Many Happy Returns (The Prisoner)

"Many Happy Returns"
The Prisoner episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 7
Directed by	Patrick McGoohan using pseudonym Joseph Serf[1]
Written by	Anthony Skene[1]
Original air date	10 November 1967
Guest stars
The Colonel (aka "James") - Donald Sinden Thorpe - Patrick Cargill Mrs. Butterworth - Georgina Cookson[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous "The General" Next → "Dance of the Dead"
List of The Prisoner episodes

Many Happy Returns is the seventh episode of the television series The Prisoner.

Additional guest cast

• Group Captain - Brian Worth^[1]
• Commander - Richard Caldicot^[1]
• Gunther - Dennis Chinnery^[1]
• Ernst - Jon Laurimore^[1]
• Gypsy girl - Nike Arrighi^[1]
• Maid - Grace Arnold^[1]
• Gypsy man - Larry Taylor^[1]

Plot

In this episode, Number Six awakes to find The Village deserted. Momentarily abandoning his misgivings that the eerily quiet place gives him, he takes a number of pictures before assembling a raft and making his bid for freedom. After spending weeks at sea, he makes it back to London, where a Mrs. Butterworth now occupies his old house and drives his Lotus 7. Mrs. Butterworth is intrigued by Number Six's plight, feeds him, and lends him clothes and her car so that he can make contact with his former employer. They are skeptical of his story, but ultimately allow him to demonstrate to them the location of the village. He leads a plane to the Village only to realize the plane is being piloted by a village confederate. Number Six is ejected from the plane and is greeted in the Village by Number Two, who happens to be Mrs. Butterworth. She offers him many happy returns of the day; his taste of freedom was nothing more than a carefully controlled birthday gift.

Notes

The airfield used in this episode is the former RAF Chalgrove / Chalgrove Airfield in Oxfordshire, now privately owned by Martin Baker.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} episode credits

Bibliography

• Fairclough, Robert, ed. The Prisoner: The Original Scripts. vol. 1. foreword by Lewis Greifer. Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 978-1903111765. OCLC 61145235.  - script of episode

External links

• The Prisoner: Many Happy Returns at the Internet Movie Database