Being the first episode of the series this is obviously the one which sets the tone for the preceeding ones and so here we go into a detailed description of this sequence. After Arrival, this sequence is used as a standard intro for most episodes with some minor changes. The episodes Living in Harmony and Fall Out do not use this sequence.
A crack of thunder.... a deserted runway.... a Lotus 7 car speeding toward us.... a man with determination etched on his face.
Cut to the Houses of Parliament and an underground car park on a side street. A long corridor and echoing footsteps as the man pushes on towards his goal. He pulls back the doors with force.
Another clap of thunder as our man throws down his resignation
letter to a figure of authority behind a desk. Our man
drives off back to his home, unaware
he is being followed by a hearse.
The man starts to pack his suitcase but doesn't get very far as a cloud of gas billows through his keyhole, courtesy of the undertaker. He collapses unconscious....
When he awakens everything seems the same, but on looking out of
the window he sees a different sight. It isn't London
anymore, he now looks out on a deserted village.
He has become 'The Prisoner'.
After his initial shock, The Prisoner rushes around The Village, trying to make sense of it all. He fails to glean any information from the people he meets. His efforts to gain information are frustrated when he attempts to make a call from a public telephone and when he tries to take a taxi out of The Village - he is told by an oriental girl 'local services only'.
He returns to his cottage and receives a telephone call requesting that he goes to 'The Green Dome' to meet someone called 'Number 2'. Once there he is told the reason for his abduction. They want to know why he resigned. Until he tells them he will be kept against his will. Number 2 informs our man that he is now to be known only by a number - 'for official purposes you will be Number 6'.
Number 6 makes an attempt to escape but he soon finds out why this
is not easy - he meets the guardian of The
Village, known as 'Rover', who stops Number 6 escaping by
stunning him!
Number 6 is taken to The Hospital where he awakens in a ward to find in the next bed is an old colleague called 'Cobb'. It appears that Cobb has also been kidnapped by the rulers of The Village. Cobb suddenly seems to crack and commits suicide by jumping from the window, Number 6 is now more determined than ever to escape.
He then enlists the help of a fellow
prisoner who knew Cobb, but is she all she seems.....?
Credits
Written by George Markstein and David Tomblin
Produced by David Tomblin
Directed by Don Chaffey
Stars
Patrick McGoohan - Number Six
Guy Doleman - Number Two
George Baker - The New Number Two
Paul Eddington - Cobb
Virginia Maskell - The Woman
Originally filmed as 'The Arrival', this episode went into production at Portmeirion in early Autumn 1966.
The Prisoner's car is a Lotus 7 with the number plate 'KAR 120C'.
Although credited, 1st croquet and 2nd croquet players don't actually appear in the finished episode!!