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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51:13Episode 1THE PRISONER: Episode 1
Episode 1
“Arrival”
Directed by Don Chaffey • 1967 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Angelo Muscat, Peter SwanwickAfter resigning, a secret agent finds himself trapped in a bizarre prison known only as the Village.
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50:31Episode 2THE PRISONER: Episode 2
Episode 2
“The Chimes of Big Ben”
Directed by Don Chaffey • 1967 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Angelo Muscat, Peter SwanwickA new Number Eight named Nadia arrives in the Village, and together she and Number Six plot their escape.
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50:34Episode 3THE PRISONER: Episode 3
Episode 3
“A. B. and C.”
Directed by Pat Jackson • 1967 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Angelo Muscat, Colin GordonNumber 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...
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50:33Episode 4THE PRISONER: Episode 4
Episode 4
“Free for All”
Directed by Patrick McGoohan • 1967 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Angelo Muscat, Eric PortmanNumber Six runs for the office of Number Two.
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50:33Episode 5THE PRISONER: Episode 5
Episode 5
“The Schizoid Man”
Directed by Pat Jackson • 1967 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Jane Merrow, Anton RodgersNumber 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.
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50:31Episode 6THE PRISONER: Episode 6
Episode 6
“The General”
Directed by Peter Graham Scott • 1967 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Angelo Muscat, Peter SwanwickAn instant learning process becomes the Village’s latest fad. but Number Six is sure that Number Two is using it as a brainwashing tool.
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50:34Episode 7THE PRISONER: Episode 7
Episode 7
“Many Happy Returns”
Directed by Patrick McGoohan • 1967 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Donald Sinden, Patrick CargillNumber Six wakes up to find the Village totally deserted.
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50:34Episode 8THE PRISONER: Episode 8
Episode 8
“Dance of the Dead”
Directed by Don Chaffey • 1967 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Mary Morris, Duncan MacraeNumber 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.
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50:27Episode 9THE PRISONER: Episode 9
Episode 9
“Checkmate”
Directed by Don Chaffey • 1967 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Ronald Radd, Patricia JesselInspired by a large chess board with people taking the place of the game pieces, Number Six formulates a new escape plan with some compatriots.
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50:36Episode 10THE PRISONER: Episode 10
Episode 10
“Hammer into Anvil”
Directed by Pat Jackson • 1967 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Patrick Cargill, Victor MaddernNumber Six vows revenge and goes after a sadistic Number Two after he drives a fellow Village resident to her death.
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50:03Episode 11THE PRISONER: Episode 11
Episode 11
“It’s Your Funeral”
Directed by Robert Asher • 1967 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Derren Nesbitt, Annette AndreNumber 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.
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50:31Episode 12THE PRISONER: Episode 12
Episode 12
“A Change of Mind”
Directed by Patrick McGoohan • 1967 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Angela Browne, John SharpAfter a brawl, Number Six is declared “unmutual” and is made to think that he has undergone “instant social treatment.”
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50:34Episode 13THE 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 EvansWith 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 ...
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51:07Episode 14THE PRISONER: Episode 14
Episode 14
“Living in Harmony”
Directed by David Tomblin • 1968 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Alexis Kanner, David BauerNumber Six finds himself in the middle of a Wild West version of his imprisonment.
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50:52Episode 15THE PRISONER: Episode 15
Episode 15
“The Girl Who Was Death”
Directed by David Tomblin • 1968 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Kenneth Griffith, Justine LordBack in London, Number Six is trying to track down a crazed scientist who is protected by his homicidal daughter.
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50:45Episode 16THE PRISONER: Episode 16
Episode 16
“Once Upon a Time”
Directed by Patrick McGoohan • 1968 • United Kingdom
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Leo McKern, Angelo MuscatBecause 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.
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51:14Episode 17THE PRISONER: Episode 17
Episode 17
“Fall Out”
Directed by Patrick McGoohan • 1968 • United Kingdom
Starring Alexis Kanner, Angelo Muscat, Leo McKernAfter 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.