Danger Man - Later History, Koroshi and Transition To The Prisoner

Later History, Koroshi and Transition To The Prisoner

The fourth series consists of only two episodes, "Koroshi" and "Shinda Shima", the only two episodes of Danger Man to be filmed in colour and, as with two-parters from other ITC series such as The Baron and The Saint, these two separate but related episodes were recut together as a feature for cinemas in Europe. Whilst "Koroshi" retains a strong plot-line and sharp characterizations, "Shinda Shima" was a pastiche of contemporary Bond movies. 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.

Another, unused, fourth-series script was reworked as an episode of The Champions while, according to The Prisoner: The Official Companion by Robert Fairclough, the Prisoner episode "The Girl Who Was Death" was based upon a two-part Danger Man script that had been planned for the fourth series.

However, in an interview, it is stated that McGoohan did indeed approach Jack Shampan with the idea of a series continuing Danger Man entitled The Prisoner.