Those three words sound innocent enough on their own, but in the world of the prisoner, they are spoken because it implies a state of constant surveillance. The show focuses on renowned actor Patrick McGoohan, who plays some kind of secret agent retired from his life's work of espionage and spying. One day, he awakes in a strange village by the sea that has nice architecture and friendly inhabitants, but it has a dark side. He soon comes to realize nobody in this village has a name, and they're all reduced to numbers, his being 6. His captors will not allow him to leave until he tells them why he resigned from his job. 6 will have none of it and refuses to tell them what they want, and the village's leaders tighten their grip on his life, watching his every move through expertly hidden cameras and listening devices. The stories are thought provoking and interesting for what they are, but the competent storytelling runs out of steam on the very last episode, and the ending enraged so many people in fact that McGoohan was attacked in person for it afterwards. A common criticism of the show is that the prisoner doesn't tell you everything. The audience doesn't know the backstory of number 6, his job, why he gave up his job, or the village's history. But that's the whole appeal of it; that you have to use your imagination. A common theory among fans of McGoohan's past shows will say that the prisoner is an unofficial follow up series to Secret Agent (called Danger Man in the US) because he was a spy for nato in that. The connection between the two shows remains up for debate though and the prisoner neither confirms nor denies the similarities. What we do know however is that the prisoner is a good choice for avid viewers of spy shows and avant-garde things that don't make a lot of sense.
Review of The Prisoner
