The Prisoner is a British spy-fi television series produced by ITC, which originally ran in the UK from 1967-8.
It starred Patrick McGoohan as an unnamed spy who attempts to resign from his job. He is then kidnapped - presumably by his bosses - and transported to a picturesque but highly monitored community known as The Village. Dubbed "Number Six" (Village "residents" have no names, only numbers), he is held prisoner there and told he can only leave if he revals the reasons for his resignation - which he refuses to do.
Subject ID: 38807
MoreThe Prisoner is a British spy-fi television series produced by ITC, which originally ran in the UK from 1967-8.
It starred Patrick McGoohan as an unnamed spy who attempts to resign from his job. He is then kidnapped - presumably by his bosses - and transported to a picturesque but highly monitored community known as The Village. Dubbed "Number Six" (Village "residents" have no names, only numbers), he is held prisoner there and told he can only leave if he revals the reasons for his resignation - which he refuses to do.
While sold as a thriller series in the mold of McGoohan's earlier show Danger Man, The Prisoner was in fact far more of an allegorical suspense show, defying classification. After a planned second series was scuppered, McGoohan (who also created the show) was forced to come up with an ending for it in two hastily-conceived final episodes. These turned out to be so surreal that audiences were hugely confused, to the point where the ITV telephone switchboard crashed under the onslaught of calls from angry/perplexed viewers.
The series has since become a revered cult classic. Fans freqently travel to Portmeirion, the hotel in Wales which provided locations for The Village and the show has been recognized as one of the best TV series ever made.
A disastrous remake was made in 2009 with Jim Caviezel as Number Six.
Subject ID: 38807
Subject ID: 38807