Big Finish is proud to
announce that it has entered into a licence agreement with ITV
Studios Global Entertainment to produce a series of full-cast audio
dramas based on the world renowned, cult classic 1967 TV
series, The
Prisoner — bursting with state-of-the-art sound design
and a brand new dramatic score.
January 16th 1967. A secret agent
suddenly resigns from MI6, then wakes to find himself imprisoned in
‘The Village’ — a bizarre community with a cheery
veneer, but an underbelly of threat and mystery. Re-branded as
Number Six, our agent must enter into a battle of wits with the
sinister Number Two, whose sworn aim is to discover why Number Six
resigned. But Number Six refuses to divulge his secrets and must
fight off increasingly outlandish and deadly attempts to break him,
as he fights to escape and find out…
‘Who is Number One?’.
The new audio series
of The
Prisoner is to be written and directed by Big
Finish’s
co-executive producer,
Nicholas Briggs: ‘The
Prisoner has been a great love of mine for many years,
ever since my late father told me all about it back in the 1960s.
It actually premiered on British TV in 1967 on my sixth birthday! I
finally got the chance to see it as a teenager when ITV repeated it
on Saturday evenings in 1977. I instantly fell in love with the
series and have been avidly re-watching it ever since. The chance
to re-imagine the 1967 series for audio drama is a great privilege
and I can’t wait to get started — actually,
I’ve already started.’
Giles Ridge, SVP Content
and Brand Development, ITV Studios Global Entertainment, said:
‘The
Prisoner changed the landscape of British television in
the 1960s — a thought-provoking series that feels as fresh and
dynamic now as it did almost fifty years ago. Big Finish are
renowned for their audio plays based on cult properties and we are
delighted to be working with Nick and his team on this true
classic.’
The new audio version
of The
Prisoner will be very much based on the original, which
starred Patrick McGoohan. ‘It won’t simply be a slavish
retelling of all the original episodes,’explains Nick. ‘But
aficionados of the original series will certainly recognise much of
what they loved about it. A lot of the familiar iconography will be
there, but my aim is to push the boundaries, all the while pursuing
McGoohan’s stated agenda of the fight against rampant progress and
dehumanisation.’
No casting decisions have
yet been made. ‘For
Number Six, we’re looking for someone who can portray that vital
determination and anger, creating a lethal package of dynamite
charisma’ says Nick. ‘They
need to be compelling and powerful as well as having great
enthusiasm for the series.’