I Am (Not) a Number cover art

I Am (Not) a Number

Decoding the Prisoner

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I Am (Not) a Number

By: Alex Cox
Narrated by: Alex Cox
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About this listen

The enormously puzzling TV series The Prisoner has developed a rapt cult following and has often been described as "surreal" or "Kafkaesque".

Alex Cox watched all the episodes of The Prisoner on their first broadcast, at the ripe old age of 13. In I Am (Not) a Number, Cox believes he provides the answers to all the questions that have engrossed and confounded viewers including:

  • Who is Number Six?
  • Who runs The Village?
  • Who - or what - is Number One?

According to Cox, the key to understanding The Prisoner is to view the series in the order in which the episodes were made - and not in the rearranged order of the UK or US television screenings. In this book he provides an innovative and controversial "explanation" for what is perhaps the best, the most original, and certainly the most perplexing TV series of all time.

©2021 Crime & Mystery Club Ltd (P)2021 Kamera Books Art Entertainment & Performing Arts Film & TV History & Criticism

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All stars
Most relevant  
I love The Prisoner and Alex Cox so this was right up my alley. The sound quality is very sketchy in places and comes across as Alex recording this on GarageBand in his shed with almost no audio post production at all! This from an actual film director. I still enjoyed it but the production quality is a bit amateurish.

Great content, unreliable sound quality

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Alex Cox’s passion for one of the most fascinating, baffling and influential TV shows of all time is infectious. It’s just a shame he recorded the narration in a cabin in a remote spot, where he presumably lives, rather than in a proper studio, meaning the sound quality is exceptionally poor. There are bursts of static and the volume is variable. It’s a shame - and must have been avoidable. It’s also very surprising and disappointing that it passed muster for Audible release. That said, for the true fan perseverance is rewarded. Cox summarises each of the 17 episodes then decodes what he thinks the iconic late 1960s series ‘means’, assuming that it does have a single meaning and can indeed be decoded. Cox’s theories are as credible as anyone else’s, and certainly worth a listen. The opening and closing sections, providing cultural and social context, work best. At times, the format - simply recapping the plot of each episode, albeit with some great trivia thrown in - feels a bit plodding and formulaic. It’s the attention to detail that makes the book worth sticking with for aficionados, together with Cox’s obvious devotion to, and deep admiration of, the show. A fairer overall score might have been 3.5, but as an audiobook this is sadly seriously flawed because of the sound issues. If you’re a Prisoner fan, seek out the hard copy. Be seeing you!

Prisoner of poor sound quality

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my only complaint is that a few sentences repeat and the audio edit has a hiss in the pauses

an exellent guide to the prisoner.

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The author is clearly enthusiastic about the subject yet there is little original thought shown here. The writing and narration came across as rushed and far too much of the book is spent retelling the episode story lines. I guess I had expected a lot more insight given the writers credentials.

Disappointing

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