The death was announced today of Patrick McGoohan, most famous for both creating and starring, as Number Six, in the cult classic 1960s TV show The Prisoner. McGoohan, who was 80, died yesterday in Los Angeles after a short illness. McGoohan was no stranger to spy roles – the Prisoner character being essentially an extension of the Danger Man role he had played earlier in the 60s, and he was considered for the role of James Bond in the first 007 movie until Sean Connery eventually got the part – but he also starred in several feature films.

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His feature film credits include Hell Drivers, Ice Station Zebra, Escape from Alcatraz, Scanners and, more recently, he played King Edward Longshanks in Mel Gibson’s 1995 film Braveheart.

But for legions of fans he will always be remembered as the enigmatic Number Six, even though only seventeen episodes of The Prisoner were ever made, and which, having aired originally in 1967/8, is now well over forty years old. The surreal challenges that he faced as Number Six, escaping time and again from the enormous white bubble that acted as a security guard in the mysterious Village, and his endless quest to solve the riddle of the elusive Number One, are allegorical mysteries over which arguments still rage today.

One thing is certain though. Finally, in one way or another, McGoohan truly is no longer a number, but a free man.