RERUNS TO RE-WATCH : ‘The Prisoner’ Surfaces

There is one prisoner that managed to escape network television for too long for its few but avid followers. Now, the ‘60s cult favorite, “The Prisoner,” is back on Thursday nights after “The Pat Sajak Show” on CBS.

In the intelligent but disturbing British drama, a former secret agent finds himself a captive in a “1984”-like village, where he is called No. 6. His captors want to know why he resigned, but he won’t tell them. Throughout the series’ 17 episodes, the villagers continue to try to break No.6’s spirit; he continues to try to escape and maintain his sense of identity.

Patrick McGoohan is “The Prisoner.” He not only starred in the series, but he also created it, produced it and wrote and directed some of the shows, which were aired in the United States beginning in 1968.

This week’s episode, the fifth in the series, is “The Schizoid Man,” in which the villagers toy with No. 6’s mind by introducing a double who they say is the real No. 6. The show airs at 12:30 a.m. Thursday (actually Friday morning) on KCBS.