A spy drama that turned strange
The Prisoner is a British television series that was first broadcast on ITV in late September 1967. It consists of seventeen episodes and was made by Everyman Films, a company founded by its star, Patrick McGoohan, for the producer Lew Grade’s ITC. McGoohan co-created it with the writer George Markstein, who was a script editor on McGoohan’s earlier series.
That earlier series was Danger Man, in which McGoohan played the secret agent John Drake. By the mid-1960s he was a well-known television actor, and The Prisoner gave him the chance to make something more personal. The new series is often described as a spy show, but it works more as an allegorical drama about freedom and control.
The premise
In the opening sequence, a man resigns from a job, apparently in intelligence, and drives home to London. Gas is released into his flat, and when he wakes he finds himself in a seaside community known only as the Village. Everyone there is known by a number. He becomes Number Six. The Village is run by Number Two, who is a different person in most episodes, and behind Number Two is the unseen Number One.
The central struggle is for information. His captors want to know why he resigned, and Number Six refuses to say. Escape attempts fail, often through the intervention of a giant white balloon called Rover. In each episode the authorities use drugs, psychological tricks, surveillance and polite friendliness to break him down, and Number Six resists.
The opening titles end with an exchange that has become famous. Number Six says, “I am not a number, I am a free man,” and the reply is laughter. The theme is individuality in the face of institutions that want conformity, which gave the show a particular resonance in a period of questioning authority. Viewers who were part of the American counterculture and the wider student movement have often found it a natural companion to the mood of the time, though the series itself is not a political tract.
Making the series
Most exterior filming was done at Portmeirion, a stylised Italianate village on the coast of North Wales designed by the architect Clough Williams-Ellis. Its colourful buildings, domes and piazzas gave the programme a distinctive look, and their cheerful appearance made the sinister story feel stranger. The costumes, such as Number Six’s dark blazer with white piping and the striped capes and boaters worn by residents, also contributed to a pop-art style that overlapped with the mod fashion of the period.
The show was filmed in color, though many British viewers would have seen it in black and white, since color television did not become standard in Britain for several more years. It was later shown in the United States on CBS in summer 1968.
Several well-known British actors appeared as Number Two, including Leo McKern, who played the role in more than one episode. McGoohan himself directed several episodes and wrote some under a pseudonym. There are reports of tensions behind the scenes, and the production schedule was demanding. The series ended after seventeen episodes rather than the longer run that might have been expected, and the reasons are disputed. Some accounts say that McGoohan wanted to end the story at that point, others that production pressures and finances played a part.
The finale
The final episode, “Fall Out”, was broadcast in Britain in early February 1968. In it, Number Six finally learns the identity of Number One in a surreal sequence full of symbolism, music and a shootout. Many viewers found it baffling, and ITV reportedly received a large number of complaints and calls. McGoohan, who wrote and directed the episode, defended it as the logical result of what the series had been asking.
The ending has never been definitively explained. Some critics read it as a statement that the true enemy is within the individual, or in the self’s own desire for control. Others see it as a satire of authority and a refusal to offer a tidy answer. Because the creators did not provide a simple solution, the debate has continued for decades.
Cult following
The Prisoner developed a loyal following over the years through repeated broadcasts and home video. Fan societies formed to discuss it, and many fans visit Portmeirion, where gatherings have been held. The programme has been referenced in later television and music, and a new version was made in 2009, though it did not match the reputation of the original. McGoohan died in 2009.
In the context of 1967, the show shared an atmosphere of inventiveness with the original Star Trek and the other classic television shows of the period, but it stood apart in its refusal to explain itself. It offered a puzzle that has lasted longer than most contemporary series, which is a good reason why it is still talked about.