History Series / Dangerman

* BuccaneerBroadcaster: In "Not So Jolly Roger", Drake poses as a DJ at a pirate radio station on a WorldWarII vintage offshore anti-aircraft fort, whose broadcast activities are the cover for anti-British espionage. Some location footage was actually shot on and around a real fort that was being used by Radio 390[[note]]1965-7; broadcasting on 773kHz AM, or approximtely 390 metres[[/note]], including one of [=McGoohan=] being winched up to one of the fort's towers. Other scenes were mocked up in the studio using location photos as backdrops.

* [[CaliforniaDoubling Wales Doubling]]

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Drake, not infrequently takes on this trope when the higher-ups are indifferent towards the fate of someone on their own side, would rather kill to be safe rather than sorry, or don't care about what the casualties will be.

[[caption-width-right:200: They've given him a number. [[Series/ThePrisoner He will be angry later on.]]]]

* TheCharmer: Drake has a switch for it, and when he turns it on, just about anyone who's not GenreSavvy melts before his charming smile and suave, witty banter (which is to say it works on ordinary people or the newbie to the spy game).

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: John Drake doesn't carry a gun and he ''never'' shoots anyone to death (we don't count a [[spoiler: dream sequence/hallucination]] episode). The only exception was in one of the early 1960-61 series episodes. He used deadly force on rare occasion thereafter and trained guns on people to make them surrender, to be sure, but he never put a bullet into another (real) person.

* DownerEnding: Regularly, especially in the third season.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The first season was hardly a happyfest, but the second was way more depressing.

* DownerEnding: Regularly.

* NoHuggingNoKissing: Drake does not get involved with women, period. He flirts with them, and they clearly find him attractive, but he is never shown romancing them. One episode, "The Black Book", has him attracted to a young woman, but he [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies explains why he cannot get involved.]] The closest Drake comes is in two episodes guest starring Susan Hampshire (playing different, but similar characters in each), one of which ends with Drake and Hampshire's character leaving on a romantic rendezvous.

* RetCon: Drake becomes a British agent in the later seasons, after having been an Irish-American NATO agent in the first.

Not to be confused with ''Series/SecretAgentMan'', a short-lived spy show that aired on UPN in 2000 that used the same theme song as the US version of ''Secret Agent'' but otherwise had no connection to the [=McGoohan=] series. (Some reference books and websites erroneously label it a remake.)

* ValuesResonance: "The Galloping Major", which is about an emerging democracy in Africa. (Describing it as FairForItsDay would be damning it with faint praise.)

* EverybodySmokes: Even by early 1960s standards, ''Danger Man'' had loads of smoking. Made more apparent when compared to the virtually smoke-free ''The Avengers'' (at least later seasons) or even ''The Prisoner'' where cigarettes are rarely seen.
** Furthermore, SmokingIsCool
* FakeNationality: [=McGoohan=] affects an American accent in the first season. The result is a bit odd.
** Made more bizarre by the fact the actor was in fact born in Queens.

* BreakawayPopHit: The international version has the theme "Secret Agent Man" as performed by Johnny Rivers. UK viewers never actually saw the US version of the opening credits until they were included as a bonus item on the DVD releases. For the UK, the show's real theme song is the harpsichord-driven "High Wire" played over the first post-teaser scene.

* ColdBloodedTorture: Ocassionally happens to Drake or other secret agents.

* ComicBookAdaptation: Dell Comics adapted the original-format ''Danger Man'' as a one-off issue of its long-running ''Four Color'' anthology series in 1961; in 1966, Gold Key Comics published 2 issues of ''Secret Agent'', based upon the later version of the series.

* DirectedByCastMember: Patrick [=McGoohan=] directed two episodes, "To Our Best Friend" and "The Paper Chase."

Not to be confused with ''Series/SecretAgentMan'', a short-lived spy show that aired on UPN in 2000 that used the same theme song as the US version of ''Secret Agent'' but otherwise had no connection to the [=McGoohan=] series.

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Drake's bosses aren't above ordering this.

* MetaCasting: The last black and white episode "Not so Jolly Roger" guest-starred Patsy Ann Noble (later known as Trisha Noble), a popular singer. Since the episode is set at a pirate radio station, it's not surprising that one of her songs is not only featured prominently, but Patsy Ann Noble gets a name-drop as her song is introduced by John Drake while Noble is in the same shot.

* ThouShaltNotKill: To an extent. Most episodes of the series did not involve Drake using deadly force, and an early episode in fact featured him being assigned an assassination and doing so only under protest (and he doesn't carry it out anyway). During the entire run of the series, Drake shoots a man only once (not counting a later episode where he shoots people in a dream/hallucination), and otherwise rarely carries a gun.

* AwesomeButPractical: Drake's modus operandi.

-->--First season OpeningNarration

''Danger Man'' (known internationally as ''Secret Agent'') was a British down-to-earth spy series made in TheSixties. Launched in 1960, originally it was going to bring none other than JamesBond to the small screen and Ian Fleming was involved at early stages. However since the rights for Bond movies had been sold, Danger Man was changed into something quite different. It features a superagent named John Drake, played by [=Patrick McGoohan=] - also once a candidate to play Bond in the films - who doesn't like gunplay or violence and generally has morals way too strong to make him comfortable in his job. His gadgets and enemies are also rooted in reality.

* TheCharmer: Drake has a switch for it, and when he turns it on, just about anyone who's not GenreSavvy melts before his charming smile and suave, witty banter.

* TheCharmer: Drake has a switch for it, and when he turns it on, nearly everyone (and especially the ladies) melt before his charming smile and suave, witty banter.

* GuileHero: Drake, while being able to [[GoodOldFisticuffs handle himself]] [[ImprovisedWeapon quite well]], first and foremost uses his wits and manipulative skills.

** ChickMagnet: And who could blame them? [[MrFanservice Look at that face!]]

* TheCharmer: Drake has a switch for it, and when he turns it on, nearly everyone (and especially the ladies) melt before his charming smile and suave, witty banter.

* MasterActor: Drake, of course. The most amazing acting transformation (in this troper's opinion) is when in one episode Drake pretends to be a meek and nervous schoolteacher; at the drop of a hat, he goes back and forth between the razor-eyed and leonine Drake we know, and a slump-shouldered fellow with slightly unfocused eyes who sort of tries to huddle into the nearest corner.

* PurelyAestheticGlasses: Drake occasionally wears these when he's undercover as some sort of clerk or academian to make him seem more harmless and tone down the intensity of his eyes.