The 17-episode series "The Prisoner" began its American run on June 1, 1968, after premiering in Britain the previous fall. It stars Patrick McGoohan (also the series creator) as an unnamed intelligence agent who angrily and abruptly resigns. Soon he finds himself rendered unconscious and taken to a pretty coastal village where he is always referred to as Number 6. He responds to the village's Number 2: "I am not a number, I am a free man!" The series follows the village leaders' always unsuccessful attempts to find out why the agent resigned and what he knows. I didn't see the series until our local PBS station ran all the episodes during the late 1970s. (We did used to watch McGoohan's earlier series "Secret Agent." It's uncertain whether "The Prisoner" is supposed to be a continuation.) "The Prisoner" is quite a compelling series about individualism vs. collectivism, with detective and science-fiction elements, and a wonderful Sixties vibe.
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