Danger Man

Danger Man (titled Secret Agent in the United States, and Destination Danger and John Drake in other non-UK markets) is a British television series which was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the programme and wrote many of the scripts. Danger Man was financed by Lew Grade's ITC.

Series development
The idea for the Danger Man spy series originated with Ralph Smart, an associate of Lew Grade, the head of ITC. Grade was looking for formats that could be exported.

Ian Fleming was brought in to collaborate on series development, but left before development was complete. Like James Bond, the main character is a globetrotting British (NATO) spy, who cleverly extracts himself from life threatening situations, and introduces himself as "Drake...John Drake."

Fleming was replaced by Ian Stuart Black, and a new format/character initially called "Lone Wolf" was developed. This evolved into Danger Man.

After Patrick McGoohan was cast, he also impacted character development. A key difference from Bond traces to the family oriented star's preferences: no firearms and no seduction of female co-stars.

In the United States, CBS broadcast some of the original format's episodes of the program in 1961 under the Danger Man title as a summer replacement for the Western series Wanted: Dead or Alive. Under the Secret Agent title, the same network aired the entirety of the second and third series in 1965-1966.

Fleming went on to assist in pre-production on the 1964 American series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., as well as the Eon Productions series of James Bond films.

Plotline
From the first series voice-over:

"Every government has its secret service branch. America, CIA; France, Deuxième Bureau; England, MI5. NATO also has its own. A messy job? Well that's when they usually call on me or someone like me. Oh yes, my name is Drake, John Drake."

The line "NATO also has its own" is not always present.

Programme overview
The first series of episodes ran to 24–25 minutes each and portrayed John Drake as working for a Washington, D.C.-based intelligence organization, apparently on behalf of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, whose assignments frequently took him to Africa, Latin America, and the Far East. They were filmed in black and white.

In episode 9, "The Sanctuary", Drake declares he is an Irish-American.

Drake is sometimes at odds with his superiors about the ethics of the missions. Many of Drake's cases involved aiding democracy in foreign countries and he was also called upon to solve murders and crimes affecting the interests of either the U.S. or NATO or both.

For the second series (seasons 2 and 3), which aired several years after the first, the episode's length was increased to 48–49 minutes and Drake underwent retconning. His nationality became British, and he was an agent working for a secret British government department, called M9 (analogous to Secret Intelligence Service), though his Mid-Atlantic English accent persists for the first few episodes in production. These were also filmed in black and white.

Other than the largely nominal change of employer and nationality, Drake's mandate remains the same: "to undertake missions involving national and global security". In keeping with the episodic format of such series in the 1960s, there are no ongoing story arcs and there is no reference made to Drake's NATO adventures in the later M9 episodes.

Pilot episode
The pilot was written by Brian Clemens, who later co-created The Avengers. In an interview Clemens said:

The pilot I wrote was called "View from the Villa" and it was set in Italy, but the production manager set the shoot on location in Portmeirion, which looked like Italy but which was much closer. And obviously the location stuck in Patrick McGoohan's mind, because that's where he shot his television series The Prisoner much later.

The second unit director on the pilot, according to Clemens:

... shot some location and background stuff and sent the dailies back to the editing room at Elstree. Ralph Smart looked at them, hated them, and called up the second unit director and said "Look, these are terrible, you'll never be a film director," and then he fired him. The name of the second unit director? John Schlesinger.

Cancellation and resurrection
The series succeeded in Europe, making McGoohan famous. However, when American financing for a second season failed, the program was cancelled. The first season of the series aired on CBS from 5 April to 13 September 1961. A DVD release of the first season by A&E Home Video in 2000, erroneously states on its box that these episodes were never broadcast in the US.

After a two-year hiatus, two things had changed; Danger Man had subsequently been resold all around the world, whilst repeat showings had created a public clamour for new shows. Also, by this time James Bond had become popular, as had ABC's The Avengers. Danger Man's creator, Ralph Smart, re-thought the concept; the second series' (1964) episodes were 49 minutes long and had a new musical theme, "Highwire". Drake gained an English accent and did not clash with his bosses at first. The revived Danger Man was finally broadcast in the U.S., it was now re-titled Secret Agent, and first shown as a CBS summer replacement program, given the theme song "Secret Agent Man", sung by Johnny Rivers, which became a success in its own right. In other parts of the world, the show was titled Destination Danger or John Drake.

