The Prisoner TV show

my favorite TV show. First aired i think 1966 when i was 10. I just found it on my ROKU streaming. it was either on PLEX or TUBI both are free channels. Do a search. Patrick McGoohan ( number 6) was quoted as saying the " Village " was a metaphore for Socialism. You have to watch all episodes and of course remember that this was filmed almost 60 years ago. some episodes are better than others ....watch for "group mentality" of the ppl living in the village and watch the episodes in order.

a reply to: LA1IMPALA

I was expecting Running Man

a reply to: LA1IMPALA

It was a cool trippy show , I'm to young to have seen it back in the day but they repeated it on terrestrial TV here in the UK a few times so I've seen many of the episodes but not in order I've also visited the village ( Portmeirion ,North Wales) a couple of times during holiday visits to Porthmadog.

I think the quality Patrick McGoohan brought to the show was a big part of its success.


I am not a number I am a free man !

a reply to: LA1IMPALA

The show was way ahead of it's time.
"I am Not a "Vaccine" Passport...I'm a Free Man!"

a reply to: LA1IMPALA

I've only watched the more recent version with Ian McKellen (2009), but will certainly give the 1967 version a try.

The 1967 radio drama is also available on archive.org for streaming or download.

The show was a victory of style over substance, especially the last two inexplicable episodes...

a reply to: LA1IMPALA

Iron Maiden - The Prisoner (Music Video)



I've been wanting to watch this show for a long time, but still have not watched either version of it yet.

a reply to: LA1IMPALA
Been a fan of the Prisoner since I was a kid-I "grew up" in North Wales.
Great use of Lava lamps as psychedelic backgrounds in the show,I loved his car too-the Caterham 7.
Plus the themes of the show still resonate-the illusion of freedom under a mind control obsessed form of government.

Had an interesting weekend in Portmeirion at the shows location when I was a young hellraiser-
Its all a bit blurry but we may not have paid to get in,and we may have been chased off by the security(yes,there was some shouting of "I am a free man!"),and its possible there was a form of fungus involved.

There is a cool little building with shells all over the inside walls overlooking the beach-The beach which number 6 gets persued by the giant white balloon of doom.

We hid there until the heat from the security died down.

a reply to: gortex

I am not a number I am a free man !

What do you want ?
Information.
You won't get it.

a reply to: Silcone Synapse

Like I said in my previous post, I've never seen the show, but some of what you just described is in this cartoon. The audio is just the Maiden song, but the cartoon tells the story of them accidentally capturing Eddie (Iron Maiden's Mascot) instead of the man intended to be #6, and then taking Eddie to the Village. It's an interesting little story, and well-made short cartoon.


The Tales Of The Iron Maiden - THE PRISONER

On your recommendation, I just started the first episode.


Pretty slick, seems interesting so far.

a reply to: LA1IMPALA

I love the Prisoner. It was such a trippy show. My dad's a big fan of both Danger Man and The Prisoner. He was always convinced the Prisoner was a sequel to Danger Man even though i guess officially it's not supposed to be the same character.

Also, this has gotta be my favourite homage/parody i dunno what you'd call it to the Prisoner.



Probably one of the better episodes of Reboot. On my list of favourites anyway.

originally posted by: dug88

He was always convinced the Prisoner was a sequel to Danger Man even though i guess officially it's not supposed to be the same character.

I saw an interview with Patrick McGoohan way back in the mid 80s and he said the same thing. John Drake was important to the system as long as he did his job; once he started to question, he lost everything. In the last episode we see that the system is run by any number of Number Sixes, all caught in the same web of power. They are Number One. There is no head, only power (which mirrored the kind of thing French thinkers were starting to propose as an alternative to Marxism)

Not sure where the OP got the idea the Village represented socialism. It would be interesting to see a source, if there is one.

a reply to: Maverick1

Be seeing you.......

a reply to: gortex

yes exatly Portmeiriom in Wales. Patrick Mcgoohan said he selected that location for the village after being there in an episode of Secret Agent man or across the pond I think it was Danger man. Many of the Portmeirion towns people were the extras on the set, the people walking about. Portmeirion has or had a yearly festival for Prisoner fans where you could buy sovineers like the "map" that has the village "mountains" and "ocean" and walk in a perfectly preserved #6 apartment. Portmeirion also at one time, have'nt checked for a while , an online gift shop where you could buy your very own #2 or #6 badge or a coffee cup with the penny farthing "village" bicycle on it umung other things. In 1966 the show was really radical , of course there were no home computers then or digital electronics and in the episode A B and C fortold the CDROM ..sort of instead of a flat disk it was a small cylinder.
My second favorite show was the Avengers

originally posted by: LA1IMPALA
a reply to: gortex

yes exatly Portmeiriom in Wales. Patrick Mcgoohan said he selected that location for the village after being there in an episode of Secret Agent man or across the pond I think it was Danger man. Many of the Portmeirion towns people were the extras on the set, the people walking about. Portmeirion has or had a yearly festival for Prisoner fans where you could buy sovineers like the "map" that has the village "mountains" and "ocean" and walk in a perfectly preserved #6 apartment. Portmeirion also at one time, have'nt checked for a while , an online gift shop where you could buy your very own #2 or #6 badge or a coffee cup with the penny farthing "village" bicycle on it umung other things. In 1966 the show was really radical , of course there were no home computers then or digital electronics and in the episode A B and C fortold the CDROM ..sort of instead of a flat disk it was a small cylinder.
My second favorite show was the Avengers

Been there, done that got the cup mat and the tee shirt - "I will not be briefed, debriefed, filed, stamped etc".

A great place. They have security guys driving mini mokes and they give you a hard stare as they go past.

a reply to: Whodathunkdatcheese

i read where Patrick Mcgoohan said the village was a metaphore for socialsim.

I always thought that he was a prisoner of his own conscience.

After all, he would have been up to some shady stuff on behalf of HM so quite likely he'd have a sort of breakdown and all the different numbers were aspects of his own, fractured personality, compartmentalized through trauma.

Great show and the whole lot is available on Britbox if you want to see it, you can sign up for the trial, then cancel before they start taking money off you.

Watched it in the 70s as a kid, good show, trippy/quirky

a reply to: LA1IMPALA
The key is that both sides of the comflict are egotistic- it's between the arrogant individual ego and the arrogant corporate ego.
This comes out in the very revealing episode in which No6 thinks he has found a way to tell the difference between timid real prisoners and confident undercover agents of the regime. He forgets to allow for the possiibility that there might be a third category- and then somebody spots that he himself is lacking in tinidity.