Fix: BBC, Secret Agents, Classics
Platforms: Roku, Tubi, FreeVee, Pluto TV
Tubi Summary:
After he resigns from his job, a secret agent is abducted and taken to what looks like an ideal village, except it is really a bizarre prison .
FYA Summary:
A British secret agent angrily resigns from his post. He’s immediately kidnapped and whisked off to a strange Village in an unknown location where the people act like they are on a holiday…except everyone goes by numbers instead of names, all residents are under constant surveillance, and a mysterious overseer named Number Two demands ‘information.’
Familiar Faces:
Patrick McGoohan as Number Six
Once an agent for an unnamed British secret agency, he angrily quits in the opening sequence, going so far as to smash his supervisor’s cuppa. Thinking he’s due for a nice vacation, he’s in for a nasty surprise when he’s gassed and wakes up on in a strange seaside village, almost a resort town. But everyone there is a prisoner and is only referred to by a number. ‘Number Six’, as he’s now called, spends 17 episodes trying to get back to London. Though the mysterious forces behind the Village repeatedly try to break him, the episode usually ends with Number Six making them look foolish.
Leo McKern as Number Two
Actually, in 17 episodes, 18 actors played the enigmatic Number Two, though McKern was one of the few to play the character in more than one episode. Each Number Two is determined to break Number Six. They want information. Mainly, why did he resign his position? They use every psychological trick in the book, from hypnotism, drugs, torture, and singing ‘Dem Bones’ over and over to make him crack. ‘By hook or by crook’ they will find out what they want to know. And yet, he never gives in. Are the Number Twos fired when they fail? Retired? Or something more ominous?
Peter Swanwick as The Supervisor
We’re never really told who this sinister man is. He’s subordinate to Number Two and is one of the few actors in multiple episodes.
Angelo Muscat as The Butler
Number Two’s silent domestic. But like most servants, he knows a lot more than he lets on.
Rover as Himself
The Village’s unsleeping sentinel, it makes sure no one escapes. While it only ever knocks out Number Six, other residents are not so lucky.
You might think using a weather balloon as a villain is kind of silly, but in the 60s, creating a believable robot would have been almost impossible. And there’s something cold and frightening about this featureless, unemotional guard.
Couch Sharing Capability: Living in Harmony
This is one of those love it or hate it shows. Invite a friend to watch some episodes of ‘that 1960s show about the man who’s always trying to escape from an uncharted isle that’s filled with castaways who always wear the same clothes and don’t refer to each other by name.’ Then be amused as they try to make sense of the episode where Number Six has to fight the gang of evil Napoleons, or the one where he gets beaten up by the ladies of The Village HOA, or the one where everyone is suddenly wild west cowboys for some reason.
When I explained the premise to my daughter, she asked who played his sexy, sultry ally. Surprisingly, especially for a 1960s action series, there was no female lead. Every sympathetic woman on the show ends up betraying Number Six (as does every sympathetic man). The time when the alluring older widow walks in with a birthday cake and you realize she was this episode’s Number Two…ouch.
Recommended Level of Inebriation: Many Happy Returns
This is not a series you can tune in and out of, so I recommend sobriety or you’ll miss stuff. Actually, the online community gets a little salty when it comes to their theories on this show. Is this series a continuation of McGoohan’s previous show Danger Man? In the opening, does Number Two say ‘You are Number Six’ or ‘You are, Number Six’? Which order should the episodes be viewed in? (They were filmed out of sequence and shown in various orders for different markets) Why are there so many lava lamps in The Village? And most importantly, does Number Six escape in the end, or is he still just a cog in a bigger wheel?
Use of Your Subscription Service: I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered!
This is one of those obscure shows that won’t take you long to view and then you can act all superior because you watched the whole thing. Also, there’s a 2009 remake, which I’ll be watching soon.
Who is Number One?
We published this review during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. This work would not exist without the labor of writers and actors, and we support their goals.
