The Prisoner Returns
 

Former (or Present if you're a yank) Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccelston may be assuming the role of Patric Mcgooan's immortal character of Number Six in a new version of The Prisoner, to be financed by Sky One, who were partially responsible for the intial financing of the Battlestar Galactica mini-series that led to the succesful series

The cult 1960s British drama The Prisoner might have been a little too surreal and paranoid for some, but that hasn't stopped one UK channel commissioning a contemporary remake.

Sky One, which recently dropped the axe on its flagship football drama Dream Team under new director of programmes Richard Woolfe, has ordered ITV Productions (fka Granada) to make a six-part series for transmission in spring 2007.

Greenlit by Elaine Pyke, commissioning editor for drama, the show is described by Sky as its "biggest ever drama commission" and has been reworked from the original scripts by Bill Gallagher (Conviction, Clocking Off).

With Fox thriller 24 and the BBC's Spooks in mind, the show "promises a reinvention of the original," said Sky, with Gallagher heightening the paranoia and conspiracy of the original series. Christopher Eccleston, who quit as Doctor Who after one season, is being tipped to star.

Woolfe said: "If Doctor Who set the standard, The Prisoner raises the bar. This series is a sophisticated, high-concept drama to rival anything on the terrestrials and the best of the US. It's our biggest drama commission ever and every penny will be evident on screen."

Production starts in the summer, under executive producer and head of drama at ITV Productions in London, Damien Timmer, who shares EP duties with Pyke and Michele Buck.

He said: "The Prisoner is like Pandora's box - it's the ultimate ultimate conspiracy thriller. Like 24, the new series will entrap you from the opening scene. We hope it will tap into this iconic show's existing cult following, whilst creating a whole new generation of fans."

The 1960s series starred Patrick McGoohan as a character abducted after resigning from a top-secret government position and relocated to a sinister village where nothing was as it seemed. He was often chased down the street by a bizarre giant sphere, for instance, and his mantra was: 'I am not a number, I'm a free man.'

Source: C21 Media