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Danger Man

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Danger Man
File:DangerManDVD.jpg
North American DVD release
Created byRalph Smart
StarringPatrick McGoohan
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes86
Production
Running time30 min. (1960-62); 60 min. (1964-68)
Original release
NetworkITV
ReleaseSeptember 11, 1960 –
January 12, 1968
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This article is about the 1960s TV series which was also known as Secret Agent and shouldn't be confused with the 1990s television series Secret Agent Man. For the New York band of the same name, see Dangerman (band).

Danger Man was a British television series that aired between 1960 and 1962 and again between 1964 and 1968. It starred Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. The series was created by Ralph Smart (some sources erroneously credit McGoohan with creating it), and it was produced by ITC Entertainment. In the United States, the series was broadcast on CBS; the first season under its original title, and the second and third seasons of the series under the title Secret Agent. The final two episodes of the series are often seen edited together as a TV movie entitled Koroshi. It is incorrect to use the title Secret Agent Man when referring to the series; it is only the title of its US-version theme song and an unrelated television series from 2000.

Program overview

The first season's episodes were 30 minutes long, and portrayed John Drake as an Irish American secret agent, for a secret arm of NATO, who often argued with his superiors about the ethics of the missions. Many of Drake's cases involved aiding democracy in foreign countries, though he also was called to solve murders and crimes affecting the interests of either America or NATO or both.

Early history

The series was successful in Europe, making McGoohan a celebrity, yet it was unsuccessful when broadcast on CBS in the United States, so, when American financing for a second season failed, the programme was cancelled; (this American broadcast is little-remembered, the A&E DVD first season release erroneously suggests it never aired in the U.S.).

After a two-year hiatus, and in the wake of James Bond's popularity – not to mention the popularity of ITC's The Saint—Danger Man's creator, Ralph Smart, re-thought the concept; the second season (1964) episodes were expanded to 60 minutes and had a new musical theme, "High Wire". Drake lost his American accent and no longer conflicted with his bosses, (not at first).

In the U.S., the revived 'Danger Man' was re-titled Secret Agent, as a CBS summer replacement programme, given the theme song "Secret Agent Man", performed by Johnny Rivers, that became a smash hit in itself. The series also was titled Destination Danger or John Drake in other parts of the world.

Theme

Unlike the James Bond films, which became fanciful with popularity, Danger Man strove for realism, dramatising believable Cold War tensions. In the retooled series, Drake was an undercover agent of the British external intelligence agency (called "M9" instead of the actual MI6.) As in the earlier series, Drake found himself in danger, which did not always have happy outcomes; sometimes duty forced him to decisions that led to good people suffering unfair consequences. Drake didn't always do what his masters told him to do.

Maintaining a rule established in the first season, Drake was never armed, though he was in fights, and what gadgets he used never were far-fetched. In fact, most were off the shelf, and their appearance in the series spurred sales of such commercial items as the folding binoculars featured in the American title sequence and the sub-miniature Minox camera. Unlike Bond, Drake was often shown reusing gadgets from previous episodes; among the more frequently seen were a miniature reel-to-reel tape recorder hidden inside the head of an electric shaver, and a microphone that could be embedded in a wall near the target via a shotgun-like apparatus, allowing Drake to eavesdrop on conversations from a safe distance.

He uses his intelligence, charm, and quick-thinking rather than force. Drake usually plays a role to work his way into a situation — scout for a travel agency, naive soldier, embittered ex-convict, brainless playboy, imperious physician, opportunistic journalist, bumbling tourist, cold-blooded mercenary, bland diplomat, smarmy pop disk jockey, precise clerk, compulsive gambler, impeccable butler...

The plots have realism. As Drake inveigles his way into a case, things are never what they first seemed. He gets arrested, he makes mistakes, equipment fails, careful plans don't work — and Drake often has to improvise an alternate plan. Sometimes investigation fails and he simply does something provocative to crack open the case. People he trusts can turn out to be untrustworthy; he finds unexpected allies. Things don't always turn out the way they should.