The fourth season consists of only two episodes, "Koroshi" and "Shinda Shima", the only two episodes of Danger Man to be filmed in colour. These two separate but related episodes were recut together as a feature for cinemas in Europe, as done with two-parters from other ITC series such as The Baron and The Saint. Whilst "Koroshi" retains a strong plot-line and sharp characterizations, "Shinda Shima" drew heavily on contemporary Bond movies, principally Dr. No. When the episodes were completed, McGoohan announced he was resigning from the series to create, produce, and star in a project titled The Prisoner, with David Tomblin as co-producer and George Markstein as script editor. Markstein was then the Danger Man script consultant. A number of behind-the-scenes personnel on Danger Man were subsequently hired for The Prisoner.

The two colour episodes aired (in black and white) in the UK in the time slot of The Prisoner, which had fallen behind schedule and could not make its airdates. The European cinema film feature version, Koroshi, did not receive theatrical release in the US but instead aired on network television as a TV movie in 1968.

Character of 'Drake'
Unlike the James Bond films, Danger Man strove for realism, dramatising credible Cold War tensions. In the second series, Drake is an undercover agent of the British external intelligence agency. As in the earlier series, Drake finds himself in danger with not always happy outcomes; sometimes duty forces him to decisions which lead to good people suffering unfair consequences. Drake doesn't always do what his masters tell him.

Drake is rarely armed, though he engaged in fist fights, and the gadgets he uses are generally credible. In one episode (To Our Best Friend), Drake says; 'I never carry a gun. They're noisy, and they hurt people. Besides, I manage very well without.'

Agent Drake uses his intelligence, charm and quick thinking rather than force. He usually plays a role to infiltrate a situation, for example to 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 disc jockey, precise clerk, compulsive gambler, or impeccable butler.

Unlike James Bond, Drake is often shown re-using gadgets from previous episodes. Among the more frequently seen are a small spy camera hidden in a cigarette lighter and activated by flicking the lighter, a miniature reel-to-reel tape recorder hidden inside the head of an electric shaver or a pack of cigarettes, and a microphone which could be embedded in a wall near the target via a shotgun-like apparatus, that used soda siphon cartridges containing CO2 as the propellant, allowing Drake to eavesdrop on conversations from a safe distance.

As Drake gets involved in a case, things are rarely as they seem. He is not infallible — he gets arrested, he makes mistakes, equipment fails, careful plans do not work; Drake often has to improvise an alternative plan. Sometimes investigation fails and he simply does something provocative to crack open the case. People he trusts can turn out to be untrustworthy or incompetent; he finds unexpected allies.

John Drake, unlike Bond, never romanced 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 viewers are left to assume whatever they want about Drake's personal life. McGoohan denounced the sexual promiscuity of James Bond and The Saint, roles he had rejected, although he had played romantic roles before Danger Man.

The only exceptions to this rule were the two "linked" episodes of the series, "You're Not in Any Trouble, Are You?" and "Are You Going to be More Permanent?", in which Drake encounters two different women - both played by Susan Hampshire - and which contain numerous similarities in dialogue and set-pieces and both end with Drake in a pseudo-romantic circumstance with the Hampshire character.

Drake was also shown falling for the female lead in the episode "The Black Book" though nothing comes of it; this episode is also one of the only scripts to directly address Drake's loneliness in his chosen profession.

John Drake was not blind to the attraction of the opposite sex, often commenting on the prettiness of his latest associate. The implication is that it is impractical for him to launch any liaison. It was also the fact that many times the women in the show turned out to be femmes fatales, and heavily involved in the very plots Drake is fighting.

Although the villains are often killed, Drake himself rarely kills. An examination of all episodes indicates that, in the entire series, he only shoots one person dead, in one of the last half-hour episodes from the 1960 season.

While another shooting occurs in "The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove", it is revealed to be a dream.

Drake's uses of non-firearm deadly force during the series number less than a dozen. Yet The Encyclopedia of 20th-Century American Television by Ron Lackmann incorrectly claims Danger Man was one of the most violent series ever produced. Drake is almost never shown armed with a gun, and the episode "Time to Kill" centres on Drake's hesitancy and initial refusal to take an assassination mission (events transpire to prevent Drake from having to carry the task out).

