review by Ronnie Soo  

The Unmutual is a hard-hitting new A4 newsletter set up by former members of Six of One who as the title implies, have felt it necessary to leave the society in the light of recent events. It is laid out in the style of a red-top tabloid newspaper, with the masthead ‘The Unmutual’ jumping out at the reader. The spoof headlines ruthlessly lampoon the Six of One hierarchy, whilst the ‘But Seriously’ section aims to keep those no longer in the fan club in touch with one another and to advertise independently organised events, such as meet-ups and fanzines.

I must point out at this stage that I myself am a lapsed member, although not for the same reasons as those that have quit more recently, and as such it is not my place to detail the goings-on within the club that have caused many active members to quit. However for those of you still in the society who do wish to find out more, I would point you in the direction of the newsgroup alt.tv.prisoner where you can find out exactly what has transpired.

As you would expect from a team with considerable experience in publishing, the newsletter is laid out to a very high standard and the tabloid format works well. The hope is for the newsletter to move away gradually from the spoof material, and evolve into a Prisoner fanzine in its own right, completely independent of the fan club. As this happens the publication should appeal to more readers, currently the amount of in-jokes will only register with current or ex-members of the club who know of the intended targets.

Whether you are a lapsed member or still subscribing, I would recommend this newsletter both for its humour (the very essence of a democratic society, of course!) and as a way of keeping you informed of upcoming events once organised by active club members but now operating outside the club itself.

Subscription to the newsletter is a mere £1 (plus three first class stamps) for three issues and for more details they even have a website at:
http://theunmutual.co.uk

The Unmutual – your alternative choice!

Alan writes:

Those of us who can see two sides to a story will find much to interest them at the Unmutual website and in the newsletter.  I have been impressed by some of the links to other sites and was delighted to find out about the old film footage of Portmeirion available from the British Pathé news archives.  Keep those updates to the site coming guys and I'm glad your January party was a success.  We'll try to get to the next one!