''The Prisoner'' is a 2009 six-part
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
based on the 1960s
TV series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
''
The Prisoner
''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...
. ''The series concerned a man who awakens in a mysterious, picturesque, but escape-proof village, and stars
Jim Caviezel
James Patrick Caviezel Jr. (; born September 26, 1968) is an American film and television actor who played Jesus Christ in ''The Passion of the Christ'' (2004) and starred as John Reese on the CBS series ''Person of Interest'' (2011–2016). He ...
,
Sir Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...
,
Ruth Wilson
Ruth Wilson (born 13 January 1982) is an English actress. She is known for her performances as the eponymous protagonist in ''Jane Eyre'' (2006), as Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama ''Luther'' (2010–2013, 2019), as Alison L ...
, and
Hayley Atwell
Hayley Elizabeth Atwell (born 5 April 1982) is a British and American actress. Born and raised in London, Atwell studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and made her stage debut in a 2005 production of James Kerr's translation ...
. It was co-produced by American cable network
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** AM ...
with British channel
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
, which now holds the rights to the original series. It received mixed reviews, with critics feeling that the remake was not as compelling as the original series.
Plot
The series begins with an unidentified man waking up in the middle of a desert and finding himself witness to the pursuit of an elderly man by mysterious guards. The old man dies soon after, but not before asking the younger man to "tell 'them' I got out."
Soon, he arrives in an enigmatic community, referred to by its many residents as simply "The Village". Everyone he meets is nameless, but known instead by a number; he is disconcertingly familiar to them, and learns his own number is "6". Everybody he meets appears ignorant of the outside world, and the contradictions this creates in some of their thoughts.
Number 6 also appears unable to remember his real name, and recalls only brief flashes of his former life in New York City. One recurring proto-memory is having met and seduced a mysterious woman in a diner - implicitly this happened very shortly before his awakening in The Village. He finds himself locked in a battle of wills against an individual called Number 2, who appears to be the Village's leader and who goes to great lengths to make Number 6 assimilate.
Number 6, meanwhile, tries to connect with "dreamers" — Village residents who, like him, have been experiencing dreamlike memories of their lives outside of the Village. Although distrusting of all villagers, he does befriend Number 147, a Village taxi driver, and Number 313, a doctor with whom he develops a romantic connection.
Number 2 invites Number 6 to spy on his fellow villagers under the tutelage of Number 909. Each man investigates the other and 2 investigates both - it appears as if all the villagers are spying on each other and privy to one another's foibles. 11-12 is meeting secretly with 909, and feels compelled to cover up these interactions by literally stabbing him in the back.
As Number 6's memories return piecemeal, his former name (Michael) is revealed in apparent flashback, as are a series of encounters between him in New York and many of the villagers. It appears that Michael used to work for a secretive surveillance company, Summakor, from which he (like McGoohan's spy in the original series) had recently resigned.
Number 2 has a heavily-medicated wife, and a son - Number "11-12". His son also feels like a prisoner, and Number 6's influence leads him to question his own identity, sexuality and - prompted by 6's unwillingness to conform - even the reality of his existence. Michael's feelings about his casual liaison with the now-better-recalled Lucy prior to his awakening in the Village resurfaces when he is matched by a Village agency with his onsite soulmate, and she turns out to be the same woman. Lucy now calls herself 4-15, is blind and initially claims no memory of their previous encounter. Number 2 manipulates 313 into betraying 6's relationship by making her own feelings for him clear, even as mysterious sinkholes open up throughout the Village into which several inhabitants fall.
Number 6 and Number 2 engage in a psychological battle involving their doppelgangers, but their final showdown reveals their doubles to be unreal - either imagined or hallucinated, bringing 11-12's concerns about the very fabric of reality to the fore, and further his existential crisis.