Co-stars and guest stars
In the second series, Drake displays an increased attitude towards his superiors at M9, first answering unwillingly to "Gorton" (Raymond Adamson) and later to "The Admiral" or Hobbs (Peter Madden), a sinister superior officer sometimes seen fiddling with a knife-like letter opener. This interaction with disagreeable London-based superiors was phased out over the course of the 50-minute series, a clever ploy that reduced plot explanations early on to leave more mystery with the viewer. In the first half-hour series he had an equally edgy, but more good-humoured relationship with his superior "Hardy", as played by Richard Wattis.

Most episodes had roles for guest stars such as Howard Marion Crawford, Donald Houston, Maurice Denham, Joan Greenwood, John Le Mesurier, Sylvia Syms and Burt Kwouk.

Episode list
Episodes were usually not aired in production order. Broadcast order varied widely between the UK and US. In fact, CBS, the US broadcaster, used it only as a summer replacement for Wanted: Dead or Alive and did not air even half of the run.

Although aired over the course of 18 months, the first 39 episodes are considered one series.

Series 1 (1960–1962)
Broadcast as Danger Man in the UK and US.

Airdate is for ATV London ITV regions varied date and order.

Series 2 (1964–1965)
Series 2 and 3 were broadcast as Danger Man in the UK and Secret Agent in the US. Airdate is for ATV Midlands,. ITV regions varied date and order.

Series 3 (1965–1966)
Some books list episodes 3-1 to 3–10 as part of series 2 due to change of studio from 3–11. Airdates are again as for ATV Midlands.

