"The Chimes of Big Ben" is an episode of the allegorical British science fiction TV series, The Prisoner.

It was the second episode to be broadcast in the UK on ITV (ATV Midlands and Grampian) on Friday 6 October 1967 and first aired in the United States on CBS on Saturday 8 June 1968.

The episode opens with the relentlessly cheerful voice of the radio announcer encouraging every Villager to participate in an upcoming crafts show.

The following day, Nadia tries to escape by swimming out to sea but is brought back by Rover and interrogated in the hospital.

In response, Number Six makes a deal, agreeing to participate more in Village life – for instance, by entering the craft show – if this puts an end to her torture.

She tells him that she knows the location of The Village: On the Baltic coast of Lithuania about 30 miles (48 km) from the Polish border.

Realising he has been tricked, he begins a search of the office and discovers a tape recorder recreating the background sounds of London.

He exits the building, finding himself back in The Village, with Nadia standing with Number Two – revealing she was an operative all along.

[1] During the production of the last four episodes of The Prisoner series (the episode "Living in Harmony" was being made) ITC arranged for a press conference to take place at MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood on 20 September 1967 - a week before the scheduled broadcast on some British TV channels.

At the press coverage Patrick McGoohan (at the start wearing his kosho uniform, a made-up martial art used in the series) was interviewed inside the cage shown in the episode "Once Upon a Time".

The alternative version of "The Chimes of Big Ben" includes a sequence that was later cut where Number Six uses a triquetrum (an ancient Greek measuring device) to locate the general position of the Village.