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The Prisoner is an allegorical British science fiction television series starring Patrick McGoohan. A single season of 17 episodes was filmed between September 1966 and January 1968. The first episode in the UK aired in September 1967, although the global premiere was in Canada several weeks earlier. The series was released in the US in June 1968.

With the production order being different from the original broadcast order, extensive debate has taken place among dedicated fans regarding the "correct" order to view these episodes. Several different orders are listed below.

Episode list

Episode sequences
The table below defaults to ITC's original ordering, but can then be sorted into any of the other orders.
Title Writer Original UK airdate[7] Number Two played by Prod ITC US A&E Inf KTEH
"Arrival" George Markstein, David Tomblin 29 September 1967 Guy Doleman
George Baker 		1 1 1 1 1 1
After waking up in the Village and discovering his captivity there, Number Six encounters a friend from the outside who may have a possible escape.
"The Chimes of Big Ben" Vincent Tilsley 6 October 1967 Leo McKern 5 2 2 5 7 4
A new prisoner, Nadia, may have information about the Village that makes an escape attempt possible.
"A. B. and C." Anthony Skene 13 October 1967 Colin Gordon 10 3 3 6 3 9
A desperate Number Two manipulates Number Six's dreams to discover where his loyalties lie.
"Free for All" "Paddy Fitz" (Patrick McGoohan) 20 October 1967 Eric Portman
Rachel Herbert 		2 4 4 2 5 5
Presented with the opportunity, Number Six runs for election to the post of Number Two.
"The Schizoid Man" Terence Feely 27 October 1967 Anton Rodgers 7 5 5 8 4 7
Number Two replaces Number Six with an identical duplicate (played by McGoohan) to weaken the real Six's sense of identity.
"The General" "Joshua Adam" (Lewis Greifer) 3 November 1967 Colin Gordon 11 6 6 7 8 8
An important prisoner's new speed-teaching machine can be used to indoctrinate everyone into believing the same thing, posing perhaps the greatest threat to Number Six's independence.
"Many Happy Returns" Anthony Skene 10 November 1967 Georgina Cookson 13 7 7 9 2 6
After waking to find the Village deserted, Number Six returns to England, but he does not know whom he can trust there.
"Dance of the Dead" Anthony Skene 17 November 1967 Mary Morris 4 8 8 3 12 2
Number Six tries to save an old friend who is headed for destruction at the hands of the Village.
"Checkmate" Gerald Kelsey 24 November 1967 Peter Wyngarde 3 9 11 4 6 3
Number Six thinks he has a means to tell the prisoners from the wardens.
"Hammer into Anvil" Roger Woddis 1 December 1967 Patrick Cargill 12 10 14 12 10 14
Number Six takes revenge on a sadistic Number Two for the death of another prisoner.
"It's Your Funeral" Michael Cramoy 8 December 1967 Derren Nesbitt
Andre Van Gyseghem 		8 11 10 10 9 11
To save the Village from calamitous consequences, Number Six must intervene in a Village power struggle and prevent the assassination of the retiring Number Two by his successor.
"A Change of Mind" Roger Parkes 15 December 1967 John Sharp 9 12 13 11 11 13
Number Two stirs the Village to ostracize Number Six, and then takes even more drastic measures to cure Six's "unmutuality".
"Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling" Vincent Tilsley 22 December 1967 Clifford Evans 14 13 9 13 15 12
Deprived of his memory and placed in another man's body, Number Six travels back to England to seek a missing scientist. Nigel Stock portrays Number Six for most of this episode.
"Living in Harmony" David Tomblin, Ian L. Rakoff 29 December 1967 David Bauer 15 14 12 14 14 10
In an Old West setting, a lawman who resigned is trapped in a town called Harmony where the Judge wants him to be the new sheriff – by hook or by crook.
"The Girl Who Was Death" Terence Feely 18 January 1968 Kenneth Griffith 16 15 15 15 15 15
Number Six avoids the assassination attempts of a blonde-haired woman while foiling the plots of her megalomaniac father.
"Once Upon a Time" Patrick McGoohan 25 January 1968 Leo McKern 6 16 16 16 16 16
Number Two subjects Number Six to Degree Absolute, a desperate, last-ditch effort to subdue him – an ordeal that will not end until it breaks one of them.
"Fall Out" Patrick McGoohan 1 February 1968 Leo McKern 17 17 17 17 17 17
Number Six encounters the forces in charge of the Village, but can he finally escape?

