in production, "Hammer into Anvil", he portrays a particularly cruel Number Two. It was common practice during production of The Prisoner to reuse actors to save time and because they were known to be reliable. In this case, it could be suggested when attempting to put the episodes into some sort of logical order, that "Many Happy Returns" should precede "Hammer into Anvil", supposing that Thorpe and Number Two are in fact the same character. Thorpe is installed in The Village as Number Two, a role he clearly relishes, allowing his cruelty and paranoia to come through – a weakness that Number Six exploits in order to break him. Number Six gives his name to Mrs. Butterworth when asked – Peter Smith. Given that he ponders over it before telling her, it may be an alias he thought up on the spot. When Number Six asks his former boss "Anyone at home?", the man behind the desk, as in the opening credits, is George Markstein. Broadcast The broadcast date of the episode varied in different ITV regions of the UK. The episode was first shown at 7:30pm on Friday 10 November 1967 on ATV Midlands and Grampian Television, on Sunday 12 November on ATV London, Southern Television, Westward Television and Tyne-Tees; on Thursday 16 November on Scottish Television, on Friday 17 November on Anglia Television, on Thursday 30 November on Border Television and on Friday 8 December on Granada Television in the North West. The aggregate viewing figures for the ITV regions that debuted the season in 1967 have been estimated at 10.3 million. In Northern Ireland, the episode did not debut until Saturday 17 February 1968, and in Wales, the episode was not broadcast until Wednesday 18 February 1970. References Sources – script of episode External links The Prisoner episodes 1967 British television episodes fr:Le Retour (Le Prisonnier) it:Episodi de Il prigioniero#Cento di questi giorni