huge thanks to David (editor), Peter (writer) and Colin (artwork) and the additional members of the creative team Joana Lafuente (colours) and Simon Bowland (letters). Be seeing you!

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.

The Tally Ho – Episode 4: Free For All

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

In this episode we look at Free For All, the fourth episode of The Prisoner. Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan) runs against Number 2 (Eric Portman) in the Village election. But a fair and free democracy is incompatible with the aims of the Village, and Number 6 finds himself manipulated into a power grab beyond his control. Join us as we discuss this satirical and surreal take on the relationship between politics and the people.

We are also joined by Alan Stevens, who talks about his interest in the show and his thoughts on Free For All.

Alan is an author of guidebooks to SF television series, plays, audio dramas, and stories. He is the co-author, with Fiona Moore, of Fall Out: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to The Prisoner (Telos Publishing, 2007).

We also get a news round up from Rick Davy of The Unmutual on what’s happening in the world of The Prisoner.


Direct download: Episode 4: Free For All

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.

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.

 

The Tally Ho – Episode 2: The Chimes of Big Ben

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

In this episode we look at THE CHIMES OF BIG BEN, the second episode of The Prisoner. Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan) faces the new Number 2 (Leo McKern) as a mysterious new resident is brought to the Village (Nadia Gray). Number 6 hatches a daring plan to escape back to London under the guise of cooperating with Village life. But as with everything in The Prisoner, nothing and no one are what they seem. Join us as we discuss the episode and take a few tangents into the Lewis Chessmen and the story of Prometheus!

We also get a news round up from Rick Davy of The Unmutual on what’s happening in the world of The Prisoner and preview part two of our interview with Chris Rodley, which focuses on the world of David Lynch, coming next week in our Time for Cherry Pie and Coffee podcast. Listen to part one here.


Direct download: Episode 2: The Chimes of Big Ben

As discussed in this episode, here is a comparison between Number 54’s King chesspiece, styled as Leo McKern’s Number 2, and one of the kings from the 12th Century Lewis Chessmen. A striking similarity!

The Lewis Chessmen are a collection of chess pieces carved from walrus tusks and whale teeth, made sometime between 1150 and 1200 in either Norway or Iceland. They were found buried on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in the 1830s where they had laid hidden for hundreds of years.

You can read more about the Lewis Chessmen at the British Museum’s pages in Google Arts & Culture and the National Museum of Scotland. We’d love to hear your theories about why these ancient Nordic chess pieces were referenced in The Chimes of Big Ben!

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.

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.

The Tally Ho talks to Chris Rodley

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

In this episode, we talk to documentary filmmaker and writer Chris Rodley about his wonderful new film In My Mind about Patrick McGoohan and The Prisoner. The film chronicles Chris’ interviews in 1983 with McGoohan for the now unavailable Channel 4 documentary Six Into One: The Prisoner File, made in anticipation of the high profile re-run of the series on the channel in 1984. The interviews were derailed by technical hiccups, an inexperienced crew and a subject who was notoriously hard to pin down, and indeed tried to take control of the production. Revisiting the original footage in 2017 for the show’s 50th anniversary, In My Mind is filled with previously unseen footage from these inteviews and provides a startling insight into the elusive McGoohan.

Chris talked to us about the making of In My Mind, and how the original interviews with McGoohan helped shape his career. He also discusses his love of The Prisoner, and its lasting impact on the television landscape. This is the first of a two-part interview. In the next installment, Chris joined us for our Twin Peaks podcast, Time of Cherry Pie and Coffee, to discuss the world of David Lynch and his recent return to Twin Peaks.

WARNING: this episode contains spoilers for the finale of The Prisoner.

Direct download: The Tally Ho talks to Chris Rodley

CHRIS RODLEY is an awardwinning documentary film maker with an extensive filmography covering art, film and music with subjects including Andy Warhol, Lou Reed, Johnny Cash, Dirk Bogarde and Donald Cammell. He is also the author of the celebrated inteview collections Lynch on Lynch and Cronenberg on Cronenberg (Faber & Faber).

In My Mind trailer:

In My Mind (Network) is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.

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.

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.

The Tally Ho: a podcast all about The Prisoner

The Tally Ho is a podcast from Time for Cakes and Ale all about the classic TV series The Prisoner. We are currently doing a full episode-by-episode series of podcasts about the show. To keep up to date follow us on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to the Time for Cakes and Ale podcast in… Continue reading The Tally Ho: a podcast all about The Prisoner

The Tally Ho – Episode 1: Arrival

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

In this episode we look at ARRIVAL, the first episode of The Prisoner and one of the greatest TV openings of all time. Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan) resigns his government job and wakes up in a mysterious and dangerous place known only as The Village. Beneath its quaint and colourful exterior lies a sophisticated mechanism of psychological torture and control. Who can you trust? How can you escape? Who is in charge? Arrival is the first chapter of this groundbreaking show that remains as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.

We also preview our bonus two-part episode coming next week spanning our interests in both The Prisoner and Twin Peaks (listen to find out!), and get a news round up from Rick Davy of The Unmutual on what’s happening in the world of The Prisoner!


Direct download: Episode 1: Arrival

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.

If you enjoy our podcast, please subscribe, leave us a review, and let us know what you think by getting in touch on TwitterFacebook 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.