John Drake, also unlike Bond, rarely paired on-screen with any of the women, as McGoohan was determined to create a family-friendly show. Drake uses his immense charm in his undercover work, and women are often very attracted to him — but the viewer is left to assume whatever they want about Drake's personal life. (McGoohan denounced the sexual promiscuity of James Bond and The Saint, roles he rejected, though he did play romantic roles before Danger Man). The only exception to this rule was the two "linked episodes" of the series (see Trivia, below); Drake was also shown falling for the female lead in the episode The Black Book though nothing came of it; this episode is also one of the only scripts to directly address Drake's loneliness in his chosen profession.

Although the villains often were killed, Drake, himself, rarely killed, and, in the entire series, only shot one person dead, in one of the last half-hour episodes from the 1960 season. Yet The Encyclopedia of 20th-Century American Television, by Ron Lackmann, claims Danger Man was one of the most violent series ever produced, despite contrary evidence.

Co-stars and guest stars

In many episodes, Drake unwillingly answered to 'Hobbs' (Peter Madden), a sinister superior officer always seen fiddling with a knife; (the only time McGoohan had a regular co-star in the series).

Each episode had major roles for guest stars, many of whom went on to star in their own shows. For example, Paul Eddington (The Good Life, Yes, Minister, and Yes, Prime Minister), John Le Mesurier (Dad's Army), Anton Rodgers (Fresh Fields and May to December), Wendy Craig (several TV series, including Butterflies), Jean Marsh (Upstairs, Downstairs), and Susan Hampshire (Forsyte Saga, The First Churchills, The Pallisers.)

Later history and transition to The Prisoner

The fourth season was only two episodes, "Shinda Shima" and "Koroshi", the only two in the series photographed in colour. When the episodes were completed, McGoohan announced he was resigning from the series to create, produce, and star in a project titled The Prisoner which he co-created with George Markstein, who then was the Danger Man script consultant. Such was his power as a star television actor at the time (and the highest-paid actor in television) that he was allowed not only to cancel his own series, but took many Danger Man crew to the new series. The two colour episodes were aired in the UK as filler during a hiatus of The Prisoner, years later, they were released as the television film titled Koroshi; editing the episodes together was eased by their having been Danger Man's only two-part episode. Another, unused, fourth season script was reworked as an episode of The Champions.

There has been much debate over whether the characters of John Drake in Danger Man and Number Six in The Prisoner were one and the same (Number Six is a secret agent with the same moral integrity as Drake, who has resigned from his job, as McGoohan resigned from Danger Man), but McGoohan has denied any connection. However, in the surrealist Prisoner episode "The Girl Who Was Death," we see Number Six meeting - albeit in a fiction created by the character - Drake's Danger Man contact Potter (played in both series by Christopher Benjamin). That may have been a tease for fans; however, the episode had been adapted from an un-used Danger Man story, so the appearance of Potter might have been an unintended holdover. The fact that the first season of Danger Man has an episode titled "The Prisoner" is considered coincidental (the Welsh village of Portmeirion, which played such a major role in The Prisoner series, also features in an early Danger Man episode, doubling for an Italian village). Complicating these trivial matters is that many reference books refer to The Prisoner as a continuation of Danger Man.

The reason for the character's name change emerged years later. Actors do not own the characters they play — producers and writers own them. Danger Man producer Ralph Smart (series creator and writer, co-writer), owned the "John Drake" character and did not licence it for the new series.

