Few, if any, television series have been as innovative or brashly experimental as 1967's "The Prisoner," which starred the late Patrick McGoohan. Such a series will never be made again (last year's re-make on AMC notwithstanding), certainly not on prime time television, where every second must grip the maximum number of eyeballs in the most desirable demographics.
"The Prisoner" is the story of Number Six, a former British agent who seems to have ruffled the wrong feathers by resigning from his position. The character is introduced in a two-minute sequence at the beginning of episode 1 ("Arrival") which is largely carried out almost in a sort of pantomime. No dialog is heard. The only sounds heard are the revving of the engine of Six's Lotus 7 sports car, his determined footsteps as he marches down a dark corridor toward the desk of a man who is apparently his supervisor, or thunder claps that punctuate Six's fist pounding his supervisor's desk as he plunks down his letter of resignation. Shortly after, Six returns to his apartment and packs his bags. Travel brochures can be seen, suggesting his motives are as benign as a vacation in spite of his obvious anger. As he packs, a mysterious gas pours in through the keyhole of his door and he loses consciousness. When he awakes, he appears to be in his own apartment, but when he staggers to a window and opens the blinds, he gazes out upon the unfamiliar landscape of his new prison, The Village. After some time exploring the deceptively quaint Village, he meets the "warden" of the prison, Number Two, and soon learns of his designation as "Number Six" in a society where there are no names, only dehumanized numbers.
The objective of his captors: to find out why he resigned. What did he resign from? That is never explicitly stated, though it seems to be some kind of "secret agent" type of job. Why did he resign? Well, that is for Six to know and for the powers that be in The Village (and for us, the viewers) to find out.
What is Six's real name? That is the subject of much debate. It would appear the Number Six is likely a reprisal of the role of John Drake, whom McGoohan had previously played for three seasons in the British series "Danger Man," which aired in the U.S. under the title "Secret Agent." McGoohan returned to that role for a fourth season after "The Prisoner" ended, but only two more episodes were produced. Six insists, "I am not a number," but also seemingly refuses to give his Village captors the satisfaction of pleading to be called by name. Therefore, the viewer never hears his name either.
McGoohan strenuously claimed that Number Six and John Drake were NOT one and the same. But McGoohan could be almost as enigmatic as Number Six (he very seldom granted interviews), and this may have been his way of keeping debate alive decades after "The Prisoner's" 17-episode run. Another interesting theory is that McGoohan may have been obliged to not make statements about the character because of British laws that make characters on television the property of writers and producers who created them and not the actors who portrayed them.
To me, the most compelling suggestion that John Drake and Number Six are the same is in the them song for "Danger Man/Secret Agent." "Secret Agent Man," performed by Johnny Rivers, includes the line, "They're givin' you a number, and takin' away your name."
It's natural for the viewer to side with Number Six because he is held captive against his will and someone is assuming the worst of him, probably unjustly. In addition, McGoohan's voice and manner carries with it a charisma that is hard to resist. However it seems to me that had the series gone on longer than 17 episodes, the breadth of the character could have been expanded to hint at the possibility of less than noble motives for his resignation. (But that is sheer speculation on my part.) It also seems to me that had his supervisors simply asked him why he resigned, he would have told them, but since they went to the ridiculous extremes to extract the information from him, the game is afoot, and Six is a player.
The mood of the show is aptly summed up in this exchange, repeated at the opening of nearly every episode:
Number Six: "Who are you?"
Number Two: "The new Number Two."
Number Six: "Who is Number One?"
Number Two: "You are Number Six."
The Village warders demand answers while giving Six only enigmatic replies or more questions.
There would be a different Number Two in nearly every episode, each one taking his or her own crack at extracting the information from Six. (Actor Leo McKern, who may be familiar to PBS viewers and Rumpole of the Bailey, is Number Two in the second episode, and with his return in the two-part finale becomes the only Number Two to get more than one swing at Number Six.) Number One is an unseen presence and is the only one who wields authority (and fear) over a Number Two, and each successive Two seems painfully aware of the growing number of predecessors who have gone to ignominious failure in their attempts to break Number Six. Who is Number One? Another enigma. An answer is hinted in the final episode, but is never explicitly stated.
I could go on with this for a VERY long time and only scratch the surface of this series. In future posts, I plan to compare and contrast the original series with the recent cable-TV remake. If you wish to do further reading on "The Prisoner," I recommend "The Prisoner Companion" by Matthew White and Jaffer Ali (Amazon.com) (pictured above).
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