The final episode sees Number 2 discuss Number 313's returning memories of being Sarah, an alleged mentally disturbed woman in Michael's reality. Heavy flashbacks detail Michael's meeting with his presumed superior, Mr. Curtis; Number 147 is his driver, and the two discus brainwashing enroute to Mr Curtis, the 'real' identity of Number 2. The time relationship of the memories is questioned - Number 6 tells Number 147 that their minds are being trapped while their bodies are elsewhere, suggesting myriad interpretations of the layers of reality.
Mr. Curtis introduces Michael to his wife, Helen Blake, who has being theorising about different levels of consciousness and whether it is possible to visit them, "tak
ngwith us all these broken people and let
ing
Ing, ING or ing may refer to:
Art and media
* '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film
* i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group
* The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes''
* "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 1992 ...
them fix themselves" in a situation focusing on the fundamentals of life. The Villagers are revealed to have been subjects of Michael, identified by his surveillance work.
The Village exists in Helen's mind, a precarious existence threatened when Number 11-12 - having previously adjusted his mother's medication - assists in her suicide-death. Number 6 appears to be dying, sealing his fate and inabiloty to escape. His planned funeral, however, is replaced with that of 11-12, who takes his own life. As Number 2's fictional perfect family life - and Village - crumble, he expresses a desire to cede control to Number 6-Michael, inviting Number 147 to support 6 as 'the One' capable of bringing clarity and morality to the Village - "freedom ''within'' the prison."
Mr. Curtis praises Michael's integrity, as he identifies people - including 909 and 554 - who have been 'fixed' by the Village, further confusing the timeframe of interactions and overlap between the parallel narratives. Number 2 explains to 6 that it his fear of leaving that manifests as Rover (the odd white ball that acts as boundary-keeper to the Village environs).
Number 6 pleads with Number 2 to release the villagers before they succumb to the holes tearing apart the Village; instead he reveals a version of the truth - that they are all prisoners - as Michael learns about Sarah, who also resisted the Village and sacrificed her sanity.
In New York, Michael agrees to help Curtis save Sarah; in the Village Number 147 leads the villagers to anoint Michael-6 as 'the one' to save it alongside Sarah-313, the dreamer capable of making the sacrifice to help him sustain the unreality and try to make a 'good Village'.
Cast
Main cast
*
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...
as
Number 2
2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...
/ Curtis
*
Jim Caviezel
James Patrick Caviezel Jr. (; born September 26, 1968) is an American film and television actor who played Jesus Christ in ''The Passion of the Christ'' (2004) and starred as John Reese on the CBS series ''Person of Interest'' (2011–2016). He ...
as
Number 6 / Michael
*
Ruth Wilson
Ruth Wilson (born 13 January 1982) is an English actress. She is known for her performances as the eponymous protagonist in ''Jane Eyre'' (2006), as Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama ''Luther'' (2010–2013, 2019), as Alison L ...
as Number 313 / Sarah
*
Jamie Campbell Bower
James Metcalfe Campbell Bower (born 22 November 1988) is an English actor and singer. He made his feature film debut in 2007 with a supporting role in '' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street''. He went on to feature in '' The Twiligh ...
as 11–12
*
Hayley Atwell
Hayley Elizabeth Atwell (born 5 April 1982) is a British and American actress. Born and raised in London, Atwell studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and made her stage debut in a 2005 production of James Kerr's translation ...
as 4–15 / Lucy
*
Rachael Blake
Rachael Morelle Blake (born May 26, 1971) is an Australian actress.
Early life
Blake was born in Perth, Western Australia. At the age of 18 months, she moved to England with her English parents, only to return to Perth at age 11. Blake was b ...
as M2
*
Lennie James
Lennie Michael James (born 11 October 1965) is a British actor, screenwriter, and playwright. His work includes playing Morgan Jones in the television series, '' The Walking Dead'' and in its spin-off, '' Fear the Walking Dead'', and starring ...
as Number 147
* Renate Stuurman as 21-16
Guest cast
* John Whiteley as Number 93 – Episode
1, "Arrival"
*
Jessica Haines
Jessica Haines (born 1978) is a South African actress. She is best known for the 2008 film ''Disgrace'' in which she acts alongside John Malkovich. She frequently works in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Nairobi and Kampala. She is married to Richard ...
