List of The Prisoner episodes
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Following is a list of the 17 episodes of The Prisoner, along with description of their content and context.
While everyone agrees on the first, and the last two episodes, extensive debate has taken place among dedicated fans trying to determine a "correct" order for the intermediate 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 McGoohan. Many have analyzed the series line-by-line for time references, which in many cases provide different — sometimes radically different — episode orders compared to the broadcast order. For instance, it is very likely from the story details and opening sequences that "The General" precedes "A. B. and C." in sequence.
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. These transmissions are listed below, using the ATV London/Southern region airdates (Midlands transmitted the show first on the Friday and London would transmit it on Sunday, a few days later) .[1]
| Title | Original airdate (UK)[1] | Number Two played by | Plot | KTEH | 6of1 | ITC | 1st | McG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrival | October 1, 1967 | Guy Doleman George Baker |
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. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| The Chimes of Big Ben | October 8, 1967 | Leo McKern | A new prisoner, Nadia, may have information about the Village that makes an escape attempt possible. | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| A. B. and C. | October 15, 1967 | Colin Gordon | A desperate Number Two tampers with Number Six's dreams to discover where his loyalties lie. | 9 | 6 | 3 | 3 | - |
| Free For All | October 22, 1967 | Eric Portman Rachel Herbert |
Presented with the opportunity, Number Six runs for election to the post of Number Two. | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| The Schizoid Man | October 29, 1967 | Anton Rodgers | Number Two replaces Number Six with a duplicate to weaken the real Six's sense of identity. | 7 | 8 | 5 | 5 | - |
| The General | November 5, 1967 | Colin Gordon | An important prisoner's new speed-teaching machine poses perhaps the greatest threat to Number Six's independence. | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | - |
| Many Happy Returns | November 12, 1967 | Georgina Cookson | After waking to find the Village deserted, Number Six returns to England but doesn't know whom he can trust there. | 6 | 9 | 7 | 7 | - |
| Dance of the Dead | November 26, 1967 | Mary Morris | Number Six tries to save an old friend headed from destruction at the hands of the Village. | 2 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 3 |
| Checkmate | December 3, 1967 | Peter Wyngarde | Number Six thinks he has a means to tell the prisoners from the warders, and assembles a group for an escape attempt. | 3 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 4 |
| Hammer Into Anvil | December 10, 1967 | Patrick Cargill | Number Six takes revenge on a sadistic Number Two for the death of another prisoner. | 14 | 12 | 14 | 10 | - |
| It's Your Funeral | December 17, 1967 | Derren Nesbitt Andre Van Gyseghem |
To save the prisoner who is being set up to take the fall, Number Six must intervene in a Village power struggle and prevent the assassination of a Number Two. | 11 | 10 | 10 | 11 | - |
| A Change of Mind | December 31, 1967 | John Sharp | Number Two stirs the Village to ostracize Number Six, and then takes even more drastic measures to cure Six's "unmutuality". | 13 | 11 | 13 | 12 | - |
| Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling | January 7, 1968 | Clifford Evans | Deprived of his memory and placed in another man's body, Number Six travels back to England to seek a missing scientist. | 12 | 13 | 9 | 13 | - |
| Living in Harmony | January 14, 1968 | David Bauer | 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. | 10 | 14 | 12 | 14 | - |
| The Girl Who Was Death | January 21, 1968 | Kenneth Griffith | Number Six tells a fairy tale in which he avoids the assassination attempts of a beautiful woman while foiling the plots of her megalomaniac father. | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | - |
| Once Upon a Time | January 28, 1968 | Leo McKern | Number Two subjects Number Six to a desperate, last-ditch effort to subdue him, Degree Absolute — an ordeal that will not end until it breaks one of them. | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 6 |
| Fall Out | February 4, 1968 | Leo McKern | Number Six finally discovers who Number One is and escapes the Village. Or does he? | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 7 |
- KTEH: Arranged by Scott Apel for KTEH channel 54 (PBS affiliate in San Jose, California); reportedly approved by McGoohan.
- 6 of 1: Endorsed by Six of One, The Prisoner Appreciation Society
- The Sci Fi Channel marathon uses the Six of One order, except
"Dance of the Dead" precedes "Free for All", and
"The General" precedes "A., B., and C."
- The Sci Fi Channel marathon uses the Six of One order, except
- ITC: "Official" ITC sequence. This is the sequence in which the episodes were originally scheduled to be broadcast in the UK and, aside from the inclusion of Living in Harmony, the sequence in which they were originally aired in the USA.
- 1st: Original UK airing sequence.
- McG: Patrick McGoohan's original seven episodes which "really count".