{| class="wikitable sortable" !Episode No. !Prod No. !Title !Directed by !Written by !Original airdate UK }}
 * 01
 * 067
 * The Black Book
 * September 30, 1965
 * Philip Broadley
 * Michael Truman
 * A British Embassy official is being blackmailed and Drake is sent to expose the blackmailers and eliminate their hold over the official. The trail leads to a black book of western blackmail targets.
 * 02
 * 066
 * A Very Dangerous Game
 * October 7, 1965
 * Ralph Smart and David Stone
 * Don Chaffey
 * Drake takes the place of a defector in a plan to infiltrate Chinese Intelligence.
 * 03
 * 065
 * Sting in the Tail
 * October 14, 1965
 * Philip Broadley
 * Peter Yates
 * Drake provokes the jealously of a political assassin, wanted by the Parisian police, to leave the safety of Beirut.
 * 04
 * 062
 * You Are Not in Any Trouble, Are You?
 * October 21, 1965
 * Philip Broadley
 * Don Chaffey
 * In order to infiltrate a murder organisation Drake commissions his own murder.
 * 05
 * 070
 * Loyalty Always Pays
 * October 28, 1965
 * David Stone
 * Peter Yates
 * The last message from an M9 agent in Africa reveals that China is about to gain a foothold in a country where Britain has financial interests. Drake is sent to discredit the Chinese.
 * 06
 * 064
 * The Mercenaries
 * November 4, 1965
 * Ralph Smart
 * Don Chaffey
 * Drake has the job, following a murdered M9 agent, of infiltrating a group of mercenaries that are planning to depose an African leader.
 * 07
 * 068
 * Judgement Day
 * November 11, 1965
 * Donald Jonson story by Michael J. Bird
 * Don Chaffey
 * Drake sent to the Middle East to bring back a German scientist accused of war crimes has to defend him against Israeli agents wanting their own brand of justice.
 * 08
 * 063
 * The Outcast
 * November 18, 1965
 * Donald Jonson
 * Michael Truman
 * When a Wren is murdered carrying secret papers and her missing boyfriend is the chief suspect, Drake follows and befriends him in search of the truth.
 * 09
 * 069
 * English Lady Takes Lodgers
 * November 25, 1965
 * David Stone
 * Michael Truman
 * Drake investigates an agency in Lisbon dealing in stolen secrets and comes across a boarding house landlady dealing in stolen passports.
 * 10
 * 071
 * Are You Going to be More Permanent?
 * December 2, 1965
 * Philip Broadley
 * Don Chaffey
 * When M9 controllers mysteriously disappear in Geneva and a traitor is identified as one of three persons, Drake takes up the position of the new controller.
 * 11
 * 072
 * To Our Best Friend
 * December 9, 1965
 * Ralph Smart
 * Patrick McGoohan
 * Drake finds himself assigned to find out if a colleague is a double agent. Unfortunately for him, that colleague is also his best friend.
 * 12
 * 073
 * The Man on the Beach
 * December 16, 1965
 * Philip Broadley
 * Peter Yates
 * Drake is sent to Jamaica to identify an M9 double agent operating from a luxury hotel but who spends his time drinking and lying on the beach much to his superiors' annoyance.
 * 13
 * 075
 * Say It with Flowers
 * December 23, 1965
 * Jacques Gillies
 * Peter Yates
 * When money is drawn from the account of a dead freelance agent, Drake is sent to the clinic in Switzerland where the man had died three months previously.
 * 14
 * 074
 * The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
 * December 30, 1965
 * Donald Jonson and Ralph Smart
 * Michael Truman
 * When the M9 regional controller is captured in Bulgaria, Drake must effect a rescue before he talks under torture.
 * 15
 * 076
 * Someone is Liable to Get Hurt
 * January 6, 1966
 * Philip Broadley
 * Michael Truman
 * A Caribbean country's elections are threatened by an impending arms deal, but the local M9 agent has disappeared. Drake is sent to investigate.
 * 16
 * 077
 * Dangerous Secret
 * January 13, 1966
 * Ralph Smart and Donald Jonson
 * Stuart Burge
 * A leading pacifist scientist creates a lethal virus and not trusting the government flees to France pursued by Drake and other interested parties wanting the virus.
 * 17
 * 078
 * I Can Only Offer You Sherry
 * January 20, 1966
 * Ralph Smart
 * George Pollock
 * A leak from a British embassy in the middle east leads Drake to an unassuming secretary and, posing as a journalist, he befriends her.
 * 18
 * 079
 * The Hunting Party
 * January 27, 1966
 * Philip Broadley
 * Pat Jackson
 * Drake poses as a butler to a man, and his domineering wealthy wife, suspected of leaking information to the newspapers. But how does he do it?
 * 19
 * 080
 * Two Birds with One Bullet
 * March 10, 1966
 * Jesse Lasky and Pat Silver
 * Peter Yates
 * At a forthcoming Caribbean election in a British colony, M9 learn one of the parties plan to kill their own candidate to discredit the British. Drake has to protect the potential victim.
 * 20
 * 081
 * I'm Afraid You Have the Wrong Number
 * March 17, 1966
 * Ralph Smart
 * George Pollock
 * A British spymaster is kidnapped by enemy counterintelligence agents in Geneva. Drake has to find him and spring him before he talks and betrays the ring he has created in the enemy's embassy.
 * 21
 * 082
 * The Man With the Foot
 * March 24, 1966
 * Raymond Bowers
 * Jeremy Summers
 * Drake is sent on extended holiday when his cover is blown but he is pursued by another agent.
 * 22
 * 083
 * The Paper Chase
 * March 31, 1966
 * Philip Broadley and Ralph Smart
 * Patrick McGoohan
 * Confidential papers are stolen from an embassy official in Rome. Drake is sent to recover them.
 * 23
 * 084
 * Not So Jolly Roger
 * April 7, 1966
 * Tony Williamson
 * Don Chaffey
 * A wartime offshore sea fort being used as a pirate radio station is transmitting secrets to an enemy submarine. One agent has already been murdered on the fort.  Drake has to find out how the transmissions are being done and find the culprit amongst the crew.
 * 21
 * 082
 * The Man With the Foot
 * March 24, 1966
 * Raymond Bowers
 * Jeremy Summers
 * Drake is sent on extended holiday when his cover is blown but he is pursued by another agent.
 * 22
 * 083
 * The Paper Chase
 * March 31, 1966
 * Philip Broadley and Ralph Smart
 * Patrick McGoohan
 * Confidential papers are stolen from an embassy official in Rome. Drake is sent to recover them.
 * 23
 * 084
 * Not So Jolly Roger
 * April 7, 1966
 * Tony Williamson
 * Don Chaffey
 * A wartime offshore sea fort being used as a pirate radio station is transmitting secrets to an enemy submarine. One agent has already been murdered on the fort.  Drake has to find out how the transmissions are being done and find the culprit amongst the crew.
 * Don Chaffey
 * A wartime offshore sea fort being used as a pirate radio station is transmitting secrets to an enemy submarine. One agent has already been murdered on the fort.  Drake has to find out how the transmissions are being done and find the culprit amongst the crew.

Series 4 (1968)
Airdates are for ATV Midlands. ATV London broadcast on 19 February and 26 February 1967 respectively.

