By James White | Posted 10 Jan 2016

It won't be a number. It'll be a Scott Free Production! Yes, we completely went there, as Ridley Scott is at the early negotiation stage to direct a film adaptation of 1968 cult TV series The Prisoner.

The show, which was created by and starred Patrick McGoohan saw him as a secret agent who, after handing in his credentials, is abducted and shipped off to a weird, psychedelically decorated village, where he's pumped for information in unusual ways. Even as he tries to figure out what's actually going on, the man now known only as Number Six is driven to escape, which isn't an easy task given the warped security system in place.

This head-scratching concept has long been a favourite for fans of offbeat shows and was brought back to the small screen for a miniseries update in 2009 that starred Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen. Universal has had the rights to make a film version for a while, with the likes of Christopher McQuarrie and William Monahan working on drafts. Scott, should he actually jump aboard, will be the spur for yet more writing work, with Deadline reporting that several writers are considering the job now it may have a director attached.

Scott, meanwhile, is primarily focused on his Prometheus sequel, Alien: Covenant, which will start shooting next month.