{"id":10452,"date":"2026-03-19T00:04:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=10452"},"modified":"2026-01-26T19:02:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:02:31","slug":"i-am-not-a-number-i-am-a-free-man-remembering-patrick-mcgoohan-who-conceived-co-wrote-and-starred-in-the-prisoner-a-tv-series-ahead-of-its-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/i-am-not-a-number-i-am-a-free-man-remembering-patrick-mcgoohan-who-conceived-co-wrote-and-starred-in-the-prisoner-a-tv-series-ahead-of-its-time\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI am not a number. I am a free man!\u201d – Remembering Patrick McGoohan: who conceived, co-wrote and starred in The Prisoner, a TV series ahead of its time\u2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/p>\n

Today, March 19, is the birthday of Patrick McGoohan.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Patrick McGoohan as Number 6 in The Prisoner (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s a timely opportunity to remember and pay tribute to McGoohan, an iconoclastic talent who excelled as an actor, director, producer, screenwriter and creator of one of the most unusual, provocative, genre-smashing and influential TV series in history.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m referring, of course, to The Prisoner<\/a>,<\/i> inducted in 2002 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.<\/p>\n

McGoohan (1928-2009) achieved a great deal on screen in his long and well-respected career. But The Prisoner<\/em> in retrospect may be his crowning and most lasting achievement.<\/p>\n

Yet, when McGoohan conceived, wrote and starred in the short-lived series, no one quite knew how to categorize it or what to make of it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

THE MYSTERIOUS PLEASURES OF THE PRISONER
\n<\/b>
\nFilmed in 7 serialized episodes between 1966 and 1968, the emblematic TV series incorporated but also transcended several genres. It\u2019s science fiction, but also a mystery, suspense thriller, spy-surveillance story, psychological drama, absurdist comedy, metaphysical allegory, anti-authoritarian dystopia and Orwellian parable.<\/p>\n

Millions of young people in the 1960s, including members of the young libertarian movement and the so-called counterculture (and I straddled both demographic subgroups), wrestled with it and embraced the series as an existential exploration of identity and a romantic affirmation of freedom and individuality.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Patrick McGoohan in the early 1960s (Photo: Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

McGoohan not only conceived and starred in the series as ex-spy Number Six, but also shaped it as one of five writers and four directors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words, he had his hand in every facet of the series,\u201d Cat Eldridge wrote in a tribute to McGoohan published in File 770, a leading sf\/fantasy online publication.<\/p>\n

As for the dramatic and dizzying collage that opened each episode and established its mysterious and hallucinogenic framework, \u201cit was, without doubt, one of the best openings I\u2019ve seen,\u201d Eldridge wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen there was the series. Weird, thrilling, mysterious. Eminently watchable over and over and over again. Was it SF? Or was it a spy series set in the very near future? Who knew?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A TV SERIES AHEAD OF ITS ERA<\/b><\/p>\n

In a decade when mainstream television had to be basic and clear enough – and frankly, usually simple and dull enough – to wrap up everything by the end of each episode to appeal to a common-denominator mass audience, The Prisoner <\/i>was an intentionally ambiguous anomaly.<\/p>\n

Something intelligent enough to challenge audiences – rather than insult them. Something that left you still thinking about it the next day, and the next week. Something that even lingered in your dreams – or nightmares.<\/p>\n

By design, its many unanswered questions – about plot, character motivations and the ultimate themes – only reinforced the series\u2019 potent sense of mystery, suspense, adventure and self-aware wit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

WHAT – AND WHERE – IS THE VILLAGE?
\n<\/b>
\nAnd what to make of its surreal world-building?<\/p>\n

Set in The Village, a strangely picturesque and cheerful but Kafkaesque community of interrogators and seemingly retired spies but also a prison cut off from the rest of the world, the TV series revolved around a former British spy who resigns from the government but is kidnapped by mysterious forces and becomes a pampered prisoner.<\/p>\n

With seemingly no hope of escape, McGoohan\u2019s prisoner nevertheless refuses to bow to authority or tell his interrogators anything that they really want to know about why he resigned as a British spy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A rebel with a cause – preserving his own independence of mind and spirit – Number Six ranks close to number one among 1960s-1970s icons of rebellion, resistance and individualism.<\/p>\n

Like the iconic heroes in Ayn Rand\u2019s The Fountainhead<\/i> and Atlas Shrugged<\/i> <\/a>or the rebellious Randle P. McMurphy in Ken Kesey\u2019s One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest, <\/i>McGoohan\u2019s Prisoner took no prisoners in his acts of courage, resistance, heroic individualism and Questioning Authority.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In its unabashed ambiguities, complexities and resonant levels of meaning, The Prisoner <\/i>paved the way for countless modern TV series (including Twin Peaks, Lost, Westworld, Fringe, Battlestar Galactica, The OA, Riverdale, Russian Doll, Mr. Robot, Outer Range, <\/i>etc.) that took advantage of the greater complexities and ambiguities that audiences are more willing to accept and explore in the 21st century.<\/p>\n

MCGOOHAN\u2019S WIDE RANGE OF FILM\/TV ROLES<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>McGoohan, an excellent actor, also played major roles in the TV series Danger Man <\/i>(a British spy drama that immediately preceded and partly inspired The Prisoner), Columbo <\/i>and narrated Journey Into Darkness, <\/i>a British television horror film anthology.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>His films especially reflected his vast range: Disney-themed heroic American history (The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh),<\/i> comedy (Silver Streak)<\/i>, action-adventure (Ice Station Zebra)<\/i>, historical dramas (Braveheart <\/i>and Mary, Queen of Scots), <\/i>romantic drama (The Man in the Iron Mask<\/i>), sci-fi\/horror (Scanners)<\/i> and animated features (Treasure Planet.)<\/i><\/p>\n

While several of his films hold up rather well over the decades, McGoohan will be remembered most as a maverick individualist ahead of his time – and for The Prisoner<\/i>, his most resonant and enduring creation.<\/p>\n

FOR FURTHER READING<\/p>\n

Check out the Prometheus Blog Appreciation of The Prisoner<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

ABOUT THE LFS AND THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS<\/b><\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us!<\/b> To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, \u00a0join<\/a> the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer international association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.<\/p>\n

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/b>For a full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 including in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced \u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0on the LFS website. This page includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards\u2019 distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/a><\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/a> an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/i>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s Facebook page<\/a> for comments, updates and links to the latest Prometheus Blog posts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg Today, March 19, is the birthday of Patrick McGoohan. It\u2019s a timely opportunity to remember and pay tribute to McGoohan, an iconoclastic talent who excelled as an actor, director, producer, screenwriter and creator of one of the most unusual, provocative, genre-smashing and influential TV series in history. I\u2019m referring, of course, to … Continue reading \u201cI am not a number. I am a free man!\u201d – Remembering Patrick McGoohan: who conceived, co-wrote and starred in The Prisoner, a TV series ahead of its time\u2028<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43,160,37],"tags":[2808,2806,1770,939,926,738,2807,940],"class_list":["post-10452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-hall-of-fame","category-memorial-tributes","tag-columbo","tag-danger-man","tag-fringe","tag-lost","tag-patrick-mcgoohan","tag-the-prisoner","tag-the-scarecrow-of-romney-marsh","tag-twin-peaks"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-2IA","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10452"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10455,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10452\/revisions\/10455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}