The Prisoner

9:20pm – Saturday, September 11 on ABC1

Six has a strange and inexplicable disease that will end his life unless he agrees to assimilate to Village life.

Two (Sir Ian McKellen) is expanding The Village as ‘Newcomers’ arrive on buses, leaving Six (Jim Caviezel) even more driven to understand what the purpose of this place is and how he can get himself and other Villagers out.

Six has flashes of his New York existence. He realises that in New York he is being taken to see the head of Summakor (the company he worked for).

The driver taking him there is none other than The Village taxi driver.

Meanwhile, 11-12 (Jamie Campbell Bower) smothers his mother to death with a pillow and then hangs himself. Two is distraught to lose his only son and the wife he loved so much.

More worrying still are the holes that are rapidly appearing everywhere since M2′s (Rachel Blake) death.

Two talks secretly to 147 and asks him to help. He tells him he must call out ‘Six is the One’ when Two gives him the nod.

In New York, the head of Summakor is a Mr Curtis – Two. He explains that The Village is a means of controlling individuals by controlling their subconscious minds.

The Village exists within. It is a sophisticated form of mind control. In an age of deep insecurity where society is breaking down what better way to rebuild civilisation than by controlling how people think?

9:20pm – Saturday, September 4 on ABC1

Six’s memory from his ‘real life’ is becoming clearer as his treacherous relationship with Two becomes even more strained.

313 (Ruth Wilson) is surprised – and secretly pleased – when Six (Jim Caviezel) comes to her house at night and tries to seduce her. But she is even more surprised when he appears to have no recollection of this the following day.

It soon becomes clear that Six has a doppelganger (known as 2 x 6). Somehow Two (Sir Ian McKellen) appears to have split Six in half. His passionate, uncontrollable, angry side is roaming the Village intent on killing Two. The reasoned, controlled Six must somehow stop his double from ruining his life.

Strangely, Two makes himself an easy target by giving up his status as Village leader for the day and letting himself become an ordinary Villager. He becomes ‘Untwo’. Six realises that this is a ploy to goad Six into giving into the side of himself that seeks vengeance. If Two can get Six to cave into his baser instincts he will lose his conscience and lose control – allowing Two to manipulate him entirely.

While this battle plays out, Two has left his son 11-12 (Jamie Campbell Bower) in charge. He gives 11-12 the keys to the drugs cabinet and allows him to wake M2 (Rachel Blake) up. For the first time 11-12 gets to spend the day with his mother. She explains that they cannot escape to the real world because 11-12 doesn’t exist there. One of the reasons she and Two invented The Village was so that they could create him as they were unable to conceive in the real world. M2 explains that The Village can only exist when she dreams it in her comatose state. When she wakes the holes appear and the very fabric of The Village is eroded. 11-12 is left with no choice but to put his mother back to sleep.

313 is plagued by dreams of her real world self. They are disturbing and 313 is increasingly afraid of who she is in New York. Two offers her the chance to glimpse her New York self but when she does she is scared by the mentally unstable, violent woman she appears to be.

9:20pm – Saturday, August 28 on ABC1

In this smart and fascinating series we see if love can conquer Six’s suspicions about village life where all else has failed.

When Six (Jim Caviezel) is approached by The Village ‘Modern Love Bureau’ who want to find him a love match, he dismisses this as nonsense but when he is shown a picture of his potential date, 4-15, (Hayley Atwell) she is clearly Lucy, the woman Six remembers from his last night in New York.

Six meets up with 4-15 convinced that she/Lucy is the clue to how he got to The Village and how he can get out.

However, in The Village 4-15 denies all knowledge of Lucy or even of the possibility of another place. She is blind in The Village and says that no one knows why, but doctors put it down to a traumatic incident that she has since repressed.

Six is sure that this must be connected with her life in the other world. Six falls deeply in love with her and his determination to get the truth out of her is soon secondary to his physical need to be with her.

Meanwhile, inexplicable holes have appeared in The Village. The taxi-driver 147 and his wife find one at the end of their garden and are devastated when their little daughter falls down the hole before they have got round to reporting it. They are even more frantic when the hole disappears as quickly and mysteriously as it appeared. Six tries to help get answers from Two (Sir Ian McKellen) but he is distracted by his growing passion for 4-15.

