Patrick McGoohan (1928 - 2009)

I discovered The Prisoner (1967) on video when it was released in the eighties and it’s odd covers stared at me from the shelves. The show leapt to the top of my favourite programs list after viewing, dislodging Dr Who, Star Trek, Batman, Captain Scarlet, Twilight Zone, and everything else on the way. The Prisoner was the creation of Patrick McGoohan and, although he was responsible for quality work before and after this, it was to be his most lasting achievement.

The Prisoner starts with McGoohan (no character name given) resigning from the British Secret Service. He returns home where he is gassed and taken to The Village where he is known as Number 6 ("I am not a number, I am a free man!"). The series then revolves around Number 2 ("Who is Number 1?") trying to find out why McGoohan resigned, or McGoohan trying to escape or subvert the ‘utopian’ lifestyle of the Village. And the viewer trying to work out what is real and what is imagined, and who runs the village. The show is cerebral, surreal, subversive and unlike anything that came before it (and even after it). Incredibly influential, yet strangely obscure.

The Prisoner is worth watching, not just for the pure enjoyment, but to realise how often the show is referenced and how much it has influenced pop culture since it’s release.

In memory of Patrick McGoohan, watch it for free while you can at...

http://www.amctv.com/originals/the-prisoner-1960s-series

As McGoohan said...
"We all live in a little Village. Your village may be different from other people's villages but we are all prisoners."

What is the Prisoner about...
"I suppose that it is the sort of thing where a thousand people might have a different interpretation of it...that was the intention."

And on being known for the Prisoner...
"Mel (Gibson) will always be Mad Max, and me, I will always be a Number."

Be seeing you.