The Prisoner

The Prisoner

17 Episodes

1967–1968 • United Kingdom

Long before TWIN PEAKS beamed prime-time surrealism into the American living room, there was THE PRISONER, the 1960s British cult sensation that pushed television into new realms of unsettling, Kafkaesque mystery. Series creator Patrick McGoohan stars as a nameless spy who, after he abruptly resigns from his highly classified job, is kidnapped and held in a strange, deceptively idyllic town known only as the Village, where his quest for freedom collides with the sinister machinations of a mysterious authoritarian sect determined to keep him under their control. With its prescient exploration of free will in the age of surveillance, this pop-culture touchstone remains one of the most discussed and endlessly analyzed series in television history.

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The Prisoner
  • THE PRISONER: Episode 1

    Episode 1

    “Arrival”
    Directed by Don Chaffey • 1967 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Angelo Muscat, Peter Swanwick

    After resigning, a secret agent finds himself trapped in a bizarre prison known only as the Village.

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 2

    Episode 2

    “The Chimes of Big Ben”
    Directed by Don Chaffey • 1967 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Angelo Muscat, Peter Swanwick

    A new Number Eight named Nadia arrives in the Village, and together she and Number Six plot their escape.

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 3

    Episode 3

    “A. B. and C.”
    Directed by Pat Jackson • 1967 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Angelo Muscat, Colin Gordon

    Number Two believes that Number Six resigned because he was going to sell out. Using dream manipulation, Number Two tries to determine which one of three possible candidates Numb...

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 4

    Episode 4

    “Free for All”
    Directed by Patrick McGoohan • 1967 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Angelo Muscat, Eric Portman

    Number Six runs for the office of Number Two.

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 5

    Episode 5

    “The Schizoid Man”
    Directed by Pat Jackson • 1967 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Jane Merrow, Anton Rodgers

    Number Six wakes up with a new identity: now he’s Number Twelve. Worse, Number Two asks him to impersonate someone—Number Six. But the new Number Six is more like him than he is.

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 6

    Episode 6

    “The General”
    Directed by Peter Graham Scott • 1967 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Angelo Muscat, Peter Swanwick

    An instant learning process becomes the Village’s latest fad. but Number Six is sure that Number Two is using it as a brainwashing tool.

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 7

    Episode 7

    “Many Happy Returns”
    Directed by Patrick McGoohan • 1967 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Donald Sinden, Patrick Cargill

    Number Six wakes up to find the Village totally deserted.

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 8

    Episode 8

    “Dance of the Dead”
    Directed by Don Chaffey • 1967 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Mary Morris, Duncan Macrae

    Number Six comes across a body that has washed ashore with a radio. After sending the body back out to sea, he tries to use the radio to get rescued.

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 9

    Episode 9

    “Checkmate”
    Directed by Don Chaffey • 1967 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Ronald Radd, Patricia Jessel

    Inspired by a large chess board with people taking the place of the game pieces, Number Six formulates a new escape plan with some compatriots.

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 10

    Episode 10

    “Hammer into Anvil”
    Directed by Pat Jackson • 1967 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Patrick Cargill, Victor Maddern

    Number Six vows revenge and goes after a sadistic Number Two after he drives a fellow Village resident to her death.

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 11

    Episode 11

    “It’s Your Funeral”
    Directed by Robert Asher • 1967 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Derren Nesbitt, Annette Andre

    Number Six hears of an assassination plot against Number Two, but it’s the new Number Two doing all the plotting against the retiring Number Two.

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 12

    Episode 12

    “A Change of Mind”
    Directed by Patrick McGoohan • 1967 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Angela Browne, John Sharp

    After a brawl, Number Six is declared “unmutual” and is made to think that he has undergone “instant social treatment.”

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 13

    Episode 13

    “Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling”
    Directed by Pat Jackson • 1968 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Zena Walker, Clifford Evans

    With his mind transferred to another body, Number Six wakes up in his London flat and can’t convince his colleagues who he is. He takes off to Austria to find ...

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 14

    Episode 14

    “Living in Harmony”
    Directed by David Tomblin • 1968 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Alexis Kanner, David Bauer

    Number Six finds himself in the middle of a Wild West version of his imprisonment.

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 15

    Episode 15

    “The Girl Who Was Death”
    Directed by David Tomblin • 1968 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Kenneth Griffith, Justine Lord

    Back in London, Number Six is trying to track down a crazed scientist who is protected by his homicidal daughter.

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 16

    Episode 16

    “Once Upon a Time”
    Directed by Patrick McGoohan • 1968 • United Kingdom
    Starring Patrick McGoohan, Leo McKern, Angelo Muscat

    Because all other attempts to break Number Six have failed, Number Two decides to engage him in a game where one of them will end up dead.

  • THE PRISONER: Episode 17

    Episode 17

    “Fall Out”
    Directed by Patrick McGoohan • 1968 • United Kingdom
    Starring Alexis Kanner, Angelo Muscat, Leo McKern

    After witnessing the trials of Number Two and Number Forty-Eight and meeting the president of the assembly, Number Six escapes during the chaos that follows.