Online vote for new Prisoner lead

Patrick McGoohan starred as Number Six in The Prisoner

The village which provided the setting for TV series The Prisoner is holding an online vote for suggestions for the actor to play the lead in the remake.

The 17-episode series, filmed in Portmeirion in 1966-67, saw Patrick McGoohan play Number Six - an ex-secret agent held captive in the village.

A Sky One remake of the cult series is planned for next year but the lead actor has not yet been announced.

The online vote will run on the village's official website for a month.

Architect Clough Williams-Ellis built Portmeirion from 1925 to 1975 on a peninsula on the Gwynedd coast.

The village was built in Italianate style and attracts about 250,000 visitors a year, many of them as a result of its association with The Prisoner.

The show portrayed Mr McGoohan's character held among a brainwashed population held captive by a mysterious regime. The prisoners were known only by numbers and although there were no bars or barbed wire, massive balloons would smother anyone making an escape bid.

PORTMEIRION FACTS Portmeirion was built between 1926 - 1939 and 1954 - 1972 by Clough Williams-Ellis The McGoohan character in The Prisoner famously declared: "I am not a number; I am a free man" The finale of the ITV hit show Cold Feet was filmed there in 2003 The village includes colourful cottages and examples of varying architectural styles

Following its original 1967 ITV broadcast, the series was shown in more than 60 countries throughout the world and developed something of a cult following.

A planned remake is due to be broadcast in spring 2007, but it has not yet been announced who will fill the shoes of Patrick McGoohan in the Number Six role.

Visitors to the village's website are now being asked to submit suggestions for the new Number Six.

Robin Llywelyn, managing director of the site and grandson of its creator Sir Clough, said: "Since launching the online vote, we have had a good response, people take it very seriously.

"To this end, we have already had requests from people keen to see Patrick McGoohan return to play the role."

The online poll runs to the end of the month.