The Prisoner
Free for All
TV Flash files “Free for All” as a desk essential hour — The Prisoner (1967–1968) on ITV, season 1, episode 4, aired 1967-10-22, 50 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E04: listed hour 4 of 17 in the The Prisoner guide, hour 4 of 17 in season 1. It aired 1967-10-22 (50 min). The listed hour before it is “A. B. and C.” (S01E03). Next is “The Schizoid Man” (S01E05).
Essential hour: “Free for All”. Free for All — mid-run Village politics as farce with teeth, the spy-allegory still refusing to name Number One.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
It's election time in The Village. A new Number Two needs to be elected and Number Six is persuaded to stand. While attending a meeting of the outgoing council meeting, Number Six angers Number Two who decides that Number Six must undergo "The Test". Number Six sets out on his election campaign with many promises to his voters but his aim is to discover who Number One is.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Free for All sit in the The Prisoner guide?
S01E04 is listed hour 4 of 17 — hour 4 of 17 in season 1, season 1 episode 4.
When did The Prisoner S01E04 air?
Free for All aired 1967-10-22 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…