These two episodes, which were shot in colour, were broadcast in the US as the European cinema movie version, Koroshi. The show's abrupt cancellation, to make way for production and broadcast of star Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner, resulted in these final two shows airing in the UK early in 1968, when they were broadcast as fill-in episodes for The Prisoner which had fallen behind the scheduled UK transmission dates, replacing advertised Prisoner episodes that were not yet ready for broadcast. They were originally intended to be broadcast after the finale of The Prisoner in the UK. Some parts of the UK, as well as the US, never saw the episodes in their original form until their DVD release.

Theme

 * Series 1 The Danger Man Theme, composed by Edwin Astley
 * Series 2–4 High Wire, composed by Edwin Astley
 * Series 2–4 in the US as Secret Agent, "Secret Agent Man", theme composed by P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri, and recorded by Johnny Rivers.
 * Incidental music throughout all four series by Edwin Astley

The second "Danger Man" theme, "High Wire," developed during series 2-4. The original version features a subdued rhythm section with almost inaudible drums. This was replaced with a revised version with drums and bass pushed to the fore in the mix. The end credits theme tune was set to end in the same manner as the opening theme, ending on the held, questioning, lower "E". The two-note coda was added soon afterwards to make a definite ending. An audio clip from the recording session this comes from can be heard as an extra on the final disk of the DVD set from Network DVD. The revised theme featured this as a normal end to the tune. As series 4 was to be made in colour for the first time, a completely new arrangement was recorded which owed much to the arrangement on Astley's full-length version of "High Wire" (released on single the previous year - see below). The feature film "Koroshi" was created from the only two episodes made for series 4, "Koroshi" and "Shinda Shima", and uses this new arrangement over the closing titles only.

Singles

 * 1961 - Theme from Danger Man, the "Red Price Combo" (main theme used in the 1st Series) - Parlophone 45 R 4789
 * 1964 - Danger Man "High Wire", the "Bob Leaper Orchestra" (alternative main theme, not used in any episodes. Features electric piano) - PYE 7N 15700
 * 1965 - Danger Man "High Wire", the "Edwin Astley Orchestra" (not used in series, arrangement influenced series 4 theme arrangement) - RCA 1492
 * 1965 - Danger Man "High Wire", the "Ivor Slaney Orchestra" (alternative arrangement, not used in any episodes) - HMV POP 1347

Program Ident
The original opening ID changed as the series progressed. The first series had McGoohan leaving a building and getting into a convertible under the opening narration reproduced earlier, and driving off.

The earlier of the two sequences for the hour-long series features a photograph of a benevolently-smiling McGoohan zooms partly out towards the right of the frame, then stops, adding the legend "Patrick McGoohan as". The three-ringed 'target' revolves round in time to the three-note orchestra hits to obscure McGoohan's photo as it reveals the programme logo on a pure black background.

The second version was in two segments. The first segment is filmed, comprising a full-length McGoohan in stark negative, menacingly taking a few paces towards the camera, then stops. In quick succession, the camera zooms-in fast onto his eyes, freeze-frames, then switches from negative to positive. The legend "Patrick McGoohan as" is added. This then switches to a different photo with McGoohan looking left out of picture. The familiar three-ringed 'target' then reveals the programme logo on a pure black background as before. The music was re-recorded for this version of the ident and lasted for the rest of the programme's run.

Transition to The Prisoner
McGoohan resigned from the series, forcing its cancellation. He created a new project titled The Prisoner, with David Tomblin as co-producer and George Markstein as script editor. Markstein was then the Danger Man script consultant. A number of behind-the-scenes personnel on Danger Man were subsequently hired for The Prisoner. An unused, fourth-series script was reworked as an episode of The Champions

Secret agent John Drake and Prisoner Number Six
Prisoner fans frequently debate whether John Drake of Danger Man and Number Six in The Prisoner are the same person. Like John Drake, Number Six is evidently a secret agent, but one who has resigned from his job.

According to The Prisoner: The Official Companion by Robert Fairclough, the Prisoner episode "The Girl Who Was Death (1968 episode)" was based upon a two-part Danger Man script that had been planned for the fourth series. In this surreal episode, Number Six meets "Potter", John Drake's Danger Man contact. Christopher Benjamin portrayed the character in both series. As well as guest-starring in this show, Paul Eddington played another spy and No.6's former colleague, Cobb, in the opening episode of the latter show.