When Six announces that he is going to marry 4-15, 313 (Ruth Wilson) finds it hard to be happy for him. She reveals that his love for 4-15 isn’t real. Two has been drugging him at night and blackmailing 313 into doing ‘Gene Symmetry Therapy’ – a process which involves giving 4- 15 and Six each other’s genes so that they are more and more attracted to each other.

9:20pm – Saturday, August 14 on ABC1

See why Sir Ian McKellen received an Emmy nomination recently for his lead role in this captivating mini-series.

Sir Ian delivers another riveting performance as the fear- inducing ‘Number Two’.

Tonight, Two challenges Six (Jim Caviezel) to work for him undercover, spying on other Villagers to root out the ‘Dreamers’ – people who have dreams of ‘another world’.

Six laughs at Two’s proposal but accepts his offer – at least this way he might be able to meet other people who believe in the existence of a life outside of The Village.

Six’s assignment is a teacher at the local school but when the target realises that ‘Undercovers’ are spying on him, he tries to take his own life. Is this a sign of guilt or innocence.

In an act of artful manipulation Two then turns the tables and asks Six to spy on truck driver, 909, who is acting suspiciously. Six does spy on 909 and realises that he is having an illicit homosexual affair with Two’s son, 11-12 (Jamie Campbell).

Meanwhile, Two gives his wife a pill which wakes her up from her coma for the night. We see the deep love and tenderness he has for M2, but he quickly puts her back to sleep when he thinks that someone might be spying on them.

Six realises that the target was not a Dreamer, just an ordinary teacher, scared that no one will believe his innocence. Six despairs but he is given hope when he realises a nurse known as 313 (Ruth Wilson) might be a Dreamer.

His hope quickly turns to fear when she is taken for ‘treatment’ – something Villagers never return from.

Six demands that Two’s son, 11-12, help him save 313 or he’ll go public with the affair. 11-12 kills 909 before his father can find out about them. He then helps Six rescue 313 by enabling him to take on the identity of the murdered 909.

9:20pm – Saturday, August 7 on ABC1

This clever and engaging reinterpretation of the classic 1960s TV series continues tonight with number ‘Six’ being introduced to his brother in the Village – 16.

Last week’s opening episode saw a man (Jim Caviezel) who resigned from his job waking up to find himself inexplicably trapped in a mysterious and surreal place, The Village, with no memory of how he arrived.

As he frantically explored his new environment he discovered that The Village residents are identified by number, have no memory of any prior existence, and are under constant surveillance. Called by the name ‘Six’, the man is driven by the desperate need and desire to know what The Village is, why he is there and who controls it.

Welcoming Six with open arms, 16 claims Six simply lost his memory but Six refuses to believe these strangers are his family. However, as the story unfolds Six starts to realise that he did have a brother in the real world but he drowned at sea when they were children.

Meanwhile, The Village leader, Two, is cruelly manipulating a deep-rooted emotional need in Six for family and a need to resolve the guilt and confusion left by his real brother’s death.

Giving the impression to Two (Ian McKellen) that he’s settling into Village life, Six secretly seeks out others – including Two’s own son 11-12 (Jamie Campbell Bower), and a nurse known as 313 (Ruth Wilson) – who might share his belief in another place.

When 16 and his family win tickets to ‘Escape’ – The Village holiday resort – 16 tries to persuade Six to go with them but Six refuses as he’s determined to escape.

And just when you think Six is finally going to be assimilated, 16 admits that he is not Six’s brother but has been put up to this by Two. Six is given new resolve but 16 is terrified of what Two will do to him now he has told Six the truth.

9:20pm – Saturday, July 31 on ABC1

This stylish, modern reworking of the classic 1960s TV series is an effective exploration of the relationship between captor and captive.

A man who resigns from his job wakes up to find himself inexplicably trapped in a mysterious and surreal place, The Village, with no memory of how he arrived.

As he frantically explores his new environment he discovers that The Village residents are identified by number, have no memory of any prior existence, and are under constant surveillance.

Called by the name ‘Six’, the man is driven by the desperate need and desire to know what The Village is, why he is there and who controls it.

Is he being brainwashed or debriefed.

Most importantly Six needs to find a way to escape and return to his previous life.

The Village is controlled by one man – the sinister and charismatic ‘Two’.

Throughout the six-part series Six (Jim Caviezel) and Two (Sir Ian McKellen) are locked in a battle of wits as Six challenges the oppressive nature of The Village and struggles to learn the truth behind it.

In doing so he must also confront some dark truths about himself.