The Village

The Village is the fictional setting of the 1960s UK television series The Prisoner where the main character, Number Six, is held with other former spies and operatives from various countries. The theme of the series is his captors' attempts to find out why Number Six resigned from his job and his attempts to escape from the Village and learn the identity of Number One. Ostensibly, those running the Villagethought by many to be countries around the worldbelieve that once Number Six is coerced into explaining the behind his resignation, all the state secrets he knows will come tumbling out. However, the ultimate use of these secrets is only intimated, but not overtly explored. Beyond its explicit physical setting, the Village is also viewed as an allegory for humanity and society during the Cold War era. Patrick McGoohan notes in various post-show interviews that the Village is "within all of us...we all live in a little Village...Your village may be different from other people's villages but we are all prisoners." Description The location of the Village is unknown until the end of the series; clues to its whereabouts are contradictory until the final episode. In "Many Happy Returns," it is said to be on the coast of Morocco or southern Portugal, possibly an island, and is located by Number Six in this area while making reconnaissance passes in an aircraft. Prior to this, in "The Chimes of Big Ben," it is claimed to be located in the Soviet Union on the Baltic Sea (the episode states "in Lithuania, 30 miles from the Polish border"), though it is later revealed that this was a Village disinformation plot. In the alternative version of the episode "The Chimes of Big Ben," Number Six constructs a device that allows him to work out the Village's location; this scene was cut presumably to remove the reference to navigation by stars which would have allowed an estimation of the Village's general position, at the least, thereby undermining the story line of the episode (if not a key element in the entire series). This version of the episode is not considered part of the series' canon. The series final episode, "Fall Out," reveals that the Village is actually located in Great Britain as Number Six and other characters are able to drive from the Village to central London.