Plot

After he resigns, a secret agent is abducted and taken to what looks like an idyllic village, but is actually a bizarre prison. He refuses to give his warders information while attempting to escape.

After he has resigned, a British secret agent is abducted by a mysterious organisation and relocated to a town known simply as The Village. The aim is to get him to provide secret information but he refuses. What follows is a battle of wits and wills as the agent seeks to escape and his captors try all sorts of means to obtain the information they want.—grantss

"The Prisoner" is a unique piece of television. It addresses issues such as personal identity and freedom, democracy, education, scientific progress, art, and technology, while remaining an entertaining drama series. Over 17 episodes we witness a war of attrition between the faceless forces behind 'The Village' (a Kafkaesque community somewhere between Butlins and Alcatraz) and its most strong willed inmate, No. 6. who struggles ceaselessly to assert his individuality while plotting to escape from his captors.—Stuart Berwick <berws@essex.ac.uk>

A high-ranking but un-named Agent in the British Government resigns from his job/post and leaves for a holiday. While packing he is gassed and is taken to a beautiful but deadly prison known only as "The Village" where people are taken, given a Number to be called by and kept there for the rest of their lives if they don't tell No. 2 (the deputy head of "The Village") the information they are captured for. Escape is nearly impossible as "The Village" has amazing but deadly weapons to use if anybody tries to escape. The Agent is given the title of "No. 6" but he adopts the name of "The Prisoner". The series tells of his attempts to resist the plots of each No. 2 (who is replaced with another if an attempt on No. 6 fails) to get his information and against any attempt to disrupt the nearly peaceful running of the "The Village". The Village is determined to crack The Prisoner by attempting to get the answer to why he resigned from his job/post. As time goes on, two questions plague The Prisoner's mind - How can he escape and who is the real leader of the Village--the mysterious No. 1?.—Lee Horton <Leeh@tcp.co.uk>

A man resigns from a top-secret job. He begins to pack at home, when he's gassed and passes out. When he awakes, he's no longer in London, but a place only known as the Village. Everyone has a number. Who runs the Village, and why did the man--now known as Number 6-- resign? In a series considered to be the most allegorical show every made, nothing is as simple as it might seem, no straight answers are given. Number 6, and the viewer must try to understand; 'who is Number 1?'—Tim Moore <sis1514@sis.port.ac.uk>