Following is a list of the episodes of The Prisoner

The Prisoner

The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...

, along with description of their content and context.

While everyone agrees on the first, and the last two episodes of the 17 produced shows, 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 series creator/star Patrick 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.

In 1998, Ian Rakoff (assistant editor on two episodes and co-writer of "Living in Harmony") authored a book on his experience working on the series, Inside The Prisoner, wherein the Appendices include a numbered episode guide which mirrors the episode order seen below. Additionally, again in 1998, the 9 volume Laserdisc releases of the series also are the same as the guide on this page. However, the 2006 40th Anniversary DVD Boxed Set released in association with American television's Arts & Entertainment Channel (A&E) goes so far as to include a guidebook with justifications for "their version" of the order, citing that the original UK broadcast order as well as the aforementioned "time references" such as No. 6 telling other members of the Village that he is "new here". Given that No. 6 is pitted against a myriad of psychological tricks and mind altering drugs throughout the series, many do not think that such references are a proper way to postulate answers to such questions as time while still others feel that such statements represent No.6's constant sarcastic, adversarial and wry attitude towards his captors.

The first UK transmission of each of the first 14 episodes was made by ATV

Associated TeleVision

Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...

 (Midlands) and Grampian Television

Grampian Television

Grampian Television is the ITV franchisee for the North and North East of Scotland. Its coverage area includes the Scottish Highlands , Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and parts of north Fife...

. The final three episodes were first shown in the UK by Scottish Television

Scottish Television

Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...

.

