Episode 7 -   Many Happy Returns

No. 6 escapes and succeeds in getting back to London. Yet there is still no freedom...

It seems as though The Village has died, very suddenly. The voices are still, the houses empty, the shops closed. So far as he can tell, No. 6 (Patrick McGoohan) is alone.

For the first time since being abducted, he sees the real promise of escape. There is no one to stop him, no interference as he builds a raft, and still no one on guard when he pushes out to sea.

The sea is now the enemy, and No. 6 barely survives his ordeal. There is still danger, of a different kind, when he is picked up by a couple of gunrunners (Dennis Chinnery and Jon Laurimore). Another escape, as he dives overboard and swims to land, provides further hazards.

He finds himself, surprisingly, back in England. It's the Kent coast. And he makes his way back to London, where he discovers that his apartment has been rented to a Mrs. Butterworth (Georgina Cookson), who, frightened at first, befriends him.

Grimly, he goes to his old office, and a rendezvous is arranged. He is closely quizzed by a colonel (Donald Sinden); commander (Richard Caldicot); group captain (Brian Worth); and high-up executive, Thorpe (Patrick Cargill). Their interrogation is thorough and severe, but his story has the ring of truth.

But there is no freedom in escape without explanation. Where is The Village? Who runs it? Why does it exist?

No. 6 has got to discover the truth and the authorities agree to give him every assistance, even if it means scouring every inch of the world.

For No. 6, success in his quest means ironical failure.