Pop culture references

Danger Man has remained part of pop culture consciousness. Author Stephen King is said to have alluded to John Drake's "cool" in one novel. The band Tears for Fears referred to the character in their song "Swords and Knives," and goth musicians Dead Can Dance titled one of their songs "The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove" after a Danger Man episode. There also is a quick reference to the show in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date". On UK screens, it was parodied by the DangerMouse cartoon series. The American theme song has appeared in countless movies and TV shows, including during the climax of the first Austin Powers movie. Most recently, Danger Man's influence could be felt in the American series Alias, which, in January 2005, aired the episode "Welcome to Liberty Village", using the premise and plot elements identical to the Danger Man episode "Colony Three" (which contained elements revisited in The Prisoner).

In 2000, the UPN network aired a short-lived spy series entitled Secret Agent Man. Due to the similarities in titles between this series and the American edition of Danger Man, Secret Agent Man, a series with no relationship to the McGoohan program, is often erroneously referred to as a spin-off or remake of Danger Man.

DVD availability

All four seasons of the series are now available on DVD in North America. The three seasons of hour-long episodes were released by A&E Home Video under the title Secret Agent a.k.a. Danger Man in order to acknowledge the American broadcast and syndication title. However the episodes retain their original Danger Man opening credits, the first time these have been seen in the U.S. (The US "Secret Agent" credits were included as an extra feature.) The first season of half-hour episodes was issued by A&E sometime later as Danger Man.

Episodes

Episodes were usually not aired in production order. Broadcast order varied widely between UK and US.

Season 1 (1960–1962)

Broadcast as Danger Man both in the UK and US

Episode # Original Air Date (UK) Episode Title Episode Summary
1-01 11 September1960 View from the Villa Frank Delroy, an American banker directly responsible for a large reserve of gold held in Rome as part of the United States' NATO contributions, is murdered. Five million dollars are missing.
1-02 18 September1960 Time to Kill John Drake's instructions are to fly to Paris, sit down at a cafe on the Champs Elysee, and wait to meet a mysterious stranger who will introduce himself with a password.
1-03 25 September1960 Josetta
1-04 2 October1960 The Blue Veil John Drake is involved in one of his most colorful adventures when he flies to the Arabian desert to investigate stories of slavery and finds himself in the role of a knight errant helping a stranded showgirl.
1-05 9 October1960 The Lovers John Drake has a surprise when he receives a telephone call from an old enemy named Miguel Torres -- spy, undercover agent, provocateur, freelance saboteur. But this time, Torres is on the side of authority, employed by the president of Boravia.
1-06 16 October1960 The Girl in Pink Pajamas A strikingly lovely blonde is found wandering in a dazed condition along a lonely road in a Balkan state and provides John Drake with a clue to the mystery surrounding the attempted assassination of the country’s president.
1-07 23 October1960 Position of Trust John Drake is shown a photograph of a girl. She is alive, but might as well be dead. Haggard looks, staring eyes, sunken cheeks. It could have been a photograph of a worn-out, middle-aged woman. But the girl is only 21.
1-08 30 October1960 The Lonely Chair
1-09 6 November1960 The Sanctuary John Drake impersonates a prisoner who has just been released after serving a sentence for a violent bomb outrage and finds that his deception lands him into a web of drama and danger.
1-10 13 November1960 An Affair of State John Drake flies to a small Caribbean state when an American economics expert, sent there to check on the country’s finances and gold reserves before America agrees to a large loan, is reported to have committed suicide.
1-11 20 November1960 The Key Drake loses no time in getting to know Logan and his attractive Continental wife, Maria. He tells Logan that he has been ordered to contact him with instructions to encode a message for cabling to Washington.
1-12 27 November1960 The Sisters Which girl is telling the truth? This is the problem that faces John Drake when a beautiful refugee from a mid-European country flees to England and pleads for political asylum.
1-13 4 December1960 The Prisoner
1-14 11 December1960 The Traitor What makes a man a traitor? John Drake finds out when his latest assignment takes him to Kashmir, in Northern India, and to drama high up a mountain in a lonely bungalow with a renegade Englishman and his beautiful wife.
1-15 18 December1960 Col. Rodriguez
1-16 1 January1961 The Island
1-17 8 January1961 Find and Return John Drake sets out to find a beautiful girl who is wanted for espionage, possibly high treason. It means a trip to the Middle East and into a web of mystery in which death and danger stalk together.
1-18 15 January1961 The Girl who Liked G.I.s
1-19 22 January1961 Name, Date and Place
1-20 29 January1961 Vacation
1-21 5 February1961 The Conspirators
1-22 2 April1961 The Honeymooners
1-23 9 April1961 The Gallows Tree
1-24 16 April1961 The Relaxed Informer
1-25 23 April1961 The Brothers A plane crashes off the coast of Sicily. The two airmen get safely to shore, with their mail bags and a diplomatic satchel -- only to be shot and robbed by bandits.
1-26 30 April1961 The Journey Ends Halfway John Drake finds himself involved in Oriental intrigue and adventure when, in the guise of a Czech engineer, he unravels the mystery of the disappearance of a distinguished doctor who has been trying to escape from Communist China.
1-27 7 May1961 Bury the Dead A ticket for the opera in Palermo, Sicily, whirls John Drake into the centre of a gun-running intrigue with a beautiful girl as his companion.
1-28 14 May1961 Sabotage A transport plane is on its way from Singapore to flew Guinea, in full radio contact with its base. Then silence. An explosion sends the plane to its doom and its pilot, Paul Jason, to his death.
1-29 21 May1961 The Contessa
1-30 28 May1961 The Leak
1-31 4 June1961 The Trap
1-32 11 June1961 The Actor
1-33 18 June1961 Hired Assassin
1-34 16 December1961 The Coyannis Story Love and politics make an unholy alliance, as John Drake finds out when sent to a Balkan country to discover what has happened to rehabilitation money which does not seem to have been put to its intended uses.
1-35 23 December1961 Find and Destroy
1-36 30 December1961 Under the Lake John Drake has the pleasant task of getting to know a very attractive girl in the course of tracking down the mystery of one of the most fantastic counterfeit plots of all time.
1-37 6 January1962 The Nurse A dramatic meeting with a pretty Scots nurse in the heart of the Arabian Desert plunges John Drake into one of most perilous adventures of his career and enables him to help the girl save a dynasty.
1-38 13 January1962 Dead Man Walks
1-39 20 January1962 Deadline John Drake plunges into the African jungle to find an attractive native woman who can tell him the truth about a murder that has sparked off a wave of terrorism which is likely to lead to a mass uprising.

