History Series / ThePrisoner1967

* {{Catchphrase}}: Several. "Be seeing you!", "Why did you resign?", "I am not a number, I am a free man!", "Who is Number One?", etc.

** The spy hero does not always escape or foil his opponent's plans.

** Mad would-be dictators that show up on a weekly basis on most of those shows aren't a real threat in this show (we one we do meet is actually a caricature as part of a make-believe story Number 6 tells children as a ''bedtime story'').

* LicensedGame: There was a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner_(video_game) computer game]] which was highly acclaimed and received a sequel. It may not have been officially licensed, though.
** Steve Jackson Games' ''TabletopGame GURPS'' has a sourcebook for the series.
* LittlePeopleAreSurreal: The Butler.

* NoNameGiven: The Prisoner's real name (although many fans assume he's John Drake, the character [=McGoohan=] played in his previous series, ''Series/DangerMan'' (aka ''Secret Agent''); in fact, he's not even called "Number Six" in the scripts, except by other characters, only "P" or "Prisoner".

* SwordCane: * In the episode "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE10HammerIntoAnvil Hammer into Anvil]]", a particularly nasty Number Two is revealed to have turned his shooting-stick-of-office into a sword stick, and threatens to stab Number Six [[EyeScream in the eyes]] with it.

* YouAreNumberSix: TropeNamer

* SwordCane: * In the episode "Hammer into Anvil", a particularly nasty Number Two is revealed to have turned his shooting-stick-of-office into a sword stick, and threatens to stab Number Six [[EyeScream in the eyes]] with it.

** Just about every No. 2 in the opening dialog.
---> '''No. 2:''' We want information… INFORMATION… '''''INFORMATION!!!'''''

* {{Filler}}: [=McGoohan=] has gone on record stating that only seven episodes in the series are essential to the main story arc: "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE1Arrival Arrival]]", "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE4FreeForAll Free For All]]", "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE8DanceOfTheDead Dance of the Dead]]", "'[[Recap/ThePrisonerE9Checkmate Checkmate]]", "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE2TheChimesOfBigBen The Chimes of Big Ben]]", "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE16OnceUponATime Once Upon A Time]]", and "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE17FallOut Fall Out]]". The rest were only filmed to satisfy the required episode count.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_prisoner_black_white.jpg]]

* ArcNumber: While "2" and "6" are obviously recurring numbers, the digit "7" almost never appears in any regard. [[note]] Save for an appearance on a gravestone in the episode "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE10HammerIntoAnvil Hammer Into Anvil]]", as part of the number "73". [[/note]]

* CatchPhrase: Several. "Be seeing you!", "Why did you resign?", "I am not a number, I am a free man!", "Who is Number One?", etc.

'''No.2''': [[YouAreNumberSix You are Number Six.]]\\

* GirlOfTheWeek: Usually one per episode, although they're all very different from each other. (Two of them are Number 2, a third is secretly the incoming Number 2-designate, some are openly Village operatives, some are moles, some die, some are hallucinations.) Number 6 has no romantic interest in them whatsoever, though. [[spoiler:As it turns out, he's already engaged.]] That doesn't stop several of them from expressing "interest" in No. 6, however (that said, in a case of creator-driven ExecutiveMeddling, [=McGoohan=] continually removed any hint of romance between females and No. 6 from the scripts, allowing only a couple of story-related exceptions to slip through).

* SuddenlyShouting: Number Six will frequently ramp up the volume and intensity on the final word of a sentence, as in his famous "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or '''NUMBERED'''!"

** Many of the elements of the show (as well as [=McGoohan=]'s previous show, ''Danger Man'') were deliberately designed as counterpoints to the growing popularity of the Franchise/JamesBond franchise: Bond's an expert gunman (Six has moments of being a TechnicalPacifist), Bond is a walking example of ReallyGetsAround (Six is a CelibateHero), and Bond and Six are deeply, deeply divided over PatrioticFervour. Both characters are also superspies with pithy humour, and both feature over the top gadgets that suffered heavily from {{Zeerust}}. To hammer it home, [=McGoohan=] was one of the original picks to play Bond, but turned it down because he disagreed with the philosophy behind the character. Though it would have made him far richer, he reportedly never regretted the decision.

* StockShoutOut: The initial interview with No. 2 is frequently referenced. "Be seeing you" and the accompanying hand gesture are often used as hints in other media that the person giving them isn't to be trusted (most notably Bester and other [=PsiCorp=] characters in ''Series/BabylonFive'').

* AmbiguousSyntax: Used in the EveryEpisodeOpening. Number Two's declaration that "You are Number Six" is stressed rather oddly... such that it comes off more as answering "Who is Number One?" with [[spoiler:"You are, Number Six"]].

