2023-02-17
When I was in my teens I was always a bit flummoxed by the TV series "The Prisoner".
I couldn't see the point in a nameless person held captive within a nameless but apparently comfortable - even luxurious - village.
Where was the action? Plenty.
Where was the good guy? Patrick McGoohan. Number six.
Where were the bad guys? Only the minions were ever in evidence, never the big bad bosses.
Where was the victory of good over evil? Nowhere to be seen - it was a never-ending dystopia.
It broke the mould of TV adventure series where the goodies always triumphed over the baddies, so there appeared to be no point in watching it - we knew how each episode would always end: more of the same.
So why watch it?
Now in 2023 we have the answer. From America - but anyone who thinks that the UK is any different may need to reconsider. After all, the original "Prisoner" series was a product of the UK. We just do it with a little more subtlety over here.
But maybe that subtlety is wearing rather thin these days.
In "the Prisoner" one remained in a static prison, but in the 2020s amid all kinds of mandates and innovations that always seem designed to further tighten our restrictions, the pace and direction seems to be changing.
Where are our jailers actually taking us?
And will we trot along in blind trust and obedience?
" ... until you come to terms with the fact that the government is the problem (no matter which party dominates), you’ll never stop being prisoners"