Although aired over the course of 18 months, these 39 episodes are considered one season.

Season 2 (1964–1965)

Seasons 2 and 3 were broadcast as Danger Man in the UK and Secret Agent in the US.

Episode # Original Air Date (UK) Episode Title
2-01 13 October1964 Yesterday's Enemies
2-02 20 October1964 The Professionals
2-03 27 October1964 Colony Three
2-04 3 November1964 The Galloping Major
2-05 10 November1964 Fair Exchange
2-06 17 November1964 Fish on the Hook
2-07 24 November1964 The Colonel's Daughter
2-08 1 December1964 Battle of the Cameras
2-09 8 December1964 No Marks for Servility
2-10 15 December1964 A Man to Be Trusted
2-11 22 December1964 Don't Nail Him Yet
2-12 29 December1964 A Date with Doris
2-13 5 January1965 That's Two of Us Sorry
2-14 12 January1965 Such Men are Dangerous
2-15 19 January1965 Whatever Happened to George Foster?
2-16 2 February1965 Room in the Basement
2-17 9 February1965 The Affair at Castelevara
2-18 19 February1965 The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove
2-19 23 February1965 It's Up to the Lady
2-20 2 March1965 Have a Glass of Wine
2-21 9 March1965 The Mirror's New
2-22 16 March1965 Parallel Lines Sometimes Meet

Season 3 (1965–1966)

