If you’re a fan of the type of content and production usually deemed “strange”, you might already be a fan of this surreal and addictively engaging 60s cult classic. Airing on the BBC from 1967 to 1968, it was a short-lived show with a big impact. It began when a British secret agent (played by Patrick McGoohan) resigned from his position and was preparing to leave on holiday. At this time, he was gassed and later woke to find he was being held captive in “The Village”, a creepily idyllic, seemingly peaceful seaside town-cum-prison where men and women were held until they divulged the information they were captured for. The prisoners are under tight surveillance and face astounding and deadly weapons if they attempt to escape. Each “inmate” is referred to only by number, with the agent being given the title of Number Six, but he refers to himself as The Prisoner. While the officers in charge (always called Number Two) try to extract information from him as to why he resigned, Number Six tries to discover ways to escape while also trying to uncover the identity of Number One, the mysterious leader. During his stay, Number Six was interrogated, brainwashed, and manipulated by the powers behind the Village; but he was the most strong-willed of all the prisoners and was the one prisoner who never gave in. Mystery, madness, and mind games were all recurring qualities. It also delved into dream manipulation, hallucinogenic drugs, and hypnosis. The show became influential in the science fiction circle and is remembered for its counterculture themes such as liberty, individuality, scientific and technological progress, art, conformity, and democracy. McGoohan also co-created the show and directed some of its episodes, including its revealing finale, Fall Out. The Village was, in reality, a hotel in North Wales called Portmeirion. Its surreal appearance had inspired McGoohan who remembered its striking appearance when creating the show. McGoohan has said, “I thought it was an extraordinary place, architecturally and atmosphere-wise, and should be used for something – and that was two years before the concept came to me.” The hotel is still visited by fans of The Prisoner; it even hosts show-based conventions and has a Prisoner souvenir shop. The Village’s logo was the penny farthing bicycle which has become synonymous with the show. One of the series’ main appealing factor is the abundance of interpretable and/or decipherable ambiguities that leave fans to decide what hidden meanings may or may not lie within the scripts. It also starred Leo McKern and Colin Gordon as the most-recurring Number Twos, Angelo Muscat as The Butler, Peter Swanwick as Supervisor, and Denis Shaw as The Shopkeeper.
