The Prisoner/Many Happy Returns

Many Happy Returns
Season 1, Episode 7
Airdate	November 12, 1967
Written by	Anthony Skene
Directed by	Joseph Serf
← 1x06 The General	1x08 → Dance of the Dead
The Prisoner — Season One

Many Happy Returns is the seventh episode of the first season of The Prisoner. Number Six discovers that the village has become deserted and uses this chance to finally escape to London.

Starring: Patrick McGoohan (Number Six)

Guest Stars: Donald Sinden (The Colonel), Patrick Cargill (Thorpe), Georgina Cookson (Mrs. Butterworth)

with Brian Worth (Group Captain), Richard Caldicot (Commander), Dennis Chinnery (Gunther), Jon Laurimore (Ernst), Nike Arrighi (Gypsy Girl), Grace Arnold (Maid), Larry Taylor (Gypsy Man)

Plot Overview

Number Six awakens in his room to find the electricity turned off, the water not running and the radio not playing. He exits his home and sees that the Village has apparently been deserted. Baffled by the lack of people, Number Six investigates the island, finding several locked doors and no response to his ringing of the bell tower. During his rummaging, he finds a set of keys in one of the taxis, which he uses to unlock the door to Number Two's home but the chair in his inner chambers is completely empty. Convinced that he is alone, he sets to work on building a raft and taking pictures of the village as proof of its existence.

Number Six sets out to sea on his raft and creates a compass and several other necessities while sailing to unknown destinations. He drifts for as long as 18 days before being robbed by what appears to be a couple of pirates. They leave the unconscious Number Six to drown in the water, but the shock of being tossed into the sea forces him awake and he stows away onto the ship that "rescued" him. He sneaks into the hold of the ship, discovers a crate full of weapons and sets a fire in the boat's kitchen. He then douses the fire to create smoke, alerting the German smugglers and leading them into Six's trap. He knocks them out, ties them up and chains the living quarters shut. Number Six takes the helm and heads towards a lighthouse in the distance while the smugglers struggle with being bound and trapped. The two manage to escape and fight with Six until he is forced to jump overboard to avoid being shot with a pistol.

Six washes up on the shore of where he saw the lighthouse and climbs the steep cliff in order to make his way towards the mainland. He runs into a man with a dog who doesn't answer his questions, he follows the man to a gypsy camp where a woman and another man are eating around a fire. The woman gives him some of their food and points him towards the road. He manages to find a road where several cars are driving, but many are stopped due to police roadblock. Six hitches a ride by leaping into the back of a passing truck with "NETCO" on the back. He falls asleep in the truck and leaps out when he hears a siren. He's finally back in London.

Number Six goes back to the house that he was kidnapped from so long ago, but the maid angrily shuts him out. Dejected, Number Six begins to walk away but sees a woman pull up in the Lotus Seven he drove before being imprisoned in the village. She bids him to enter after he confronts her about the car. Still unsure of whether or not he's really free, Six (now going by "Peter Smith"), he inspects the room and finds dial tone and that the buildings he knew are really still here. The two sit down for lunch and the woman, Mrs. Butterworth, allows him to see the lease of the car and the estate agency but because the two documents are new he's somewhat suspicious of this place he's in. He attempts to leave, but she offers to give him a little money and some new clothes, as well as use of her car for the errands he needs to run. He takes the car and drives to his old agency to confront the man he resigned to.

After visiting with his boss, he has the film he took developed and shows it to "The Colonel" and Thorpe, two high-ranking members of the agency. Despite his photos, his crude navigational log and the newspaper, they remain skeptical of his claims that a place where people who know too much are kept exists. Six manages to make several threats about going elsewhere to find out who's side was running the village and leads James, the colonel, to direct an effort to corroborate Six's story. Everything checks out and uses Six's recollection to place the village off the coast of Morocco, near Portugal and Spain. Six is allowed use of a jet to sweet the supposed area of the village with a pilot. They eventually find the island, but the pilot ejects Six from the plane and sends him off with the typical village salute of "Be seeing you." Six comes back into his home, finds the water and electricity back on and a black cat in his home. Mrs. Butterworth, wearing the Number Two badge, then enters his house with a birthday cake and Six sees that the village is full of life again.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The Village: Unless the colonel and the other members of the intelligence bureau were in on Number Two's trick as well, the directions given for the village should be correct. This would place it off the coast of Morocco, southwest of Portugal and Spain. It also indicates that the village is located on a peninsula, rather than an island as suggested in previous episodes.

Characters

• Number Six: For a brief period, Number Six finally escapes and returns to London. He uses this time to try and expose the village but is ejected from the plane once he and the pilot find the village's location, leaving him trapped once again.

Trivia

The Show

• The New Number Two: This is one of the few episodes in which Number Two is not revealed in the opening sequence. This was done in order to keep her identity a secret until the end of the episode. A different voice from the true Number Two's voice is also used to throw the viewer off the trail.

• Goof: Number Six uses an axe to cut down several trees in the woods as part of his raft. However, in "The Chimes of Big Ben", he was told by Number Two that there are no axes or other dangerous tools on in the village. Of course, this wouldn't be the first time he was lied to by Number Two.

Behind the Scenes

• This was the last episode script editor George Markstein worked on due to creative differences he and Patrick McGoohan had over how the series should end.

Allusions and References

• Hans Christian Andersen: Hans Christian Andersen is a Danish author famous for writing poetry and fairy tales. Some of his most famous stories include "The Ugly Duckling", "The Little Mermaid", and "The Emperor's New Clothes", although these stories are often cited without author because they've become cultural universals.

Thorpe: You spin a yarn that Hans Christian Andersen would reject as a fairy tale.