Six of One are NOT "Official".

*As of February 20203 The Prisoner is copyright ITV Studios Ltd (formerly Granada Ventures after the Carlton/Granada merger). For the purposes of this article, however, the Copyright holders may also be occasionally referred to as Carlton.*

For many years, Six of One have advertised themselves as "The Official Prisoner Appreciation Society", thinking that potential members, and also corporate entities, press, writers, and television companies, would be impressed by this, and would be fooled into thinking that Six of One are the only official channel for Prisoner appreciation. In 2023 this practice continues.

In 1977, and for many years, this was true. ITC, who then owned the rights to the series, granted permission for the society to use images, logos, and other content in their magazine and at events, and this continued throughout the 1990s and early 2000s when ITC were taken over by Polygram, and later Carlton.

However, in 2006 Carlton sold their ownership of the rights to the series to Granada Ventures, and from that moment any licensing of official content had to be negotiated, or re-negotiated, with the new owners. ITV Studios Limited (sometimes referred to as ITV Global Entertainment) now own the rights to the series (and this includes all use of clips, soundtrack, still images (including production photos and screengrabs), characters, visuals, and logos from The Prisoner). A license/permission must be obtained from ITV, or subsiduary/authorised agency, to use any of this content.

SIX OF ONE HAVE AT NO POINT APPROACHED ITV AND SECURED PERMISSION FOR SUCH A LICENSE. THEY ARE NOT AN OFFICIALLY LICENSED ORGANISATION, AND THEIR MAGAZINE AND EVENTS ARE NOT OFFICIALLY LICENSED. THEIR USE OF IMAGES, LOGOS, AND CONTENT IS UNAUTHORISED AND UNOFFICIAL.

To use such ITV-owned content, a license to use it must be secured from the copyright holders, usually involving a fee to be paid. To give some examples; Network DVD have paid a license fee to be able to produce and sell DVDs and soundtracks of the series. Big Finish have paid a license fee to produce audio dramas based on the series. Quoit Media Limited have paid a license fee for images used in books such as 'The Prisoner The Essential Guide'. Use of images needs to be accompanied by a license, or on an individual image basis with Rex Features, who operate ITV's stills (recent books such as Leslie Glen's 'The Prisoner Interrogations' have paid such license fees for individual photos, whereas Roger Langley's many books have not, and he continues to steal copyright in this way - click HERE for more on this).

SIX OF ONE HAVE AT NO POINT PAID A LICENSE FEE, OR BEEN GIVEN A LICENSE, BY ITV. ITV (GRANADA VENTURES) DO NOT OFFICIALLY RECOGNISE ANY FAN CLUBS.

SIX OF ONE ARE UNOFFICIAL, AND ARE LYING WHEN THEY STATE OTHERWISE.

Official licensing permission also applies to events, especially where audio or video is played to paying attendees. There are strict guidelines as to how clips can be used, and how the audience can view them. Leslie Glen's 'Mind Mash' events of recent years, and events held by The Unmutual Website for example, were officially sanctioned by Carlton/Granada/ITV, or their subsiduary rights agencies, to screen items from their archive. Six of One's events are not.

Despite this, the society still claim to be 'The Official Prisoner Appreciation Society'. An odd statement in itself, being that they are the ONLY Prisoner appreciation society, so why would they need to state this anyway (presumably to fool fans into thinking their are rival groups, when in reality there are none) but more importantly, they are not 'The Official'.

To fortify this lie, the following statements can still be found on a Six of One website:

"Members should not assume that any official-looking material on the Internet or from other non-Six of One sources is official. Any declaration that an item or activity has been produced or arranged with the endorsement of Six of One should not be relied upon unless society subscription material has made this clear. Any description of products, activities or websites given within the mailings is to be regarded as being for the information of members only and it should not be inferred that Six of One endorses these things...... "

""These [Six of One websites] are clearly interlinked on each website and are the only ones which can be classed as "official"."

"If members are in doubt about the validity of any statement or activity they should please check with Box 66 before taking any steps or paying money."

"Any production of items or activity which includes the use of images or material from The Prisoner or other copyright matter must be covered by written permission obtained in advance. The society has an address at Box 66, Ipswich, IP2 9TZ"

Six of One have no remit to authorise any activity. Being the copyright holders, it is up to ITV which entities are officially licensed.

Fanderson (the Gerry Anderson Society) have in the past displayed an admirably honest paragraph to their members - it is a great shame Six of One do not feel as though they should display similar honesty to their members to clarify the situation:

"ITV does not officially endorse any fan clubs or appreciation societies: Fanderson's status as the "Official Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society" is provided by Anderson Entertainment and Gerry Anderson himself."

Click HERE to return to the main page, where details of many other dirty deeds can be found.

This page updated Feb 2023