The Prisonerpremiered on British screens in 1967, bringing with it blazers, badges and mind-bending bad guys.
Its truly an odd-beast, quintessentially Sixties in some respects, timeless in others.
And you think your retirement package is bad.
They must never be written down; they must never be spoken.
I am a free man!
His new home is simultaneously kitsch and terrifying; sleepy and kinetic; unconscionable and adorable.
Its both as camp as Christmas, and as hopelessly bleak as Christmas in the trenches.
Everyone who lives there looks like theyre auditioning for a part in a Wheres Wally poster.
But who are they?
What information do they want?
Whose side are they on?
Are any of the people in The Village real?
Dodging the ever-watchful eyes of his enemies.
Number 2s black ovoid chair can emerge from the floor.
Thanks for attending your appraisal.
Where do you see yourself in another five years, Mr. Andrew?
They are almost always one step ahead.
Theres always a new number 2 waiting to drop.
But who is number 1?
Or, to put it another way, who does Number 2 work for?
God damn you, Mike Myers.
The closer Number 6 comes to shedding his shackles and unmasking Number 1, the weirderThe Prisonerbecomes.
About seven or so episodes from the end, everything goes a bitOne Flew Over the Cuckoos NestmeetsTwin Peaks.
Theres a Wild West episode.
And an episode where 6 is regressed to a baby.
And theres a death.
And an ad-libbed trial.
And Leo McKern trying to out Brian-Blessed Brian Blessed himself.
And even more singing.
Youre worried people wont take to him.
Unfortunately, though, it doesnt last.
He rounds off the night by jumping out of a first storey window shouting I AM VOLTRON!
And everyones left wondering: What the **** was that?
So what the **** was that?
The Prisonercan be and frequently is interpreted in a multitude of different ways.
Maybe the show is just about the nightmare of one day waking up in Wales.
The Prisoner is available now to stream onBritboxin the UK