The first Danger Man season includes four episodes which use footage filmed in the Welsh resort of Portmeirion, which later became the primary shooting location of the Village in The Prisoner. Further inspiration came from a Danger Man episode called "Colony Three", in which Drake infiltrates a spy school in Eastern Europe during the Cold War. The school, in the middle of nowhere, is set up to look like a normal English town in which pupils and instructors mix as in any other normal city, but the instructors are virtual prisoners with little hope of ever leaving. It is often thought this episode was a precursor to The Prisoner; it was filmed in the new town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

Even reference books conflict on The Prisoner as a Danger Man continuation. Vincent Terrace's The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs 1947–1979 postulates that John Drake's resignation reason is revealed in the "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling (1967 episode)" episode, which is a follow-up to a mission assigned to Number Six before he was sent to The Village. Richard Meyers makes the same claim in his 1981 book, TV Detectives. He further states that this connects directly to "an episode of Secret Agent never shown in this country [i.e. the United States] with John Drake investigating the story of a brain transferral device in Europe", but no such episode of Danger Man was ever made. McGoohan stated in a 1985 interview that the two characters were not the same, and that he had originally wanted a different actor to play the role of Number Six.

John Draje
John Drake, a fictional character, was the debonair and duty-bound secret agent played by Patrick McGoohan in the British television series Danger Man (1960–1962, 1964–1966) (known in the US as Secret Agent). Unlike James Bond, he never carried a gun, rarely used far-fetched gadgets, never got the girl, and rarely killed anyone on screen.

Drake's background was never explored in detail in the series, and also appeared to undergo an amount of retconning involving his nationality. In the first Danger Man series (1960–61), Drake speaks with a slightly exaggerated American accent (commonly referred to as a 'mid-Atlantic' accent), and is described as being an Irish American. In this series he's an operative working for a branch of NATO. In the second series (1964–66), Drake speaks with a less pronounced accent that is more British with Irish undertones which was McGoohan's natural accent. In this later version, he works for a fictional British secret service branch called M9; no further reference is made to him being American. He is now said to be British, except in one episode in which he identifies himself as being Irish. In both versions of the series, Drake is depicted as something of a lone wolf and a maverick. In one early episode he initially refuses a mission that requires him to assassinate a man; he reluctantly takes the mission and is visibly upset when his target is accidentally shot during a struggle. Other episodes (particularly during the later series) have him clashing with his superiors, or at least strongly disagreeing with their methods. In the history of the series, Drake is shown only once intentionally shooting anyone to death, and then only in self-defence. (He is shown shooting people on another occasion, but only during a dream sequence; the aforementioned early episode shooting is depicted as being unintended). Drake was not opposed to using lethal force when absolutely necessary, however, and on rare occasions did kill villains using other methods (throwing off a train, causing the collision of two airplanes, etc.).

Drake is most often shown working alone, having received his orders from unidentified officials (or sometimes stumbling upon a case by himself). During the 1960 - '62 series, he is shown occasionally answering to a British superior named Hardy and in one episode Drake's Washington, DC office is shown and it's learned that he has a secretary. The first season of the '64 - '66 series sees Drake receiving orders from Hobbs, a somewhat cold M9 official who is always seen fiddling with a letter opener. In the following season his superior is a former brigadier, Gorton. During the final full season, Drake is on his own, except for one episode in which he takes orders from an M-like character played by Bernard Lee who played M in the James Bond films. In one episode of the third series, viewers are introduced to a group of M9 technicians who support Drake's missions, including a Q-like gadget man and a wardrobe supervisor.

Drake is almost never shown becoming romantically involved with his leading ladies. This was a requirement put in place by McGoohan who didn't want Drake to become a clone of James Bond in that respect. McGoohan allowed a couple of exceptions (particularly in two episodes guest starring Susan Hampshire, both of which imply Drake and the two different characters played by Hampshire continue a relationship "off camera") and there is a considerable amount of sexual tension present in other episodes. In "The Black Book", an episode in which Drake becomes attracted to a young woman involved in a spy ring, it's learned that Drake cannot allow himself to become involved with anyone due to his line of work; this is graphically illustrated in the American version of the opening credits which depict a female form being separated from Drake by a set of bars.