* LaterInstalmentWeirdness The series spent the first twelve of its seventeen episodes (in production order) confined almost exclusively to The Village. But the next four episodes to be produced all spent the majority of their runtimes (apparently) outside the Village, with increasingly [[invoked]][[BizarroEpisode bizarre]] in-universe reasons for doing so without having Number Six actually escape the Village:

* RecycledINSPACE: You can see this show as ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' with an indomitable hero to give it some hope.

'''No.2''': [[YouAreNumberSix You are]][[spoiler:, ]][[YouAreNumberSix Number Six.]]\\

* PurelyAestheticGender: Outside of "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE13DoNotForsakeMeOhMyDarling Do Not Forsake Me Oh my Darling]]" (produced when [=McGoohan=] largely wasn't there), "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE8DanceOfTheDead Dance of the Dead]]" (wherein a female character falls in love with No. 6), and "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE2TheChimesOfBigBen The Chimes of Big Ben]]" (where it is hoped No. 6 would fall for a female prisoner with similar desire to escape), the characters' genders make no real difference to the plot.

* GirlOfTheWeek: Usually one per episode, although they're all very different from each other. (Two of them are Number 2, a third is secretly the incoming Number 2-designate, some are doctors, some are Village moles, some die, some are hallucinations.) Number 6 has no romantic interest in them whatsoever, though. [[spoiler:As it turns out, he's already engaged.]] That doesn't stop several of them from expressing "interest" in No. 6, however (that said, in a case of creator-driven ExecutiveMeddling, [=McGoohan=] continually removed any hint of romance between females and No. 6 from the scripts, allowing only a couple of story-related exceptions to slip through).

* GirlOfTheWeek: Usually one per episode, although they're all very different from each other. (Two of them are Number 2, a third is secretly the incoming Number 2-designate, some are Village operatives, some die, some are hallucinations.) Number 6 has no romantic interest in them whatsoever, though. [[spoiler:As it turns out, he's already engaged.]] That doesn't stop several of them from expressing "interest" in No. 6, however (that said, in a case of creator-driven ExecutiveMeddling, [=McGoohan=] continually removed any hint of romance between females and No. 6 from the scripts, allowing only a couple of story-related exceptions to slip through).

* ArcWords

** The finale also reveals [[spoiler: that the phrase "You are Number 6", heard during the opening credits, actually should be seen with a comma: "You are, Number 6".]]

* BecomingTheMask: The real threat represented by the Village. Yes, the people running it might torture or brainwash you, but eventually, they may not need to: the prisoners and jailers appear interchangeable, and the setting idyllic, with some prisoners eventually liking the place and choosing to serve it. [[spoiler: Leo [=McKern's=] No. 2 is eventually revealed to be a former inmate.]]

* CelibateHero: Number Six is [[spoiler: engaged]].
* ComicBookAdaptation: A sequel miniseries (later collected into a [=TPB=]) called ''Shattered Visage''. Among other things, it provided an explanation for the show's infamous GainaxEnding. It also comes close to performing a GenderFlip by featuring a new No. 6 who, this time, is a woman ([[spoiler: in this story, the original No. 6, apparently driven mad, takes on the role of No. 2 -- at least, until one of the original No. 2's returns to the Village]]). As for whether it's canon, well... the most [=McGoohan=] ever said about it was that he "didn't hate it".

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: For Number Six -- escape the Village. For Number Twos -- to break Number Six. The finale elaborates on this. [[spoiler: Number Six gets home, and doesn't notice when a door in his old flat opens exactly the same way as the ones in the village. [=McGoohan=] later confirmed this was intentional.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Although given the haphazard way the series finale was devised suggests this was not intentional, many have noted that if read with a different inflection than that heard on screen, one exchange between No. 6 and No. 2 in the opening sequence [[spoiler: "Who is Number One"; "You are Number Six"]] can be seen as foreshadowing one of the [[spoiler: big reveals in "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE17FallOut Fall Out]]"]].

* GirlOfTheWeek: Usually one per episode, although they're all very different from each other. (Two of them are Number 2, a third is secretly the incoming Number 2-designate, some are Village operatives, some die, some are hallucinations.) Number 6 has no romantic interest in them whatsoever, though. [[spoiler: As it turns out, he's already engaged.]] That doesn't stop several of them from expressing "interest" in No. 6, however (that said, in a case of creator-driven ExecutiveMeddling, [=McGoohan=] continually removed any hint of romance between females and No. 6 from the scripts, allowing only a couple of story-related exceptions to slip through).

