Original artwork, not a still
I am not a number! I am a free man!
— The Prisoner · 1967
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Patrick McGoohan's defiance of anonymous, bureaucratic power became the show's creed and one of television's best-known statements of individualism. Spoken each week before the plot began, it frames the series as a fight over identity, and fans use it as a protest slogan, a T-shirt line and a joking reply to any form that asks for a number.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for The PrisonerShow the scene
The cry closes the title sequence that opens nearly every episode of The Prisoner, which began on ITV on 29 September 1967 with "Arrival". Over a montage of the unnamed hero running through the seaside Village where he is held, an unseen interrogator, the latest Number Two, answers his questions: he is in the Village, they want information, and he is now Number Six. Asked who Number One is, he is told only that he is Number Six. Six, running along the beach, shouts back that he is a free man, not a number, and Number Two laughs.
Sources (3)
- Wikipedia: Opening and closing sequences of The PrisonerOpening sequence, dialogue montageReference checked
- Wikipedia: Arrival (The Prisoner)Infobox and leadReference checked
- Wikipedia: The PrisonerPremiseReference checked
Context reviewed
