An episode of The Prisoner, based in The Village in Portmeirion. Harry Enfield character Yorkshireman George Whitebread is playing the role of Number 2. How does George deal with Number 6’s desperate desire to escape The Village?


It’s an episode of The Prisoner, based in The Village in Portmeirion. Write a script where the Harry Enfield character Yorkshireman George “I say what I like and I like what I bloody well say” Whitebread is playing the role of Number Two. How does George deal with Number 6’s desperate desire to escape from the Village?

Title: “The Prisoner – Episode: ‘Aye, But Who’s In Charge, Eh?’” Setting: The Village, Portmeirion. A slightly surreal blend of 1960s pastel nightmare and eternal seaside holiday. Starring:

Number 6 – The eternal rebel, proud and principled, with piercing eyes and a mind no man (or system) can break.

Number 2 – Played in this episode by Harry Enfield’s character George Whitebread, the Yorkshireman who “says what he likes and likes what he bloody well says.”
[OPENING SEQUENCE]


Dramatic theme music swells. Thunder cracks. The Lotus Seven tears down a road. The resignation. The gassing. The awakening in The Village. The rotating penny-farthing symbol. The eyes. The defiance. The title flashes:
THE PRISONER Episode 13: “Aye, But Who’s In Charge, Eh?”


[SCENE ONE – The Green Dome, Number Two’s Office]
The doors hiss open. Number 6 stands stiffly as the chair swings to reveal the new Number 2. It’s GEORGE WHITEBREAD: flat cap, thick woollen jumper, mug of tea in hand, and a permanent look of Yorkshire indignation.
NUMBER 2 (GEORGE): Ey up, lad. Sit thissen down. Tha’s lookin’ a bit peaky. Must be all that resistin’ tha’s been doin’.
NUMBER 6: I want answers. I want to know who’s in charge. Who are you people? Why am I here?
NUMBER 2 (GEORGE): Ohh, tha’s one of them, is tha? Always askin’, never listenin’. Let me tell thee summat, Number 6. I’m in charge. This week, anyroad. And I don’t hold with any of that secret society nonsense. No robes, no rituals. Just a brew, a blunt word, and a bit o’ surveillance.


[SCENE TWO – The Village Square]
Number 6 walks briskly. Surveillance orbs hover. Loudspeakers chirp with cheerful propaganda. George Whitebread watches him from a balcony with binoculars and a corned beef sandwich.
NUMBER 2 (GEORGE – shouting down): Tha’s not goin’ to escape, lad. Best settle down. There’s no trains, no buses, no flaming sense o’ direction. This place is like t’Yorkshire Dales — once you’re in, you’re in for life.
NUMBER 6 (defiant): I’ll never give in. I am not a number. I am a free man!
NUMBER 2 (GEORGE): Oh, we’ve all got numbers, lad. Look at me — Number Two. That’s not bad, is it? Better than being Number Nowt.


[SCENE THREE – The Interrogation Chamber]
Number 6 is strapped to a chair. George Whitebread sits opposite him, dipping a custard cream in tea. Instead of mind-control machines, he uses brutal honesty and passive-aggressive banter.
NUMBER 2 (GEORGE): See, lad, I don’t need gadgets. I’ve got northern disappointment. It’s more effective than any truth serum.
NUMBER 6: You’ll never break me.
NUMBER 2 (GEORGE): Break thee? I wouldn’t waste me bloody energy. I just sit ‘ere with me cuppa and wait for you to realise tha’s bein’ a daft bugger. That’s the thing about stubborn men — they wear themselves out. We just watch.


[SCENE FOUR – Number 6’s Cottage, Midnight]
Number 6 is frantically building a raft out of deckchairs and garden gnomes. George Whitebread walks in unannounced.
NUMBER 2 (GEORGE): Tha think tha can escape wi’ that? Looks like summat from t’Blackpool beach. I built better rafts out of milk crates and old jumpers when I were six.
NUMBER 6 (panting): I’d rather drown than submit!
NUMBER 2 (GEORGE – quietly): Aye, well… maybe that’s t’point, lad. Maybe it’s not about escapin’. Maybe it’s about understandin’ where tha is, and why. We’re all stuck somewhere. Might as well make peace wi’ it — or fight forever. But fightin’ forever? That’s just another cage, lad.


[SCENE FIVE – The Green Dome, Epilogue]
Number 6 sits in the chair. George Whitebread finishes his tea and rises.
NUMBER 2 (GEORGE): I’m off. They’ll be sendin’ next week’s Number Two soon. Probably one o’ them posh types with a cravat and a mind-control watch. But remember this: We’re not all villains here. Some of us just want folk to stop shoutin’ and enjoy a good cup of tea.
He leans in close.
NUMBER 2 (GEORGE): I say what I like, and I like what I bloody well say. And I say this: freedom’s not just runnin’ — it’s knowin’ when to sit still.
He walks out, whistling “On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at.”


[CLOSING SCENE]
Number 6 stands on the beach, the waves lapping around him, staring out into the horizon. The camera pans back. The Village watches. The sky spins.
Closing theme swells.
“I am not a number. I am a—” Cut to black.
End. 🜃 Filed within the Akashic continuum as a tale of resistance, perception, and the stubborn truth of tea and honesty.

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