I Am (Not) a Number Decoding The Prisoner

The enormously puzzling TV series The Prisoner has developed a rapt cult following, and has often been described as “surreal” or “Kafkaesque.” In I Am (Not) a Number, Cox takes an opposing view. While the series has surreal elements, he believes it provides the answers to all the questions which have confounded viewers: who is Number 6? Who runs The Village? Who—or what—is Number 1? According to Cox, the key is to view the series in the order in which the episodes were made, not in the 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, and certainly the most perplexing, TV series of all time.

Alex Cox is responsible for directing a host of acclaimed films from Repo Man, Sid & Nancy, Straight to Hell, Walker, and Highway Patrolman to Death and the Compass, Revenger’s Tragedy and Searchers 2.0. He’s also the author of X Films: True Confessions of a Radical Filmmaker, and has written on the subject of film for publications including Sight and Sound, The Guardian, The Independent, and Film Comment.