On The Trail Of The Prisoner by Catherine Németh Fraumerman (book review).
The full title of Catherine Németh Fraumerman’s booklet, ‘On The Trail Of The Prisoner’, includes the subtitle ‘A Walking Guide To Portmeirion’s Prisoner Sites’, but that would rather overfill a heading. Fraumerman explains in the introduction that many of ‘The Prisoner’ TV series exteriors were filmed in Portmeirion, although some were also shot at the MGM Borehamwood Studios. To tell the difference, look for the sharper lighting in the latter.
This is really more of an illustrated booklet, but it’s a quality piece of work. You get photographs from 1966 alongside more recent images showing how the location has changed over the years. In truth, not very much has changed. The design of the book encourages you to wander around the Village, which is really a hotel, and note what you’re looking at. It also works perfectly well for stay-at-home types like me.
It isn’t designed to provide much information about the series itself, but the text does highlight which episodes used each location, as well as appearances in ‘Danger Man’. The comments there should make you think about certain familiar icons. I’d still like to know how they got the concrete into Rover when it was out at sea to stop it floating away.
I know from my parents’ reaction when they visited Portmeirion that the buildings are smaller than they appear on TV. That’s less about how camera lenses distort scale and more about the ratio of size to humans. In some respects, it would have been interesting to see people placed next to some of these buildings to prove the point.
If you collect all things ‘Prisoner’ and somehow missed this over the past 23 years, now’s the time to track down a copy. If you visit Portmeirion, you’ll likely find it there as well. Whether you’ll be allowed to leave, of course, depends on your number.
GF Willmetts
April 2026
(pub: PrizBiz Publication, 2003. 44-page illustrated softcover. Price: £6.99 (UK). ISBN: 00385154).
Check out the websites: www.prizbiz.com and https://theprisonershop.co.uk/product/on-the-trail-of-the-prisoner
