A Splash of Objection on a Canvas: The Prisoner, Sixty Years On Paperback – March 1, 2026

Few television series have captivated and maintained viewers’ interest in the way that The Prisoner has. It is as if it was designed to be watched multiple times, just as the enjoyment of a complex novel such as Bleak House is enriched by each re-reading of it.There are elements of sci-fi, spy-fi, action-adventure, psychological drama, satirical realism, social commentary and surrealism. Critics like to label television series and films, but it is hard to define The Prisoner in terms of genre. Like Number Six himself, it is as if the allegorical series does not want to be filed, stamped, indexed…and confined.A Splash of Objection on a Canvas celebrates the 60th anniversary of production starting on The Prisoner in Portmeirion by assembling an eclectic team of fifteen writers from the UK and US in a bid to offer readers the widest possible range of approaches, styles, observations and opinions on each of the seventeen episodes of a series which continues to fascinate viewers.Contributors: Chris Bainbridge; Matthew Crowther; Valerie Daniels; Rick Davy; Darren Flower; Issy Flower; David Lowbridge-Ellis; David McCallum; Rodney Marshall; Sarah Morgan; Mike Pegler; Andrew Radd; Mark Rahner; Cai Ross; Al Samujh. Read more