as Number 554 – Episode
1, "Arrival"
* David Butler as Number 37927 / The Access Man – Episode
1, "Arrival" and Episode
5, "Schizoid"
* Jeffrey R. Smith as Number 16 – Episode
2, "Harmony"
* James Cunigham as Number 70 & Shadow Number 70 – Episode
2, "Harmony"
* Leila Henriques as The Winking Woman – Episode
2, "Harmony"
*
Vincent Regan
Vincent Regan (born 16 May 1965) is a British film and television actor, best known for his roles in ''300'', ''Troy'', ''Unleashed'', '' Clash of the Titans'' and ''Lockout''.
Early life
Regan was born on 16 May 1965 in Swansea, Glamorgan, Wal ...
as Number 909 – Episode
3, "Anvil"
* Warrick Grier as Number 1955 – Episode
3, "Anvil"
* Lauren Dasnev as Number 1100 – Episode
3, "Anvil"
*
Sara Stewart
Sara Scott Griffith (born 28 June 1966) is a Scottish actress. She played Stella in '' Sugar Rush''.
Early life
Stewart was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to American parents. After spending some time in the U.S., she trained at the Central Sch ...
as Number 1894 – Episode
4, "Darling"
Production
Background
A remake of the 1967 TV series ''
The Prisoner
''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...
'' had been in the works since 2005.
The miniseries was promoted at 2008 San Diego
ComicCon
A comic book convention or comic-con is an event with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at con ...
via a
skywriter airplane that sketched the phrase "Seek the Six" in the sky over San Diego. Although "Seek the Six" was initially thought to be a
catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
of some sort, it did not appear in the
final cut of the miniseries.
A further promotional event for the miniseries was held at the 2009 ComicCon, including a
spoiler
Spoiler is a security vulnerability on modern computer central processing units that use speculative execution. It exploits side-effects of speculative execution to improve the efficiency of Rowhammer and other related memory and cache attacks. Ac ...
-heavy, 9-minute
trailer and a cast and crew discussion panel.
["ComicCon Panel" special feature, included on the 2010 DVD release of the series by Warner Home Video.]
Development
''The Prisoner'' went into production in June 2008. Location filming for
The Village was in
Swakopmund
Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers ...
,
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
. A production diary is available. After 18 weeks of shooting, principal photography wrapped on December 12, 2008.
In an interview shortly after his death,
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan (; March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an Irish-American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television.
Born in the United States to Irish emigrant parents, he was raised in Ireland and Engla ...
's widow said that producers of the new series had hoped that McGoohan would play a part in the revival:
"They wanted Patrick to have some part in it, but he adamantly didn't want to be involved. He had already done it."
This was contradicted by
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...
in an interview featured in the November 2009 edition of
SFX Magazine
''SFX'' is a British magazine covering the topics of science fiction and fantasy. Its name is a reference to the abbreviated form of "special effects".
Description
''SFX'' magazine is published every four weeks by Future plc and was founded in 19 ...
where he was quoted as saying:
Producer Trevor Hopkins confirmed in an interview that he had invited McGoohan to play the role of the Number Six-like old man encountered by Caviezel's character early in the first episode. This is suggested by the jacket worn by the old man – the same style jacket as worn by Number 6 in the first series. McGoohan declined, but suggested he could play Number 2 instead.
Broadcast
The series premiered on November 15, 2009, as a miniseries on the
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** AM ...
TV channel in the United States and Canada. It was also broadcast in the UK by
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
. The six-part series premiered in the UK on April 17, 2010. AMC's website streamed all 17 episodes of the original Prisoner series in advance of showing the remake.
AMC's original airing of the series combined the episodes, with episodes 1 and 2 airing on day 1, etc., with only one set of opening and closing credits for both. ITV broadcast the episodes individually, over six consecutive Saturday nights in the spring of 2010. The DVD release restores the 6-episode format.
