Nadia Rakowski (also known as Number 8) was an Estonian woman who had been allegedly imprisoned in The Village after discovering its location. In reality, she was part of an elaborate plot to extract information from Number 6. The character appears in the second episode ("The Chimes of Big Ben") of the the 1967-68 British television series The Prisoner and was portrayed by Romanian actress Nadia Gray.
Background[]
Number 6 is playing chess near the beach when Number 2 joins him. During their conversation, a helicopter lands and an unconscious woman is taken out on a stretcher. Later, 6 is invited to The Green Dome where he and Number 2 watch the woman wake up on the main viewing screen. Awaking in a replica of her home, she is apparently disorientated and is contacted by Number 2, who bids her to join him at the Green Dome. Discussing the matter privately with Number 6, Number 2 says that she is the new Number 8 (implying that the old 8 had died) and that she will be Number 6's new neighbour. When Number 6 returns to his cottage, Number 8 emerges, confused, and asks for directions to The Green Dome.
When she returns later, she reveals to him that her name is Nadia, but she is suspicious that he is a Village spy. An Olympic bronze-medallist at the age of 17, Nadia tries to escape by swimming out to sea the following day, but is brought back by Rover and interrogated in the hospital. In response, Number 6 makes a deal, agreeing to participate more in Village life — for instance, by entering the craft show — if this puts an end to her torture. Number 6 and Nadia become closer and eventually plan to escape. She tells him that she knows the location of The Village: On the Baltic coast of Lithuania about 30 miles (48 km) from the Polish border. At night, he and Nadia escape in a carved boat which he had constructed under the guise of an art project.
When they reach land, they meet Nadia's contact. Number 6 borrows the contact's watch since his own has stopped. Number 6 and Nadia then hide in a packing case as they travel to London. They end up in Number 6's old office and meet his former bosses. When they suspect him of being a double agent, Number 6 agrees to tell them why he resigned if Nadia is given protection. However, as he is about to talk, Number 6 hears the familiar chimes of Big Ben. He looks at his watch and finds that it shows the same time — not the one hour's difference of the time in Poland. Realising that he has been tricked, he begins a search of the office and discovers a tape recorder recreating the background sounds of London. He exits the building, finding himself back in The Village, with Nadia standing with Number 2 — thus revealing she was an operative all along.
Big Finish[]
In the Big Finish adaptation of The Chimes of Big Ben, Nadia is voiced by Lithuanian actress Kristina Buikate, and the backstory given is that she is a Lithuanian government agent who discovered the existence of The Village in her own country, causing her to consider defection to the British. The events play out much the same as in the original episode, with the exception for the final reveal being that 'London' was in fact a hologrammatic recreation of the city and Nadia is in fact the new Number 2.