Needless-to-say it's a very odd show in many ways, yet brilliant in some of them, It manages to be incredibly 'of it's time' and yet completely ageless simultaneously. if you look at the recent video game 'We Happy Few' it's massively influenced by it, for example, and it's not alone The Tomorrow Children also shows some influences). The weird thing is there are lots of people who will play those games who will never even know the show existed, since (as far as I'm aware) it very rarely gets repeated.

This is probably why I've never seen an episode, and haven't the faintest idea what it's about.

I've been to Portmeirion and I've been on the boat you can see in the background in the right hand picture - it's made of concrete and is actually built into the wall.
It is indeed a very weird place. Don't think I've ever actually seen an episode of the Prisoner however although I know a few of the things it's famous for like the big security/restraint balloon that chases people who try to escape and everyone having a number.

The over-arcing story is that a British secret agent is kidnapped and take to 'The Village', which is kind of like a detention camp designed by Salvador Dali (and is in reality the mad welsh seaside village / aristocratic folly that is Portmerion). The village is protected by an automatic defence system, which is essentially ten foot wide polythene floating balls that envelope you and rag you back should you get beyond the village's walls. In the village the main character (designated 'Number 6' ) and the camp commandant ('Number 2') match wits - 6 wants to escape, and 2 wants to know who the mysterious 'Number One' is, a fact is it believed our hero knows but won't reveal.

In reality it's a quite '60's' version of a prisoner of war drama of sorts. It's quite surreal, never quite gets to the point and, famously, never actually revealed who Number One was, although speculation has run on ever since. The opening credits/title sequence is also quite iconic.It does seem to have maintained something of a hold on the public consciousness, to the point where The Simpsons did any entire episode taking the mickey out of it, even though probably 90% of the Simpsons audience would have had no idea what was going on.

It's (as far as I know) rather unique insofar as it made almost no compromises to the audience at all - you either want with it or it left you utterly bemused.

The tried to remake it about 5 years or so ago in the US. That was an utter disaster.

Channel 4 showed it in its entirety some time in the early 80s (which was the first time since its original broadcast IIRC). I'm sure one of the myriad of channels that have cropped since will have done so more recently.

I can remember going to Portmeirion some time around 1970 and seeing lots of Prisoner themed stuff (mostly the huge "Penny-Farthing" badges) without having the remotest idea what it was all about!

Might have to give this a watch, sounds enjoyably bonkers.

It’s been on some of the cable channels. I remember seeing the Channel 4 repeats when I was at school. Bravo (a now defunct cable channel) earned its chops as a “cult TV” channel by effectively being the ITC content broadcaster for a while, with The Prisoner being one series it showed in its entirety.

Priser fans will also know of an episode of Danger Man where John Drake finds himself in a village that is clearly British but somehow not, and he tries to escape. Turns out that that village is a training camp for Russian secret agents to acclimatise themselves to English ways of life. As the article states, John Drake was also played by Patrick McGoohan, and some speculate that Number 6 is the same person.

In The Prisoner, Number 2 kept changing - played by various notable actors.

Fun fact - The Prisoner theme tune was written by Ron Grainer, who is also responsible for the Doctor Who theme tune.

cant believe some people not seen this, you havent lived til u have...

Thanks for the synopsis - it sounds like something I'd watch. I might seek out the original series, assuming it is available somewhere.

This is key, because it was remade a few years ago, and that's not the version you should be watching.

Mark