‘I’m not a number. I’m a free man!’
January 16th, 1967...
A secret agent resigns, then wakes up to find himself imprisoned in ‘The Village’ - a bizarre community with a cheery veneer, but an underbelly of mystery and threat. All occupants of The Village have numbers instead of names, with our secret agent forced to accept the mantle of Number Six.
The authorities running this Village are intent on discovering why Number Six resigned - but it’s a secret he steadfastly refuses to divulge. As the drama unfolds, the authorities, in the guise of the sinister Number Two, try ever more ingenious and aggressive means to bend Number Six to their will. All the while, Number Six is intent on two aims: to escape and to find out ‘Who is Number One?’.
1.1 Departure and Arrival
A failed meeting in Belgium catalyses Agent ZM-73 to resign from his top secret post, but when he wakes the following morning everything has changed - even his name. Trapped in a bizarre coastal village, and with his every move monitored by the mysterious Number Two, the man now known as Number Six struggles to make sense of it all.
This free episode is taken from The Prisoner Volume 01.
The Prisoner™ and © ITC Entertainment Group Limited 1967, 2001 and 2016. Licensed by ITV Ventures Limited. All rights reserved.
THE PRISONER™ remains unique in the world of television. A taut psycho-thriller about a secret agent who resigns and finds himself thrown into a Kafka-esque world of mindplay and enigma.
THE PRISONER™ is the story of a man known only as Number 6 played by Patrick McGoohan. He has committed no crime, but is being held against his will in The Village – a location from which there is no escape.
Number 6 can trust no one and is under constant supervision by his ever changing adversary Number 2 – the leader of The Village. Number 6 attempts to trace the real identity of his captors, and the mystery of the ever-elusive Number 1, but is forever thwarted. Mysterious white orbs known as Rovers help to maintain order, and will engulf any who attempts escape.
Shot in the village of Portmeirion, a creation that features a melange of cultural styles, and at the MGM Studios at Borehamwood, the look of THE PRISONER™ is both surreal and enchanting. Portmeirion, a leading tourist attraction in its own right, forms a captivating backdrop to the futuristic, fantastic, and often bizarre interior sets.
First appearing on British TV screens in 1967, THE PRISONER™ was one of the most expensive series produced by Lew Grade and ITC at that time. The idea for THE PRISONER™ series allegedly grew out of Patrick McGoohan’s desire to move on from playing the popular undercover agent John Drake in DANGERMAN.
The allure of THE PRISONER™, with its mystery and enigmatic symbolism, remains timeless…