It is a common belief among McGoohan's fans that the character of Number Six in The Prisoner, the show that McGoohan did after Danger Man, was meant to be Drake; McGoohan denied this but his co-creator of The Prisoner, George Markstein, claimed otherwise. The debate over the identity of Number Six stems from references in dialogue to the character being a former agent, the appearance of "Potter", a character from the final season of Danger Man, and the fact one episode ("The Girl Who Was Death") was based upon a script originally written for Danger Man. Making matters even more complex is the reference to Number Six as "Drake" in some of the officially-licensed novels based upon the series, such as Number Two (1969) by David McDaniel which identifies Number Six by the name Drake in the very first line of the book.

Pop culture references
Danger Man has remained part of pop culture consciousness. Author Stephen King alludes to John Drake's cool in his novel The Shining. The band Tears for Fears refer to the character in their song "Swords and Knives", and Dead Can Dance titled one of the songs on their Into the Labyrinth album "The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove" after a Danger Man episode, although the content of the song has no apparent relationship to the episode.

The American theme song has appeared in countless movies and TV shows, including during the climax of the first Austin Powers movie, and was covered by Devo.

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.

The British animated series Danger Mouse was largely inspired by Danger Man and is a broad parody of both this series and secret agent films and television in general.

DVD releases
All four series are now available on DVD in Europe, Australasia and North America.

In Britain, Network DVD released a 13-disc "Special Edition" boxed set of the one-hour shows in June 2007. Extra features include the edited-together movie version of "Koroshi" and "Shinda Shima", the US Secret Agent opening and closing titles, image galleries for each episode, and a specially written 170-page book on the making of the one-hour series. Umbrella Entertainment has released the 24-minute series on DVD in Australia; the 49-minute series has been released by Madman.

Network DVD released the 1st (24 min) series in January 2010 on a 6 disc set with a commemorative booklet by Andrew Pixley. The Carlton 6 disc set is out of issue.

In North America, the three series 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 (including the original theme by the Edwin Astley Orchestra), the first time these have been seen in the U.S., with the US "Secret Agent" credits included as an extra feature. The first series of half-hour episodes was issued by A&E sometime later as Danger Man. A&E subsequently released a single-set "megabox" containing all of the one-hour episodes; a revised megabox, released in 2007, added the half-hour episodes, and was released again in a modified slimline package in 2010.

On December 9, 2014, Timeless Media Group re-released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 in a 17-disc set entitled Secret Agent (Danger Man)- The Complete Series.

Production notes
The Washington title sequence of the first Series 24-minute episodes is a composite of the United States Capitol in the background and the Castrol Building, complete with London Bus stop, in the Marylebone Road, London as the foreground. This building is now Marathon House converted from offices to flats in 1998.

In reality, no such building is allowed to exist in Washington, D.C., as the Height of Buildings Act of 1910 limits the heights of building (except churches) to 130 feet, thus giving the United States Capitol building, at 289 feet, an unobstructed view from any part of the city. (This has led to the popular belief that buildings in Washington, D.C. are restricted to the height of the U.S. Capitol building.)

Original novels and comic books
Several original novels based upon Danger Man were published in the UK and US, the majority during 1965 and 1966.
 * Target for Tonight – Richard Telfair, 1962 (published in US only)
 * Departure Deferred – W. Howard Baker, 1965
 * Storm Over Rockall – W. Howard Baker, 1965
 * Hell for Tomorrow – Peter Leslie, 1965
 * The Exterminator – W.A. Balinger [W. Howard Baker], 1966
 * No Way Out – Wilfred McNeilly, 1966

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.

The adventures of John Drake have also been depicted in comic book form. 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 series format. It depicted Drake as having red hair, a trait shared with Patrick McGoohan, but which was unseen as Danger Man had been made only in monochrome at that time. 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, formerly titled Sarge Steel). 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 hardback annuals. French publishers also produced several issues of a Destination Danger comic book in the 1960s, although their Drake was blond. Spanish publishers produced a series titled 'Agent Secreto'. The Germans were particularly prolific, using 'John Drake' and a picture of McGoohan, as the cover for hundreds of "krimi" magazines.

Australia
The Australian rights are held by the Nine Network who, over many decades, have shown numerous repeats in non-peak viewing times. Since 2012 there have been numerous showings in the early hours of the morning on Gem, a Nine Network digital outlet, sometimes twice per morning. The Danger Man repeats alternate with re-screenings of another British series Gideon's Way, and of the Canadian program Seaway.