Episode list

Title	Original UK airdate	Number Two Number Two (The Prisoner) Number Two was the title of the chief administrator of The Village in the 1967-68 British television series The Prisoner. More than 17 different actors appeared as holders of the office during the 17-episode series .The first...  played by	Plot	Pro	ITC	KTEH	6of1	AVC
Arrival Arrival (The Prisoner) "Arrival" is the title of the first episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 29 September 1967 and was first broadcast in the United States on CBS on 1 June 1968....		Guy Doleman Guy Doleman Guy Doleman was a New Zealand actor.He is perhaps best known for his role as "Count Lippe" in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball, and as "Colonel Ross" in the three film adaptations of Len Deighton's "Harry Palmer" novels, starring Michael Caine, in the 1960s...   George Baker George Baker (actor) George Baker, MBE was an English actor and writer. He was best-known for portraying Tiberius in I, Claudius, and Inspector Wexford in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries.-Personal life:...	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		Leo McKern Leo McKern Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO was an Australian-born British actor who appeared in numerous British and Australian television programmes and movies, and more than 200 stage roles.-Early life:...	A new prisoner, Nadia, may have information about the Village that makes an escape attempt possible.	5	2	4	5	5
A. B. and C. A. B. and C. "A. B. and C." is the title of the third episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 13 October 1967 and was first broadcast in the United States on CBS on 22 June 1968....		Colin Gordon Colin Gordon Colin Gordon was a British actor born in Ceylon .He was educated at Marlborough College and Christ Church, Oxford. He made his first West End appearance in 1934 as the hind legs of a horse in a production of “Toad of Toad Hall”. From 1936 to 1939 he was a director with the Fred Melville Repertory...	A desperate Number Two tampers with Number Six's dreams to discover where his loyalties lie.	11	3	9	6	8
Free For All		Eric Portman Eric Portman Eric Portman was a distinguished English stage and film actor...   Rachel Herbert	Presented with the opportunity, Number Six runs for election to the post of Number Two.	2	4	5	2	3
The Schizoid Man The Schizoid Man (The Prisoner) The Schizoid Man is an episode of The Prisoner.-Plot:In an extremely complex plot of bluff and double bluff, Number 2 brings a lookalike of Number 6, referred to as "Number 12", to The Village. Number 12 is not a clone, but an "agent" of The Village who happens to bear a very strong resemblance to...		Anton Rodgers Anton Rodgers Anton Rodgers was an English actor and occasional director. He performed on stage, in film and in television dramas and sitcoms.-Life and career:...	Number Two replaces Number Six with a duplicate to weaken the real Six's sense of identity.	7	5	7	8	6
The General The General (The Prisoner) The General is the sixth episode of the television series The Prisoner. The central themes of this episode are rote learning and indoctrination.-Synopsis:...		Colin Gordon Colin Gordon Colin Gordon was a British actor born in Ceylon .He was educated at Marlborough College and Christ Church, Oxford. He made his first West End appearance in 1934 as the hind legs of a horse in a production of “Toad of Toad Hall”. From 1936 to 1939 he was a director with the Fred Melville Repertory...	An important prisoner's new speed-teaching machine poses perhaps the greatest threat to Number Six's independence.	10	6	8	7	7
Many Happy Returns Many Happy Returns (Prisoner episode) Many Happy Returns is the seventh episode of the television series The Prisoner.-Additional guest cast:* Group Captain - Brian Worth* Commander - Richard Caldicot* Gunther - Dennis Chinnery* Ernst - Jon Laurimore* Gypsy girl - Nike Arrighi...		Georgina Cookson Georgina Cookson Antoinette Georgina Cookson was a British film, stage and television actress. She died in Sydney, aged 92, on 1 October 2011.-Family:...	After waking to find the Village deserted, Number Six returns to England but does not know whom he can trust there.	13	7	6	9	10
Dance of the Dead Dance of the Dead (The Prisoner) Dance of the Dead is the eighth episode of the television series The Prisoner.-Synopsis:Number 6 learns that a mysterious Carnival is to be held in the Village. He makes an attempt to escape that night but he is stopped by Rover on the beach. He then collapses due to exhaustion...		Mary Morris Mary Morris Mary Morris was a British actress.-Life and career:She was the daughter of Herbert Stanley Morris, the botanist, and his wife Sylvia Ena de Creft-Harford. She was educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.She made her stage debut in Lysistrata at the Gate Theatre, London, in 1935...	Number Six tries to save an old friend headed for destruction at the hands of the Village.	4	8	2	3	2
Checkmate Checkmate (The Prisoner) Checkmate is the ninth episode of the television series The Prisoner; as its title suggests, the plot centres around a game of chess in which the pieces are humans, directed by a mysterious "man with a stick". The chess game has been described as a metaphor for life itself, albeit a somewhat...		Peter Wyngarde Peter Wyngarde Peter Paul Wyngarde is an Anglo-French actor best known for playing the character Jason King, a bestselling novelist turned sleuth, in two British television series in the late 1960s and early 1970s: Department S and Jason King .-Biography:He was born Cyril Goldbert in Marseilles, France, the...	Number Six thinks he has a means to tell the prisoners from the wardens, and assembles a group for an escape attempt.	3	11	3	4	4
Hammer Into Anvil Hammer Into Anvil "Hammer into Anvil" is an episode of the 1960s television program The Prisoner. It is one of the minority of episodes that do not deal with Number Six attempting to escape or the Village authorities attempting to coerce him into revealing information....		Patrick Cargill Patrick Cargill Patrick Cargill was a British actor known for his role on the British television sitcom Father, Dear Father.-Career:...	Number Six takes revenge on a sadistic Number Two for the death of another prisoner.	12	14	14	12	12
It's Your Funeral It's Your Funeral It's Your Funeral is the eleventh episode of the television series The Prisoner. In this episode, a young successor to Number 2 plots to assassinate the retiring Number 2 and ensure his own success in the organization. -Plot summary:...		Derren Nesbitt Derren Nesbitt Derren Nesbitt is an English actor. Possibly his best known role was as SS Major von Hapen in Where Eagles Dare.In 2008 he was writing a book on "biblical myths and falsehoods".-Acting career:...   Andre Van Gyseghem Andre Van Gyseghem André van Gyseghem was an English actor and theatre director who also appeared in many British television programmes.- Early life :...	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.	8	10	11	10	9
A Change of Mind A Change of Mind A Change of Mind is the twelfth episode of the television series The Prisoner, originally broadcast on 15 December 1967.-Synopsis:Number 6 is seen pursuing his daily exercise routine in the woods. Two thugs arrive and accuse him of being antisocial for not using the community gym, and a fight...		John Sharp John Sharp (actor) John Sharp was a British television actor.He made more than 100 appearances in television and occasionally films between 1949 and 1991. Sharp began as a film actor in 1949 and appeared in films throughout the 1950s...	Number Two stirs the Village to ostracize Number Six, and then takes even more drastic measures to cure Six's "unmutuality".	9	13	13	11	11
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling is the thirteenth episode of the television series The Prisoner, produced while Patrick McGoohan was in America filming Ice Station Zebra. As a workaround to McGoohan's absence the writers contrived to have Number Six's mind implanted in the body of another man , who...		Clifford Evans Clifford Evans Clifford Evans was a Welsh actor. As a conscientious objector he served in the Non-Combatant Corps in World War II.During the summer of 1934 he appeared in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Open Air Theatre in London....	Deprived of his memory and placed in another man's body, Number Six travels back to England to seek a missing scientist.	14	9	12	13	14
Living in Harmony Living in Harmony "Living in Harmony" is an episode of the 1967-68 television series The Prisoner. It differs from most other episodes of the series in that it does not begin with the show's standard opening credits sequence...		David Bauer David Bauer (actor) David Bauer was an American actor, a Chicagoan, who was based primarily in Britain. He was chosen as the most promising actor at Washington University and his professional career began immediately after graduating...	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.	15	12	10	14	13
The Girl Who Was Death The Girl Who Was Death "The Girl Who Was Death" is a television episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 18 January 1968...		Kenneth Griffith Kenneth Griffith Kenneth Griffith was a Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker.-Early life:He was born Kenneth Reginald Griffiths in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Six months after his birth his parents split up and left Tenby, leaving Kenneth with his paternal grandparents, Emily and Ernest, who immediately adopted...	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.	16	15	15	15	15
Once Upon a Time Once Upon a Time (The Prisoner) "Once Upon a Time" is the title of the 16th episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan as Number Six...		Leo McKern Leo McKern Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO was an Australian-born British actor who appeared in numerous British and Australian television programmes and movies, and more than 200 stage roles.-Early life:...	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.	6	16	16	16	16
Fall Out Fall Out (The Prisoner) "Fall Out" is the seventeenth and final episode of the allegorical British science fiction series The Prisoner, which starred Patrick McGoohan as the incarcerated Number Six...		Leo McKern Leo McKern Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO was an Australian-born British actor who appeared in numerous British and Australian television programmes and movies, and more than 200 stage roles.-Early life:...	Number Six finally discovers the identity of Number One, and escapes the Village... or does he?	17	17	17	17	17

