The Prisoner is part of a biography of Paul Darrow, but I will only be talking about this story.

The Prisoner is an interesting piece. It comes across as a meta story about the nature of Iago's place in the larger Kaldor City narrative. It almost explicitly states that this is fiction, and Iago is the audience surrogate, helping to move the plot forward.

While I don't think the premise hits in the way they hoped it would, it is interesting, and is worth a listen. It isn't necessary as part of Kaldor City, but it is an interesting side piece.

I think I should tell you now that paranoia is not a personality trait.

Although the main plot has been left dangling on a Razor's edge, The Prisoner takes a quick deviation in order to wrap up a loose end yet still takes place 3 days after the events of Checkmate. Here is a simple two-pronged affair between its dual writers, Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore; and a fantastic little 20-minute piece of metafiction brought to life by the excellent performances of Paul Darrow and Peter Miles as Iago and Landerchild.

When Kaston Iago is discovered wandering around the grounds of Landerchild's family estate, it looks like a simple case of political espionage. But is everything quite what it seems — and who is really in control of the situation?

Although I haven't really touched on subjects like this before, the title points the audience to the writers' love of the ATV series The Prisoner, and whilst it also suggests (like that TV series) the main theme of the Kaldor City series may be the nature of reality and fiction, it also suggests (again, like the TV series) definite answers may not be forthcoming. Notably, Kaston Iago occupies a similar narrative space as Number 6 from The Prisoner as both characters are thought to have originated from another fictional world. Number 6 in The Prisoner is commonly thought to be John Drake from Danger Man, a character also played by Patrick McGoohan, just as Kaston Iago in Kaldor City is intended to be Kerr Avon from Blake's 7, a character also played by Paul Darrow.

Overall, The Prisoner explores the themes and ideas set forth in earlier stories to explore the true relationship of Iago to his fellow citizens, once again being one of the most consistently excellent Doctor Who stories ever told.

I see your problem. It's a matter of faith.