Episodes
Each episode title in the series is one word taken from an episode title from the original programme.
Reception
Critical response
The miniseries met with mixed reviews, scoring 46 out of 100 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
.
''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' television critic Robert Lloyd wrote "why anyone, on either side of the screen, should be particularly interested in his fate, is never made clear nor compelling," and further states "the payoff is weak, and more than a bit daffy." In a comparison with the miniseries to
AMC's hit series ''
Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...
'', he writes "the difference
sthat 'Mad Men' is never boring."
In ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'', TV critic Ken Tucker writes "it lacks the wit and zip of the original ''Prisoner''," and concludes "It's self-absorbed to the point of incoherence."
''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' reviewer Paige Wiser declares "There's also a reason why I am not conking myself on the head with a croquet mallet, but ''The Prisoner'' somehow has the same effect," and with reference to viewing all six hours of the miniseries, concludes "I urge you to heed my advice: Opt out while you can."
''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' critic Tim Goodman writes "''The Prisoner'' is not compelling. It rambles too much. Its vagaries are not interesting, its unorthodox storytelling not special enough."
''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reviewer
Alessandra Stanley
Alessandra Stanley (born October 3, 1955 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American journalist. As of 2019, she is the co-founder of a weekly newsletter "for worldly cosmopolitans" called ''Air Mail'', alongside former ''Vanity Fair'' editor-in-ch ...
struck a contrary note: "This version of ''The Prisoner'' is not a remake, it's a clever and engaging reinterpretation by Bill Gallagher, who shaped the script to contemporary tastes and sensibilities — notably, a postmodern fatigue with ideology and big thoughts." She concludes "The 21st century adaptation pays only lip service to the human condition, and instead explores a power struggle between two human beings. It's unlikely to prove as lasting, but the new series still manages to be thrilling." Furthermore, it was positively reviewed in the ''
Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'' and also by Sam Wallaston who writing for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', described it as "a triumph with something of ''
The Truman Show
''The Truman Show'' is a 1998 American psychological satirical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir, produced by Scott Rudin, Andrew Niccol, Edward S. Feldman, and Adam Schroeder, and written by Niccol. The film stars Jim Carrey as Truma ...
'' about it" with "a tension and a claustrophobia that gnaw away at you, making you look at your own psyche."
Awards and nominations
Home media
DVD
In early 2010,
Warner Home Video
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros.
It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...
released ''The Prisoner'' in DVD format in Region 1/USA & Canada in a 3-disc collection.
Special features included deleted scenes for all episodes (including scenes from "Arrival" that explicitly indicate that 2 orders the bombing of the diner), and commentaries on "Arrival" and "Checkmate".
Featurettes in the set include:
* "A 6 Hour Film Shot in 92 Days: The Diary of the Prisoner" – behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the series, featuring footage previously available online.
* "Beautiful Prison: The World of the Prisoner" – a second behind-the-scenes documentary.
* "The Prisoner ComicCon Panel" – Jim Caviezel, Lennie James, Bill Gallagher, and others discuss the then-upcoming series at the 2009 San Diego ComiCon.
* "The Man Behind 2" – Jamie Campbell Bower conducts a tongue-in-cheek interview with his TV father, Ian McKellen.
ITV Studios
ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcas ...
Home Entertainment released a UK DVD and Blu-ray Disc on 3 May 2010.
The listed extras include the deleted scenes, ComicCon panel and McKellen interview, but differ otherwise. They include:
* "The Making of" for all six episodes
* "Inside The Prisoner" for all six episodes
* The Prisoner Read Through
* Character Profiles
References
External links
''The Prisoner''at AMCTV.com
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prisoner, The
2009 American television series debuts
2009 American television series endings
2009 British television series debuts
AMC (TV channel) original programming
2000s American television miniseries
Films shot in Namibia
The Prisoner
English-language television shows