Alternative versions

Alternative versions of two episodes exist and have been commercially released. An early edit of "Arrival", with a different music score and additional dialogue and scenes not in the broadcast version, was located in the 2000s and released to DVD in the UK and in 2009 in the A&E Home Video DVD and Blu-ray box sets. This alternative version was located on a near-pristine 35mm print and has been transferred in high-definition along with the 17 episodes for the Blu-ray release. An early edit of "The Chimes of Big Ben", again with an unbroadcast music score and additional scenes and dialogue not in the broadcast version, was located in the 1980s and initially released on VHS videotape by MPI Home Video. It was later included as a bonus feature on the A&E Home Video DVD release of the series in the early 2000s. In 2009 it was also included in the expanded A&E Home Video box set, but owing to the low quality of the print it was not upgraded to high definition as was "Arrival", and was instead included as a bonus on the set's standard DVD extras disc, which was included in both the DVD and Blu-ray editions.

Episode viewing order

General agreement exists on the first episode and the last two episodes of the 17 produced shows, but extensive debate has taken place among dedicated fans regarding a "correct" order for the intermediate 14 episodes. The order in which the episodes were originally broadcast in Britain differs from the order in which they were produced. Even the broadcast order is not that originally intended by series star and co-creator Patrick McGoohan. Many have analysed the series line-by-line for time references, which in many cases provide different—sometimes radically different—episode orders compared to the broadcast order.[8]

Ian Rakoff (assistant editor on two episodes and co-writer of "Living in Harmony") authored a book in 1998 on his experience working on the series,[9] wherein the appendices include a numbered episode guide which reflects the original UK broadcast order, as do the nine-volume Laserdisc releases of the series, also released in 1998. However, the 2006 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition (DVD boxed set) released in association with American television's Arts & Entertainment Channel (A&E) uses a different order. The set goes so far as to include a guidebook with justifications for their version, citing—among other reasons—the aforementioned "time references", such as Number Six telling other members of the Village that he is "new here".

The first UK transmission of each of the first 14 episodes was made by ATV (Midlands) and Grampian Television. The final three episodes were first shown in the UK by Scottish Television.

Unproduced episodes

Story lines and scripts that the series did not use are known to exist, several of which were published in a two-volume collection – The Prisoner: The Original Scripts – Volume 1 & 2 edited by Robert Fairclough and published by Reynolds and Hearn in 2005 and 2006. The scripts and story outlines were also included in PDF form as a DVD-ROM bonus feature on the 2007 and 2009 DVD box set issues of The Prisoner by Network Distrubuting.

Documentary

A documentary entitled Don't Knock Yourself Out was produced in 2007, containing behind-the-scenes footage, and archival and newly recorded interviews with the cast and production staff. It is narrated by Neil Pearson[10] and runs approximately 90 minutes.

References

  1. ^ "Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ) and resource guide for alt.tv.prisoner". Archived from the original on 1 May 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2010.
  2. ^ The Prisoner: The Complete Series
  3. ^ White, Mathew; Ali, Jaffer. The Official Prisoner Companion. p. 143.
  4. ^ Amazon.com: The Prisoner – Complete Series Megaset
  5. ^ The Prisoner: The Complete Series (Blu-ray and DVD). A&E Home Video. 27 October 2009. ISBN 1-4229-4901-X.
  6. ^ https://www.avclub.com/the-prisoner-arrival-1798206927
  7. ^ Fairclough, Robert (2002). The Prisoner: The Official Companion. London: Carlton Books. p. 140. ISBN 978-0743452564.
  8. ^ White, Matthew (1988). The Official Prisoner Companion. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. p. 132. ISBN 0-283-99598-X.
  9. ^ Rakoff, Ian (1998). Inside the Prisoner: Radical Television and Film in the 1960s. Batsford Ltd. ISBN 978-0713484137.
  10. ^ "Internet Movie Database". IMDb. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
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