I Am (Not) A Number: Decoding The Prisoner

Description

The enormously puzzling TV series The Prisoner has developed a rapt cult following, and has often been described as 'surreal' or 'Kafkaesque'. Author Alex Cox watched all the episodes on their first broadcast, at the ripe old age of thirteen. In his new book, I Am (Not) A Number, Cox agrees that while the series has surreal elements, he believes it provides the answers to all the questions which have engrossed and confounded viewers: who is Number 6? Who runs The Village? Who - or what - is Number 1? According to Cox, the key to understanding The Prisoner is to view the series in the order in which the episodes were made - not in the re-arranged order of the UK or US television screenings. In this book he does exactly that, and provides an entirely original and controversial 'explanation' for what is perhaps the best, the most original, and certainly the most perplexing, TV series of all time.

Maverick British filmmaker Alex Cox is responsible for directing a host of acclaimed films from Sleep is for Sissies, Repo Man, Sid and Nancy, Straight to Hell, Walker and Highway Patrolman to Death and the Compass, Three Businessmen, Revenger's Tragedy, Searchers 2.0 and more recently Tombstone Rashomon. From 1987 to 1994, he presented the acclaimed BBC TV series 'Moviedrome', bringing unknown or forgotten films to new audiences. He's also the author of X Films: True Confessions of a Radical Filmmaker, 10,000 Ways to Die, The President and the Provocateur and Alex Cox's Introduction to Film and has written on the subject of film for publications including Sight and Sound, The Guardian, The Independent and Film Comment.

Cox offers a different and in some ways controversial slant on the series -- Karen Langley * Six of One * Cox does a terrific job of giving a fresh interpretation to what must be the world's most analysed television series -- Sinclair McKay * Spectator * Clear and well-informed - written from a gifted film-maker's point of view, with a Coxian twinkle in its eye - this is the best guide to THE PRISONER and its hidden depths that I have read. If you want to find out who Number 6 REALLY was, and who/what was managing the Village, look no further -- Christopher Frayling Cox's research is exemplary...Cox's enthusiasm for the subject is joyous -- Michelle Le Blanc Colin Odell * Kamera.co.uk * If you've been itching for answers, they're largely here -- Jon Wise * Sunday Sport *