Destination danger

This show never laughs at itself (setting it apart from most of the James Bond and follow-on genre shows). Instead, it projects the inimitable Patrick McGoohan as a consistently efficacious hero: fast-thinking, innovative, ultra-capable, tenaciously-focused on the mission, yet when achieving the mission is not enough, he's able to think outside the box, to re-define his goals and achieve success in a wider context.

For a little boy starving to see a hero on television, "Danger Man" (and the subsequent "Secret Agent Man") was just what I needed. A hundred times over the years, facing my own moments of challenge, I remembered how John Drake had handled things. Nevermind the detail of his job being a "secret agent," the essential of this show is: a man of quintessential skill and reason who uses his mind to take him over, under, around or through all obstacles -- and *that* is what you take away from every episode.

It's food for the soul.

I agree 100% with the previous comments. A nice departure for this series was that the hero wasn't forever slobbering over women - in fact Drake remained impervious to their charms - a sort of 1960s Sherlock Holmes - without an Irene Adler!. Only 2 episodes were made in colour, and these were to form part of the 1967 series, but after the two episodes were filmed PMcG wanted to drop the series and make 'The Prisoner' which is another story. It is probably because they are in black and white that domestic UK TV has not rebroadcast these stories, but the UK satellite channel Granada Plus has the rights to the ITC catalogue, which made Danger Man, but they seem reluctant to repeat B/W adventure series, though they do repeat B/W comedy shows like the earlier series of 'On The Buses' and 'Nearest and Dearest' etc. Perhaps if enough people contacted them they might think again?.

At least one videotape is available commercially of Danger Man, I have seen it recently in a store in London, as there are 4 episodes on one tape I assume that these are from the 1960 series, when the stories ran for 30 minutes. In the early days of Channel 4 (1982) they rebroadcast all 39 episodes of the original series twice a week.

'Secret Agent' was the series that preceded Patrick McGoohan's 'The Prisoner'. Having seen 'Secret Agent' for the first time makes you understand 'The Prisoner' much more. The agent that resigned in 'The Prisoner' is probably John Drake of 'Secret Agent'. It was a brilliant espionage TV series with many ideas that were later seen in the 'James Bond' movies and 'Mission Impossible'. It was brilliantly written and played and although most of the episodes are in black and white, it doesn't make much difference as long as it is so fascinating and reliable. It really stands the test of time. Every episode is different than the other but they all involve spy games. The quality of the series exceeds anything we see today. So Patrick, why did you resign?

Believe it or not, I did not see any of this programme until 1992-93. It was shown one per night on CBC-Windsor at difficult to establish late hours. In spite of the inconvenience, I made it my business to see as many as possible; my first was when Drake had a car crash, blacking out . . . and you will just have to see it.

It was well cast with well-crafted supporting characters. I had no idea it was the progeny of an earlier show about a NATO operative, a few episodes of which I saw in 1961 (and none since). One notes comment that SECRET AGENT was inspired by the 007 films, which is beyond dispute, but I respectfully disagree that it was as "gadgety" as the Bond films, and furthermore it was devoid of the latent camp. Exception: "Would You Like Some Wine" (if memory serves). Perhaps it was the b.&w. presentation that made it more -- pardon the cliche -- gritty.

Most of the episodes were good. It seems some of the later ones (did the series run into 1967?) were the weakest: Far-fetched and in a few cases ridiculous without being tongue-in-cheek. I cannot say whether SECRET AGENT came to an end because it ran out of petrol or because the more ambitious THE PRISONER was on the drawing boards. All said, I agree that one should make every attempt to see the series, and no, being period piece does not distract for those able to make a mature adjustment to such.

This spy drama was in the mold of the first '007' movie, "DR. No". A crossover from the paranoid deep cover spy of the 50's to the gadget and spoof of the 60's. And to top it off, Patrick McGoohan, as the secret agent, was terrific. Cool, low keyed, sharp as a tack, traveling to different ports of call. Plots were generally good. Unfortunately, due to its mature nature and age, chances of it being televised grows less year by year...Alas poor Yorick. If you do gain access to these episodes, go for it. You won't be disappointed.