Episode ordering

Pro^: The studio production order. ITC^: "Official" ITC

ITC Entertainment

The Incorporated Television Company was a British television company largely involved in production and distribution. It was founded by Lew Grade.-History:...

 sequence. This is the sequence in which the episodes were originally scheduled to be broadcast in the UK and, aside from the exclusion of Living in Harmony

Living in Harmony

"Living in Harmony" is an episode of the 1967-68 television series The Prisoner. It differs from most other episodes of the series in that it does not begin with the show's standard opening credits sequence...

 there, the sequence in which they were originally aired in the USA. KTEH^: Arranged by Scott Apel

Scott Apel

D. Scott Apel is an American author and media critic. He is famous for his analyses of the work of science fiction author Philip K. Dick and the television series The Prisoner....

 for KTEH

KTEH

KQEH is a public television station in San Jose, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as a PBS member station on channel 54. The station is owned by Northern California Public Broadcasting with sister-stations KQED in San Francisco and KQET in Watsonville, the latter mirroring KQED.Until...

 channel 54 (PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 affiliate in San Jose, California

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

) 6 of 1^: Endorsed by Six of One, The Prisoner Appreciation Society, and used in the A&E

A&E Network

The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...

 DVDs. The UK Sci Fi Channel

Sci Fi channel (United Kingdom)

Syfy is a television channel service specialising in science fiction, fantasy and horror shows and movies. It is available via digital cable, IPTV, satellite television and Top Up TV platforms. The channel launched in 1995 in the UK a sister channel to the US Sci Fi Channel , with a similar...

 marathon used a similar order, but with "Dance of the Dead" preceding "Free for All", and "The General" preceding "A., B., and C." AV Club^: After viewing in the KTEH order, the personal arrangement of Zack Handlen of the website The AV Club.

Alternate versions

Alternate 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 alternate version was located in a near-pristine 35-mm print which allowed it to be upconverted to high-definition along with the 17 episodes for the Blu-ray release. In the 1980s 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 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 due 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.

Unproduced episodes

Unproduced storylines and scripts for the series are known to exist, several of which were published in a two-volume collection of Prisoner scripts 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 2009 DVD and Blu-ray box set issue of The Prisoner by A&E Home Video.

• "The Outsider" by Moris Farhi
  Moris Farhi
  Moris Farhi MBE is an author who has been vice-president of International PEN since 2001.-Background:Farhi was born in Ankara, Turkey, in 1935. Farhi received B.A. in Humanities from Robert Academy, Istanbul, in 1954. He came to the UK the same year and trained at The Royal Academy of Dramatic...
  
   (complete script included in Volume 1)
• "Ticket to Eternity" by Eric Mival
  Eric Mival
  Eric Mival is a film editor, director, and music editor.Mival started his career in films and television working in editing roles on several TV programmes and feature films before becoming a BBC film editor...
  
   (synopsis included in Volume 1)
• "Friend or Foe" by Mival (synopsis included in Volume 1)
• "Don't Get Yourself Killed" by Gerald Kelsey (complete script included in Volume 2)

George Markstein's original ending

According to author James Follett, a protege of Prisoner co-creator George Markstein, Markstein had mapped out an explanation for the Village. In George Markstein's mind, a young Number Six had once submitted a proposal for how to deal with retired secret agents who posed a security risk. Six's idea was to create a comfortable retirement centre where former agents could live out their final years, enduring firm but unintrusive surveillance.

Years later, Six discovered that his idea had been put into practice, and not as a benign means of retirement, but as an interrogation centre and a prison camp. Outraged, Six staged his own resignation, knowing he would be brought to the Village. He hoped to learn everything he could of how his idea had been implemented, and find a way to destroy it. However, due to the range of nationalities and agents present in the Village, Six realised he was not sure whose Village he was in – the one brought about by his own people, or by the other side. Six's conception of the Village would have been the foundation of declaring him to be 'Number One.' However, Markstein's falling out with McGoohan resulted in Markstein's departure, and his original intent was discarded.

According to Markstein: "The Prisoner was going to leave the Village and he was going to have adventures in many parts of the world, but ultimately he would always be a prisoner. By that I don't mean he would always go back to the Village. He would always be a prisoner of his circumstances, his situation, his secret, his background… and 'they' would always be there to ensure that his captivity continues."