Episode # Original Air Date (UK) Episode Title
3-01 23 September1965 You're Not in Any Trouble, Are You?
3-02 30 September1965 The Black Book
3-03 7 October1965 A Very Dangerous Game
3-04 14 October1965 Sting in the Tail
3-05 21 October1965 English Lady Takes Lodgers
3-06 28 October1965 Loyalty Always Pays
3-07 4 November1965 The Mercenaries
3-08 11 November1965 Judgement Day
3-09 18 November1965 The Outcast
3-10 2 December1965 Are You Going to be More Permanent?
3-11 9 December1965 To Our Best Friend
3-12 16 December1965 The Man on the Beach
3-13 23 December1965 Say it with Flowers
3-14 30 December1965 The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
3-15 6 January1966 Someone is Liable to Get Hurt
3-16 13 January1966 Dangerous Secret
3-17 20 January1966 I Can Only Offer You Sherry
3-18 27 January1966 The Hunting Party
3-19 10 March1966 Two Birds with One Bullet
3-20 17 March1966 I'm Afraid You Have the Wrong Number
3-21 24 March1966 The Man with the Foot
3-22 31 March1966 The Paper Chase
3-23 7 April1966 The Not-So-Jolly Roger

Season 4 (1968)

Episode # Original Air Date (UK) Episode Title
4-01 5 January1968 Koroshi
4-02 12 January1968 Shinda Shima

These two episodes were broadcast in the US as a single TV-movie, Koroshi. Originally scheduled to be broadcast in autumn 1966 as part of a longer season, the show's abrupt cancellation, coupled with production and broadcast of The Prisoner, resulted in these final two shows not airing in the UK until early 1968, when they were broadcast concurrently with later episodes of The Prisoner. Some parts of the UK, as well as the US, never saw the episodes in their original form until their DVD release.

Original novels and comic books

First issue of the Gold Key Comics series.

Several original novels based upon Danger Man were published in the UK and US, the majority during 1965-66:

Several of the above novels were translated into French and published in France, where the series was known as Destination Danger. An additional Destination Danger novel by John Long was published in French and not printed in the US or UK.

Although the debate over whether John Drake and Number Six of The Prisoner are the same person has raged on for more than 35 years, the author of at least one officially licensed novel based upon the later series appears to be of the opinion that Drake and The Prisoner are the same man; The Prisoner: Number Two by David McDaniel (also known as Who is Number Two?) identifies the lead character as Drake. The book is not considered canonical with the rest of The Prisoner series, however.

The adventures of John Drake have also been depicted in comic book form from time to time. In 1961, Dell Comics in the US published a one-shot Danger Man comic as part of its long-running Four Color series, based upon the first season format. In 1966, Gold Key Comics published two issues of a Secret Agent comic book based upon the series (this series should not be confused with Secret Agent, an unrelated comic book series published by Charlton Comics in 1967). In Britain, a single Danger Man comic book subtitled "Trouble in Turkey" appeared in the mid-1960s and a number of comic strip adventures appeared in hardcover annuals. French publishers also produced several issues of a Destination Danger comic book in the 1960s.

Trivia

  • Two episodes of Danger Man's third season are linked in an unusual way. The episodes, "You're Not in Any Trouble, Are You?" and "Are You Going to Be More Permanent?" both feature Susan Hampshire as guest star, however playing different characters in each episode. Nevertheless, both episodes seem to echo one another, with similar lines of dialogue and identical props that are emphasized in both episodes (in particular, a doll). Additionally, the characters played by Hampshire are the only ones with whom actual romantic involvement with Drake is implied (one of the episodes ends with Drake and the girl going on holiday together -- something virtually unheard of in this series). These two episodes also feature the song "Mio Amore Sta Lontano," which was used in other episodes as well.
  • An image of a penny farthing bicycle (the symbol used throughout McGoohan's later series, The Prisoner) is visible on the wall of one of Drake's superiors in one of the hour-long episodes.
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