The Prisoner
Many Happy Returns
TV Flash files “Many Happy Returns” as hour 7 of 17 in the TV Flash guide — The Prisoner (1967–1968) on ITV, season 1, episode 7, aired 1967-11-12, 50 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E07: listed hour 7 of 17 in the The Prisoner guide, hour 7 of 17 in season 1. It aired 1967-11-12 (50 min). The listed hour before it is “The General” (S01E06). Next is “Dance of the Dead” (S01E08).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Number Six awakes to a deserted Village. He realises that he has the perfect opportunity to escape his captors. He builds a raft and sets sail away from The Village. During his voyage he comes across some gunrunners who steal his remaining supplies and leave him to drown. He is eventually washed up on the south coast of England. He manages to get back to London to find a "Mrs Butterworth" living in his house. The next day is Number Six's birthday and Mrs Butterworth has a surprise planned for him.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Many Happy Returns sit in the The Prisoner guide?
S01E07 is listed hour 7 of 17 — hour 7 of 17 in season 1, season 1 episode 7.
When did The Prisoner S01E07 air?
Many Happy Returns aired 1967-11-12 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…