The Prisoner Returns in Original Audio Dramas From Big Finish

Big Finish, the UK company that resurrected the lost first season episodes of The Avengers by producing the original scripts as excellent new audio dramas, has secured the rights to another cult Sixties spy series: Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner. The company announced earlier this month that Number 6 would return in a series of full-cast audio dramas with original scores. Big Finish co-executive producer Nicholas Briggs (best known as the voice of the Daleks on TV's Doctor Who, but also the writer of some of Big Finish's Doctor Who audio dramas) will write and direct the new series. Voice actors haven't been cast yet. It's a real shame this didn't happen when Patrick McGoohan was still with us, because it's hard to envision anyone else in the role. But still exciting to anticipate new adventures set in the world of the original TV show! Briggs is a fan and promises to treat the material reverently (while not delivering "a slavish retelling of all the original episodes," fortunately), which is more than can be said of the best forgotten AMC miniseries remake a few years ago. It's also exciting to dream about what other ITC classics Big Finish might delve into! The Champions? The Persuaders!? Man in a Suitcase? (Richard Bradford's still around!) Any of those would be great, but what I'd really like to see them do after listening to their fantastic audio recreations of the lost Avengers episodes would be to created audio dramas based on the lost episodes of Adam Adamant Lives! and Callan. In the meantime, though, I'll definitely be checking into the Village next January, when The Prisoner - Volume 1 (four episodes plus a making-of documentary) comes out. It's already available to pre-order ($60.38 for a lavish CD box set with a color booklet, or $35.00 for digital download) from Big Finish's website.
Thanks to Phil for the tip!