** The 15th produced episode, "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE14LivingInHarmony Living in Harmony]]", makes things weirder still by having Number Six be apparently become a sheriff in an American {{Western}}. Only in the final few minutes is it revealed that [[spoiler: Number Six is still in the Village, under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs.]]
** The 16th and penultimate produced episode, "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE15TheGirlWhoWasDeath The Girl Who Was Death]]", has Number Six apparently back in his old life as a superspy, pursuing a female assassin across England. Only at the very end is it revealed that [[spoiler: he is simply reading a bedtime story about himself to the Village children]].

** "Pop Goes the Weasel" is used throughout the series. The episode "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE16OnceUponATime Once Upon A Time]]" establishes "POP" as an acronym for [[spoiler: protect other people]] and originally "POP" was to be a featured element of the show's closing credits, but this was never broadcast (you still see it in the early edit versions of some episodes that have been released on DVD).

* LockedInARoom

** Many of the Village minders don't actually give a flying fuck about the answer -- what's important is that Number 6 surrenders by telling them. In the very first episode the first No. 2 encountered states outright that they know why he resigned, and proceeds to characterize the interrogation of No. 6 as "a double check". No. 6 also [[spoiler: outright states why he resigned, at least in broad strokes,]] in "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE16OnceUponATime Once Upon A Time]]". ([[spoiler: "For peace of mind ... Too many people know too much."]] Which is actually a reasonable reason for resigning.)

* GirlOfTheWeek: Usually one per episode, although they're all very different from each other. (Two of them are Number 2, a third is secretly the incoming Number 2-designate, some are evil scientists or moles, some die, some are hallucinations.) Number 6 has no romantic interest in them whatsoever, though. [[spoiler: As it turns out, he's already engaged.]] That doesn't stop several of them from expressing "interest" in No. 6, however (that said, in a case of creator-driven ExecutiveMeddling, [=McGoohan=] continually removed any hint of romance between females and No. 6 from the scripts, allowing only a couple of story-related exceptions to slip through).

** The fucking weasel. It doesn't pop. WHY DOESN'T IT POP?!

The show is known for its obscure, confusing, yet intricate subtexts and plot twists, which culminated in the most notorious (and most beloved) GainaxEnding in British television history. Patrick [=McGoohan=] had almost complete creative control, a budget 40% larger than that of most other series, and ''no idea'' where the show was going from episode to episode. After what was broadcast as episode 11, the script editor, George Markstein, quit the series and was not replaced. Scripts and story ideas from that point on came from random people and places: a Western-themed episode was suggested by a video editor, and the infamous episode "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE15TheGirlWhoWasDeath The Girl Who Was Death]]" was an unused script from ''Series/DangerMan'' (featuring characters, props and locations from said series). Finally, the series' infamous ending (reportedly written over the course of a weekend after ITC head Lew Grade abruptly cancelled the series, with one of the guest stars asked to write his own dialogue) takes a turn for the surreal, fuelled by [=McGoohan=]'s wish to have "controversy, arguments, fights, discussions, people in anger waving fists in my face saying, ''how dare you?''". Let's just say that had Wiki/TVTropes been created by an earlier generation of nerds, GainaxEnding would have been called the "Prisoner Ending" and leave it at that.

* IdyllicEnglishVillage: The Village is actually [[CrapsaccharineWorld an elaborate prison for spies]], but it's built to look like a cozy British[[note]]The real town used for exterior shots, Portmeirion, is actually in Wales, not England, but the Village still comes across as mainly English in-show[[/note]] seaside town to dissuade escapes attempts. Many of the prisoners are perfectly happy to stay, seeing it less as captivity and more as retirement.

Some have even theorized that both characters are also the same person as the secret agent [=McGoohan=] played in the film ''Ice Station Zebra''. Certain small differences in behavior between the three characters (for example, Drake does not drink, the Prisoner drinks occasionally, and the ''Ice Station Zebra'' character is a borderline alcoholic) have been taken as hints toward the reason Number Six resigned his job (his refusal to divulge this reason is the {{MacGuffin}} for the series; his antagonists figure that if they can break him enough to get that information out of him, the rest will follow).

* PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo: In "A Change of Mind" Number Six is made to believe his aggressive behavior has been neutralized by ultrasound brain surgery - he comes to realize it had been staged and he was being kept passive with drugs, at which point he switches his drugged tea with a cup the scientist in charge is taking with him.

* LaterInstalmentWeirdness The series spend the first twelve of its seventeen episodes (in production order) confined almost exclusively to The Village. But the next four episodes to be produced all spent the majority of their runtimes (apparently) outside the Village, with increasingly [[invoked]][[BizarroEpisode bizarre]] in-universe reasons for doing so without having Number Six actually escape the Village: