DANGER MAN (UK) / SECRET AGENT (US)

If you're wondering where I got my username from, well, here it is. ;)





John Drake was the first ever action-man spy to hit the screen, working for NATO first and then M9. He was a very chivalrous hero as he never carried a gun, avoided romantic involvement and never used violence unless it was to defend himself. The early 25 min. episodes were enjoyable as they were fast-paced and packed with action. The later 50 min. eps allowed more in the way of plot development as well as more characterisation without sacrificing the need for excitement. There were some amazing fights as well which served as a precursor to Man In A Suitcase.

So was No.6 actually John Drake as George Markstein later claimed? And was Patrick McGoohan's denial more a matter of fighting a possible Ralph Smart IPR claim than anything else?

BTW, Danger Man was renamed Secret Agent in the USA. You might want to include that in the thread title.

Okay.

I think in The Prisoner, No.6 was originally going to be John Drake because I heard there were some filming sheets lying around and they had the working title of "Drake" on them, but as Ralph Smart still had the rights to Danger Man and was not connected with The Prisoner, the name never came up in the series, although in the opening credits when they type those 'x's across the photo, you can tell that photo is of John Drake.

I'll include that US title, too.

JohnDrake wrote:

Okay.

I think in The Prisoner, No.6 was originally going to be John Drake because I heard there were some filming sheets lying around and they had the working title of "Drake" on them, but as Ralph Smart still had the rights to Danger Man and was not connected with The Prisoner, the name never came up in the series, although in the opening credits when they type those 'x's across the photo, you can tell that photo is of John Drake.

I'll include that US title, too.

I heard something similar, must say, liking the cut of your jib with the threads you've opened. :cheers:

the thing with the Prisoner is I never like to refer to him as No.6. He never called himself this, I think the closest was Many Happy Returns when he signs on the shop counter '...No.6?'. I seem to recall seeing a draft of a script where he's simply known as Prisoner.

I've dragged this a little off course. I've only ever seen one Dangerman episode though would like to check the series out proper. I am quite partial to the 'High Wire' theme. Jools Holland did a program about Astley that ended with him playing the theme (I think maybe at Portmerion) and it was to say the least, excellent.