Price: varies depending where you look, I got my set for about £30 (UK). stars Patrick McGoohan, various Number 2s, a couple supervisors, a butler and Rover. Tick! Tick! Tick!

check out website: check out www.carltonvisual.com
Carlton

Is there anyone in the Western world who hasn't heard of, let alone seen this series? 'The Prisoner' was filmed in the late 1960s and shown several times on TV, as well as being released on video and more recently, DVD. This particular volume also contains the US edition of 'The Chimes Of Big Ben' and frankly, with such a poor musical composition by Wilfred Josephs removing Ron Grainer's far superior score, it's amazing that the Americans ever caught onto it at all.

All right, I guess there's someone out there reading here who might have missed this series. The actual theory or plot of the series is based on a fact that after WW2, retired spies knowing too much were retired to a village somewhere in Scotland rather than be let loose right away in the world where they could be kept out of harm's way until they're knowledge could be declassified. Story editor George Markstein even wrote a novel on the subject a few years after this series.

Patrick McGoohan's take on the idea is that his particular prisoner didn't like being abducted and placed in the Village when he resigned and designated Number 6 as his new name. He was also reluctant in the extreme to explain the reasons for his resignation despite the various attempts by a variety of Number 2s, people in charge of the Village, who were told to get this knowledge while causing him no permanent harm. Such a series could only have a finite number of episodes and also financial backer Lew Grade really wanted 24 episodes, he finally backed down to 17. Whether anyone out there is going to subtract one from seven and make six and think that's significant is entirely up to you but that would be telling.

'The Prisoner' was very much seen as a metaphor for our society. The fact that there are repercussions even now to our current society, shows how much we haven't really changed under the superficial layers that we also have to cosset us. The prime example of this comes in the fourth episode 'Free For All' and interpretation and actual lack of power is all part of the politics at the top.

I covered my own take of what one aspect of 'The Prisoner' meant in an article a couple years back. Watching the series again now, I can't help but wonder if the Leo McKern Number 2 was actually in on Number 6's 'release'.

'The Prisoner' can be watched at many levels. Purely as entertainment or something to be used as a discussion point amongst friends, enemies and wardens later. It also brought back many memories for my Mum about her visit to Portmerion, the real-life Village in South Wales, even if the last two episodes still bewilder her as to their meaning.

The extras here are a little icing on the cake. There are sections about the various Number 2s, even if some of them were left out. My current tally makes for 21 if anyone is keeping count. I spotted a couple who only appeared briefly. In the last volume, there is a 40 minute American documentary about the series. It's a shame that we couldn't have had the British documentary Channel 4 ran a decade or so ago on the series which had fewer clips and more from the fans and creators.

I doubt if there will ever be such a series as 'The Prisoner' again, although I think in the mid-70s, 'The Guardians' came pretty close regarding a dictatorship running the UK, so this series will maintain its undivided attention. Just be careful about resigning from your job and being followed home by an undertaker's car. Be seeing you.

GF Willmetts