The Prisoner - Spoiler Ep 1 Sat 17th April
Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen star in the network’s reinvention of the 1960s classic cult thriller, The Prisoner. Caviezel takes the role of Number Six while McKellen appears throughout the series in the role of Number Two.
The Prisoner also stars: Ruth Wilson in the role of Number 313; Hayley Atwell as Number 41-5; Lennie James as Number 147; and Jamie Campbell-Bower as Number 11-12.
Episode One - A man awakes to find himself in the middle of the desert with no recollection of how he arrived there. Entering ‘The Village’, what will his future hold?
*** Episode one of The Prisoner is strictly embargoed from all press use, non commercial publication, or syndication in the UK until 7th April 2010 at 14.30***
#Michael (Jim Caviezel) wakes in the desert, disoriented and unsure of where he is. At the sound of a gunshot and barking dogs, he goes to the aid of an old man who is running from armed pursuers. Michael carries the old man into a cave, where, with his dying breath, the old man asks Michael to hide his body and tell 554 he got away. After burying the body, Michael follows a light in the distance and arrives in a Village.
Michael hails a cab and asks the driver to take him to a train station. "This is The Village," the confused driver tells him, "and I do local destinations." Michael jumps out of the moving cab and walks into a crowded nightclub, where a woman asks him to dance. At the sound of barking dogs, he runs back out to the cab.
Unsure of where to go, he asks to be taken to 554. "Now you're talking," says the driver, who identifies himself as 147 (Lennie James). Michael finds 554, a young waitress at the local Solar Cafe, and tells her the old man got away. 554 identifies the old man as 93, but is hesitant to get mixed up in any trouble.
The dogs appear and chase Michael to a nearby rooftop, where he gets a fleeting glimpse of a New York street before flashing back to The Village. At the approach of a man wearing a fedora, Michael faints and falls off the roof.
Michael has a bizarre dream that he is trapped, but he wakes unharmed in the Village hospital to find a doctor named 313 (Ruth Wilson) – the woman from the nightclub – tending to him. 313 tells Michael she wants to help him accept reality. "I'm going to get you a cold drink," she says, "and then someone will take you home. You're a free man." Before he is checked out, Michael is escorted to an office to meet a mysterious man named Two (Ian McKellen). Michael demands to see the American consul and to be returned to New York, but Two – who calls Michael "Six" – tells him that's not possible: "There is no New York," Two says. "There is only The Village." Two wants to know what Six did with 93's body, but Six remains obstinate.
Six is driven from the hospital to his Village apartment – labelled "6" – which is almost identical to his apartment in New York.
The next day, Six notices two towers looming in the distance. Determined to find a way out, he purchases a map from the shopkeeper, steals 147’s cab and drives out to the desert.
The scene cuts to New York where Michael sits alone at a diner. A woman, Lucy, (Hayley Atwell) approaches and asks to borrow Michael's cell phone, claiming to have lost hers. They flirt with each other and Michael invites her back to his apartment. The action returns to The Village.
313 approaches Six, who is passed out in the desert. Driving him back to The Village, she asks Six who he was talking to while he was unconscious. "I want to help you with these delusions," 313 says.
At home, Two gathers pills from a cabinet and carries them on a tray upstairs.
At home with his wife, 21-16, 147 receives a summons to report to the Clinic for escorting a new arrival into The Village. 21-16 is concerned. The summons also requests that they bring cake.
Six goes to 93's apartment looking for clues. He finds a drawing of Big Ben in London, but is interrupted by Two, who again asks where 93's body is hidden. Six goes to 554 and shows her the drawing of Big Ben. He asks her if 93 ever spoke about the picture. “There has to be a reason 93 told me to come to you.” Reluctantly, 554 reveals that 93 said the drawings were from his other life, before The Village, and asks Six to leave her alone.
147 and 21-16 report to the Clinic. Two gives them medals for “services to The Village” and asks about the new arrival. He was “loop de loop” 147 says. Two tells them not worry; the new arrival has been dealt with.
Later, The Village announcer proclaims 93’s body has been found, and that he died en route to the hospital. Six goes to the Solar Café and promises 554 that he will leave her alone if she tells him what she knows.
At Six’s apartment, 554 reveals that 93 thought he was a prisoner and that there are those who have similar dreams of another life. Six promises to keep her safe.
Later at Palais Two, Two feeds pills to a woman who appears to be asleep in bed. His son 11-12 (Jamie Campbell Bower) enters, and asks Two why Six believes there is another place. "For people like Six, life is not enough," Two says. "They want to escape it."
Six goes to The Village cemetery and finds a vacant grave, presumably for 93. 313 shows up, wondering what he’s doing there. He quizzes her about the history of The Village.
The next day, Six crashes a funeral for 93, telling the mourners that there is another place outside of The Village and that 93 found a way out. He leaves the cemetery and goes to see 554, and he’s stopped by 147, who wants to let Six know he will always be his friend. Suddenly, the Solar Café explodes. Clinging to life, 554 tells Six that 93 told her to "follow the towers."
At the hospital, Six asks 313 if the bomb was an act of terrorism. 313 begs him to stop meddling. 554 dies. Distraught, Six goes to the gates of Palais Two. "I will find a way to escape," he screams. "I am not a number. I'm a free man!" Six runs in the desert toward the towers, but is stopped by an enormous white hovering ball – Rover.
