Let's be frank – while a haze of nostalgia may hover over many ‘classic’ British crime and thriller series, most of them were formulaic and uninspired: viewed today, such shows as The Saint and The Persuaders have little to offer beyond foggy memories. But there’s an exception to this rule: Patrick McGoohan’s proto-Bond series Danger Man, which enjoyed a healthy run as both half-hour and hour shows, before metamorphosing into the cult series The Prisoner.
The 30-minute shows were a real treat – while no one could claim that these earlier episodes (in which McGoohan was forced to sport a mid-Atlantic accent for American sales, subsequently dropped for the hour-long episodes) have the richness and sophistication of the subsequent extended shows, these are all highly accomplished, fast-moving mini-dramas, with a wealth of British acting and directing talent making an early mark (Bond director John Glen, for instance, demonstrates his editing skills before his groundbreaking 007 stint).
McGoohan is always impressive: stern, sexually attractive to women, but always maintaining a monk-like celibacy. The opening strapline was memorable: ‘Every government has its secret service branch. America its CIA, France Deuxième Bureau, England MI5. A messy job? Well, that’s when they usually call on me. Or someone like me. Oh yes, my name is Drake, John Drake.’
Patrick McGoohan, a maverick talent and prickly man who never quite achieved the Hollywood stardom that appeared to be his due (possibly because of his unbending moral code – the very code that made him turn down the libertine role of 007) – appeared, with distinction, in such films as Time to Kill and Braveheart. And while the enigmatic The Prisoner remains his magnum opus (as co-creator and actor), this brisk and effective series wears very well.
The first episode of series one was broadcast in Britain on 11 September 1960. Each episode began with Special Agent John Drake walking from a Washington Federal Building (although the series was nearly always filmed in Britain), lighting a cigarette and then ducking across the streets to his white sports car. The viewer is then presented with economically written, pared-to-the-bone espionage dramas, often written by series creator Ralph Smart.
But it is the subsequent hour-long episodes on which the show’s reputation rests. These are much more rewarding, with none of the rushed feeling which inevitably resulted from such brief time slots. Now the team (utilising many of the same personnel and directors, with such luminaries as Don Chaffey providing some of the best shows) had a chance to layer in an extra dimension of characterisation and plotting, with McGoohan now able to exercise his acting chops. The new dimension, frequently and profitably explored, was Drake’s disgust with some of the jobs he was obliged to undertake – the expedient betrayal of old friends by Drake was a recurrent theme, always explored in a non-clichéd fashion, and McGoohan and his writers generally gave extended opportunities to some of the finest British acting talent available at the time – there are some first-rate performances threaded throughout the series. While McGoohan/Drake’s avoidance of guns looks positively suicidal at times, the bouts of action are kinetically handled, with the engendering of suspense always a priority. Drake’s sexual abstinence, while more persuasive than Bond’s libidinousness, sometimes seems cruel when he leads on lonely or damaged women with the promise of a relationship with this attractive man, only for him to priggishly stop short at the bedroom door.
As the series progressed, hints of the paranoia and surrealism of the subsequent The Prisoner - which McGoohan pitched to Lew Grade as a successor to Danger Man - make fascinating appearances (as in the episode 'The ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove'), but leaving that aside, Danger Man remains quite simply, the most sophisticated and intelligent adventure series ever made for television.
A huge success for ITC in the 1960s, Danger Man originally started as a half-hour series before hitting its stride with a transition to the fifty minute format. The action adventure drama charts the exploits of John Drake (Patrick MacGoohan – The Prisoner) an exemplary agent for British Intelligence who is sent into situations too tricky or dangerous for normal spies to undertake. McGoohan’s simmering, compelling performance catapulted him into movies and paved the way for his undeniable tour de force – The Prisoner.
Danger Man features captivating stories from top writers such as Ralph Smart, Donald Jonson, Philip Broadley and Tony Williamson, complemented by smooth direction from stalwarts of the filmed action series genre such as Charles Crichton, Michael Truman and even McGoohan himself. Showcasing all the hallmarks of the very best filmed ITC series, Danger Man features exceptional performances from guest stars such as Ian Hendry, Dawn Addams, Virginia Maskell, Warren Mitchell, Sylvia Syms, Glyn Owen and Donald Houston.
