Danger Man - Vol. 2 - The Lovers / Girls In Pink Pyjamas [1960]

Class- a hidden gem of a series., 17 April 2001

Oh Yes! screamed the reader in an feverish uneven voice. I know all about 60's t.v. shows . They start off normal then degenerate into episodes about giant Ferrets (Who are all co-incidentally named Frederick)threatening to brainwash the population of London by singing <hey mr tambourine man play a song for me> backwards over and over again in their chipmunkily-high voices.(gasps for air)......

Narrator:Yes we know , we know, then the hero saves the day by throwing shoes at it(specially designed anti-giant-cloning-ferret shoes no less)or by blinding it(s?) with the sheer gaudiness of his Denis the Menace style Red and black stripy jumper, or by doing a campy dance or by attacking it with a giant marigold , or by going on a trek to Tibet to meet a chinstroking man who says ,"HMMMMMMMMMM ,GRASSHOPPER", all day, every day.

Listen we've all had bad experiences with 60s t.v. . THe vast majority of the audience of the day were stoned at the time and so their fond recollection of some shows owes more to the fact that they beleived their t.v. was a portal which their foggy rainbow ship was approaching then to engaging stories and plotlines. ITC's Dangerman is different though.

"ITC", the reader will murmur suspiously, didn't they make the saint and (shudder) the avengers? ..... well yes but we all make mistakes you know......And isn't Dangerman partially based on the abysmally bad (Earth-Quakily strong shudder)Bond Franchise?........ Well kind of........And isn't it in black and white?.........Yeah but it adds mood.

I initially bought this out of my interest in the t.v. masterpiece "The Prisoner" which Dangerman is vaguely\distinctly linked to.But now I love the show on it's own merit. WHY?-Because it's so damned entertaining,so damned film-noirish.

The episodes last 25 minutes and the plots belter along at a frantic pace -