Number Six is NOT John Drake

In my many years of analysis of The Prisoner, one of the biggest questions pertains to Number Six's real name. Many, including Markstein, said that it was John Drake from Danger Man.

The episode "The Girl Who Was Death" is often cited as proof because a character named Potter, who often drops Drake information, appears. The same actor and specifically called Potter by the McGoohan character. "Chin up...Potter." There is a momentary pause as he addresses him.

Number Six is not John Drake and this episode proves it.

I don't want to admit this. I always liked the idea that this is what happened to the Drake character. I began with The Prisoner in the late 80s and didn't even get to Danger Man until I could watch it on DVD through Netflix--in the 21st century. I wanted to know who Number Six was before the Village. I knew what he was. Having the whole Danger Man series is sort of like a neat prequel, especially with those episodes that give rise to the origins and of The Village.

However, now we have to look specifically at the frame story of the episode "The Girl Who Was Death." Admittedly, we don't exactly know that it is a frame story. Our only clue is the book that gets glimpsed as bookends to the commercial breaks. And those pages specifically reference what is going on in the story that Number Six is telling the children.

Number Six picks up this picture book and tells the children a story, a type of story he knows very well. We do not tell our own stories in this situation. We make it up--or--we use elements from what we know from other stories.

If I were telling this story, I'd be referencing James Bond characters, probably using exact "names" like M and Q. That's what Number Six is doing. Making up a goofy spy story like what he's seen in Danger Man. It was a very popular show, remember. The kids would relate to the elements, especially those two boys. So his referencing Potter is referencing a fictional character. It's just a quick name that flows off his tongue in this made up story.

It's sort of like, in the DC Comics universe, The Flash reading a comic book about The Flash.

Also, if people think that Number Six is actually telling a real story, they clearly miss a couple of things. One is that Number Six clearly and explicitly knows that Number Two is watching. He is going to be using fictional elements, probably on purpose, as a sort of "screw you" to Number Two. I highly doubt he would slip and use a real contact name--on the idea that he doesn't want the real "Potter" to get in trouble (even though Number Six would know that The Village already knows everything anyway), but he wouldn't confirm it. Do you think for a second that Number Six would give anything away? He definitely would make up a name--or use a fictional name that rolled off the tongue.

And, absolutely clearly, this is a fake story he is telling. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but these bad guys are more humorous than bad. The Napoleon wannabe, the rocketship lighthouse. These are funny, and easy for someone like Number Six. And if you believe that's really Potter, then Napoleon is Number Two.

So while I want to think that Drake is Number Six, the frame story tells me otherwise. In fact, it makes Danger Man even more fictitious and Number Six even more of an Everyman.