The Village is the fictional setting of the 1960s UK television series The Prisoner where the main character, Number Six, is held with other former spies and operatives from various countries.

Ostensibly, those running the Village – thought by many to be countries around the world – believe that once Number Six is coerced into explaining the motive(s) behind his resignation, all the state secrets he knows will come tumbling out.

In "Many Happy Returns," it is said to be on the coast of Morocco or southern Portugal, possibly an island, and is located by Number Six in this area while making reconnaissance passes in an aircraft.

Prior to this, in "The Chimes of Big Ben," it is claimed to be located in the Soviet Union on the Baltic Sea (the episode states "in Lithuania, 30 miles from the Polish border"), though it is later revealed that this was a Village disinformation plot.

In the alternative version of the episode "The Chimes of Big Ben," Number Six constructs a device that allows him to work out the Village's location; this scene was cut – presumably to remove the reference to navigation by stars, which would have allowed an estimation at the least of the Village's general position, thereby undermining the story line of the episode (if not a key element in the entire series).

The Italianate architecture of the Village is somewhat deceptive as the interiors of the buildings are frequently Georgian, 1960s 'mod', or in a number of instances, an oddly sparse kind of 'ultra modern' design.

In "Arrival", "Many Happy Returns" and other episodes, Number Six actually views the Village from the air, yet is apparently unable to spot any surrounding towns or cities.

(However, in "Arrival", two separate characters both wear identification badges identifying them as Number 66; this is neither commented upon nor any sort of plot device, and is almost certainly simply a continuity error.)

Careful frame-by-frame analysis of the Blu-Ray version of "Arrival" shows that Rover's first on-screen victim wears badge number 260, but this would not have been evident to TV viewers in 1967.)

These include Cobb in "Arrival", Alison in "The Schizoid Man", Monique in "It's your Funeral" and Roland Walter Dutton in "Dance Of The Dead".

Principal location shooting took place over four weeks in September 1966, with a return visit for additional, second unit-style shots for later episodes in March 1967.

Later episodes were shot almost entirely on the sets on MGM's sound stages and backlot and locations within easy reach of the studio at Borehamwood, (for example, in "It's Your Funeral", "A Change of Mind", "Living in Harmony", and "The Girl Who Was Death"), and by reusing Portmeirion footage from earlier episodes the production company was able to save the expense that further principal photography at Portmeirion would have led to.

[4] There is an extensive network of tunnels and caverns under the Village, connecting many of the public buildings, and a number of secret facilities and support services (plumbing, waste disposal, observation cameras, etc.).

There appears to be a large liquid-filled underground chamber that resembles a lava lamp, probably a short distance off the coast, in which Rover – the Village's security guardian – resides when it is not being used.

The normal background display of the large monitor in Number Two's office is a view of this chamber, and lava lamps are visible in virtually every public building in the Village.

The Village has its own daily newspaper (The Tally Ho), a cinema, a peripheral statue garden (though the statues are actually surveillance systems to prevent prisoners' escaping), a retirement home, a gymnasium, a fully equipped hospital, taxi service, a radio station (like George Orwell's telescreens in Nineteen-Eighty-Four, the receivers cannot be turned off), a television studio (used mostly for news reports and announcements), a restaurant, a music shop, several other stores, and its own graveyard.

There is visual evidence in many episodes that the Village also includes large areas of countryside (with residences) as these are often visible in the distance in aerial shots and views looking out to sea.

Though most Village inhabitants seem to go along with this, internal dialogue indicates that the entire process is rigged: Number Six: "Where'd you get this bunch of tailor's dummies?"

Weapons, alcohol, and tools are forbidden in the Village, but there are no walls or visible barriers to prevent escape, and no apparent prison guards.

This is merely a ruse, however, as subsequent episodes reveal that many of the other people in the Village are, in fact, warders planted unobtrusively in the community and reporting back to the current Number Two.

Observers continually spy on Villagers and foil escape attempts with the aid of Rover, a large white balloon-like device that chases would-be escapees.

Rover has also been shown to kill on two occasions; the exact cause of death is not revealed (the target is "enveloped" / suffocated; this happens to the victims in "Arrival" and "The Schizoid Man"), however, in "Free for All", Number Six is attacked in a similar manner, but survives.

Citizens use the phrase "Be seeing you" as a farewell, accompanied by a waving gesture consisting of thumb and forefinger forming a circle over the eye, then tipped forward in a salute.

This existence comes to an end when Number Two writes a book about the Village, inspiring a joint effort by American and British agents to investigate the site.

In reality, Portmeirion continues to be a popular tourist attraction in north-west Wales, and frequently hosts events related to celebrating the series.

The building in Portmeirion shown in the series as Number Six's house was later converted into a shop selling Prisoner-related souvenirs, with a penny-farthing bicycle parked outside.

In Alan Moore's crossover comic, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, The Village is stated as having been built by the Thought Police to house enemies of Big Brother.

In the science fiction TV series Babylon 5, the culture of the Psi Corps organization pays homage to aspects of The Prisoner, including a modified salute and use of the phrase "Be seeing you".