The Prisoner
Arrival
TV Flash files “Arrival” as a desk essential hour — The Prisoner (1967–1968) on ITV, season 1, episode 1, aired 1967-10-01, 50 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 17 in the The Prisoner guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1967-10-01 (50 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “The Chimes of Big Ben” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Arrival”. Arrival is the resignation and the capture: McGoohan's Number Six in a Village of untrustworthy faces, identity as the only plot.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A British secret agent resigns from his job and prepares to go on holiday. However, when he wakes up, he finds himself in the Village: a mysterious place on the coast where retired agents are sent to spend the rest of their lives... whether they want to or not.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Arrival sit in the The Prisoner guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 17 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did The Prisoner S01E01 air?
Arrival aired 1967-10-01 and is listed at 50 minutes.
Where should I start?
Episode one is the resignation-and-Village contract. The series is only 17 hours; starting at the beginning is the point, not a sample platter.
In the series
Why this series still plays
A secret agent resigns; a Village claims him. Patrick McGoohan's Number Six spends seventeen episodes demanding identity in a pastel prison of surveillance and untrustworthy faces. Stylish, stubborn, endlessly rewatchable spy-allegory — and a finale that still starts arguments. Be seeing you.
A secret agent resigns; a Village claims him. Patrick McGoohan's Number Six spends **seventeen episodes** (ITV, 1967–1968) demanding identity in a pastel prison of surveillance, mind games, and untrustworthy faces. George Markstein co-shaped the thing with him. Angelo Muscat's Butler and Leo McKern's Number Two orbit the refusal to be numbered. Each escape fails differently. *Arrival* is the capture. *Fall Out* is the closer that still starts fights. On the palate: penny-farthings, Rovers, and a greeting that is…
Filed against
- Patrick McGoohan as Number Six
Patrick McGoohan’s Number Six spends The Prisoner demanding identity in a pastel Village of surveillance — seventeen stylish, stubborn episodes, a finale that still starts arguments — after Danger Man’s John Drake practiced spy craft with…
- Angelo Muscat as The Butler
Angelo Muscat’s Butler haunted The Prisoner in silence — a secret agent resigns, a Village claims him, Patrick McGoohan’s Number Six spends seventeen episodes demanding identity in a pastel prison of surveillance. Stylish, stubborn…
- Leo McKern as Number Two
Leo McKern occupied the Village as Number Two on The Prisoner — not a single villain so much as the job title that kept asking Patrick McGoohan’s Number Six who he was. Pastel prison, untrustworthy faces, a finale still starting…