The Prisoner
Classic 1960s spy series The Prisoner was perhaps the first of its kind – a show with an ongoing mystery that kept viewers coming back week after week. In this case, it saw Patrick McGoohan’s Number Six trapped in a superficially idyllic village in which the brainwashed civilians were given numbers instead of names. What was this place and why was Number Six here? These are the questions that were promised to be answered in the finale.
In the event, though, McGoohan – who also wrote and produced the series – decided to throw out the expected ending and delivered a balls-to-the-wall surrealist masterpiece instead. Rather than solving mysteries, the finale just left viewers scratching their heads even more. Had the Prisoner really made it out? Was the village actually destroyed? And what was the point in that “Dem Bones” musical number?
While critics have retrospectively applauded McGoohan’s ambition and audacity, people at the time hated the finale with a passion. In fact, the actor had to disappear to the Welsh countryside for a few weeks until the storm had calmed down and irate fans were no longer baying after his blood.