No 6 is an individual who's previous employment was highly classified and is now at odds with his conscience. THATS why he resigned.(in one old interview McGoohan describes No. 6 as being a former government scientist) What he knew was too valuable to the state so he couldn't be left to continue has a free man, he had to be kept a prisoner by his former employers in the interests of the state, a less generous nation that Britain might have killed him.. or maybe they just hope to win him back one day. Or at least that's how I think George Markstein thought the show was about, and that was fairly subversive for mid 60's TV.
McGoohan wanted to get more out of it, and he prototyped, as a TV show the kind of stories Philip K Dick was then writing and would eventually be successfully realised in stuff like the Truman Show, but he lost his way before he could write a proper finale. Nowadays on shows like 'Life on Mars' teams of writers and producers plot complex story lines that tease us and ultimately pay off.
The Prisoner is a cult because its great but never quite fulfils its promise. We keep watching just in case it'll work better next time.
McGoohan wanted to get more out of it, and he prototyped, as a TV show the kind of stories Philip K Dick was then writing and would eventually be successfully realised in stuff like the Truman Show, but he lost his way before he could write a proper finale. Nowadays on shows like 'Life on Mars' teams of writers and producers plot complex story lines that tease us and ultimately pay off.
The Prisoner is a cult because its great but never quite fulfils its promise. We keep watching just in case it'll work better next time.