8.6/10959 votesLoading...#1 - Many Happy Returns
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/10/1967
Number 6 wakes up to find the Village totally deserted.
Director: Patrick McGoohan
Writer: Anthony Skene
8.6/10919 votesLoading...#2 - Hammer into Anvil
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 12/1/1967
Number 6 vows revenge and goes after a sadistic Number 2 after he drives a fellow village resident to her death.
Director: Pat Jackson
Writer: Roger Woddis
8.5/101,096 votesLoading...#3 - The Chimes of Big Ben
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/6/1967
A new Number 8 named Nadia arrives in The Village, and together Number 6 and she plot their escape.
Director: Don Chaffey
Writer: Vincent Tilsley
8.5/10948 votesLoading...#4 - The Schizoid Man
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/27/1967
Number Six wakes up with a new identity. Now he's Number Twelve. Worse, Number Two asks him to impersonate someone--Number Six. But the new Number Six is more like him than he is.
Director: Pat Jackson
Writer: Terence Feely
8.4/101,221 votesLoading...#5 - Arrival
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/29/1967
After resigning, a secret agent finds himself trapped in a bizarre prison known only as The Village.
Director: Don Chaffey
Writer: David Tomblin, George Markstein
8.2/10987 votesLoading...#6 - A., B. and C.
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/13/1967
Number 2 believes that Number 6 resigned because he was going to sell out. Using dream manipulation, Number 2 tries to determine which one of three possible candidates Number 6 was dealing with.
Director: Pat Jackson
Writer: Anthony Skene
8.2/10856 votesLoading...#7 - Checkmate
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 11/24/1967
Inspired by a large chess game with people taking the place of the game pieces, Number 6 formulates a new escape plan with some compatriots.
Director: Don Chaffey
Writer: Gerald Kelsey
7.8/10797 votesLoading...#8 - A Change of Mind
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 12/15/1967
After a brawl Number 6 is declared "unmutual" and is made to think that he has undergone "instant social treatment."
Director: Patrick McGoohan
Writer: Roger Parkes
7.7/10961 votesLoading...#9 - Free for All
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/20/1967
Number 6 runs for the office of Number 2.
Director: Patrick McGoohan
Writer: Patrick McGoohan
7.7/10847 votesLoading...#10 - Once Upon a Time
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 1/26/1968
Because all other attempts to break Number 6 have failed, Number 2 decides to engage him in a game where one of them will end up dead.
Director: Patrick McGoohan
Writer: Patrick McGoohan
7.6/10870 votesLoading...#11 - The General
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 11/3/1967
An instant learning process becomes the Village's latest fad, but Number 6 is sure that Number 2 is using it as a brain washing tool.
Director: Peter Graham Scott
Writer: Lewis Greifer
7.6/10805 votesLoading...#12 - It's Your Funeral
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/8/1967
Number Six hears of an assassination plot against Number Two, but it's the new Number Two doing all the plotting against the retiring Number Two.
Director: Robert Asher
Writer: Michael Cramoy
7.6/10947 votesLoading...#13 - Fall Out
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 2/2/1968
After witnessing the trials of Number 2 and Number 48 and meeting the President of the Assembly, Number 6 escapes during the chaos that follows.
Director: Patrick McGoohan
Writer: Patrick McGoohan
7.5/10843 votesLoading...#14 - Dance of the Dead
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 11/17/1967
Number 6 comes across a body that has washed ashore with a radio. After sending the body back out to sea, he tries to use the radio to get rescued.
Director: Don Chaffey
Writer: Anthony Skene
7.3/10820 votesLoading...#15 - Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 12/22/1967
With his mind transferred to another body, Number 6 wakes up in his London flat and can't convince his colleagues who he is. He takes off to Austria to find the one man who can help him, the person Number 2 wants him to find.
Director: Pat Jackson
Writer: Vincent Tilsley
7.2/10859 votesLoading...#16 - The Girl Who Was Death
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 1/19/1968
Back in London, Number 6 is trying to track down a crazed scientist who is protected by his homicidal daughter.
Director: David Tomblin
Writer: Terence Feely
7.0/10847 votesLoading...#17 - Living in Harmony
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 12/29/1967
Number 6 finds himself in the middle of a wild west version of his imprisonment.
Director: David Tomblin
Writer: David Tomblin, Ian Rakoff
The Best Episodes of The Prisoner
Every episode of The Prisoner ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Prisoner!
After resigning, a secret agent is abducted and taken to what looks like an idyllic village, but is really a bizarre Kafkaesque prison. His warders...
Genres:DramaSci-Fi & FantasyMystery
Network:ITV1
Best Episodes Summary
"Many Happy Returns" is the best rated episode of "The Prisoner". It scored 8.6/10 based on 959 votes. Directed by Patrick McGoohan and written by Anthony Skene, it aired on 11/10/1967. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Hammer into Anvil".