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Old 14th Sep 2018, 8:51 pm   #1
yestertech
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Default 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

This is probably well known, but Ive not seen this complete episode for years - great nostalgia !

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5v2a8r

Apart from the obvious audio gear ( Garrard, Vortexion etc. ) can anyone identify any of the equipment masquerading as the main transmitter racks etc. also the set up in the 'locked room'
It looks too professional to be all 'mock-up'


Andy
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 1:41 pm   #2
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Default Re: 'Danger man' aboard the estuary forts ( radio 390 )

I will have to watch this one. I have got The Prisoner on DVD but this series just predates that, before he resigned (if I remember correctly but the last time I watched was when it was broadcast). Thank you
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 6:04 pm   #3
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

Just watched it! Great nostalgia there not only for 'Danger Man' but for the pirate station as well. The forts are still there but the walkways between them have long gone.
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 7:35 pm   #4
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

Those were the days eh?
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 8:54 pm   #5
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

Hi,
I didn't know about this episode..
Many thanks for pointing it out...
I wonder if the short clips of " Pop Music " in the first few minutes were made especially for the series ?
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 9:07 pm   #6
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

I couldn't place any of the radio equipment, and I'm sure the indoor scenes were all filmed on studio sets, with only some the external stuff being done on location.
But I liked the way they used "He Who Rides A Tiger" as the final record played. It's by the actress playing the female DJ, from her earlier career as a pop singer.

Last edited by m0cemdave; 18th Sep 2018 at 9:18 pm.
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 10:09 pm   #7
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

Quote:
Originally Posted by dragonser View Post
I wonder if the short clips of " Pop Music " in the first few minutes were made especially for the series ?
They must have been. Radio 390 was a very 'middle-of-the-road' music station and was probably more like a commercial version of the Light Program (as it was then) and I can't imagine it playing music like that. When the pirates were closed, at least one of the DJ's (more like presenters) of Radio 390 went to BBC Radio 3.

I loved the Garrard 401's being used.
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 11:10 pm   #8
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

Hi

It was great seeing this again after many years. I noticed what looks like a Philips L2G32T transistor radio being used by John Drake at 25:29.

The DJ is the lovely Patsy Ann Noble.

Regards
Symon.
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Old 18th Sep 2018, 11:48 pm   #9
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

SME 3012, the long version weren't being used very sympathetically. One of the items in the secret transmitter room made me think of a Rees Mace marine set.

David
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Old 20th Sep 2018, 10:29 am   #10
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

Quote:
Originally Posted by dragonser View Post
I wonder if the short clips of " Pop Music " in the first few minutes were made especially for the series ?
The record was released a couple of weeks before the transmission of the episode. In those days IIRC pop music used in a programme dated it very quickly so producers had to show they were 'with it' when it went on air.

The last Danger Man to be made in B/W, the next penultimate episode in colour featured a very handy car tracking device that didn't work off GPS. LOL.
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Old 20th Sep 2018, 11:06 am   #11
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

It was good to watch this in its entirety after more than 50 years. The only scene I could remember was that with the generator set.

In the locked room I think I recognised a Pye base station and a KW rig of some kind.

My understanding is that with the exception of "He who rides a tiger" and the Strauss Waltz, all the songs played on air were specially composed and recorded for this episode. Perhaps they couldn't afford the royalties for genuine stuff?
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Old 20th Sep 2018, 12:05 pm   #12
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

Hi.

There's some info here http://danger-man.co.uk/jollyroger.asp on the music played.

Regards
Symon
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Old 20th Sep 2018, 12:12 pm   #13
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Station X View Post
It was good to watch this in its entirety after more than 50 years. The only scene I could remember was that with the generator set.

In the locked room I think I recognised a Pye base station and a KW rig of some kind.

My understanding is that with the exception of "He who rides a tiger" and the Strauss Waltz, all the songs played on air were specially composed and recorded for this episode. Perhaps they couldn't afford the royalties for genuine stuff?
Yes the problem is, they may easily secure the right to play a well known record for the initial transmission, but later when it may require a repeat or sale to a foreign territory the rights issues become an absolute minefield.

As we know the Beatles were very strict in not allowing their music to end up in films or commercials, however John Lennon became a fan of The Prisoner and was quite happy to grant 'rights in perpetuity' to All you need is love in the final episode.

Later on, when McCartney lost of control of his Beatles' songs to Michael Jackson, some did end up in American commercials IIRC, something that McCartney immediately went on the war path to try and get back ownership of his own songs.
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Old 20th Sep 2018, 6:52 pm   #14
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

The "secret" radio room, looks like a "Clipper" radio or transmitter, anything to do with Woodson's? (29:45 in)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtJYtM6UOGY

Lawrence.

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Old 21st Sep 2018, 2:14 pm   #15
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

Looks like one of the "Minimitter" series of TXs next to the base station. Or perhaps a Panda Radio model.

Cheers

Roger
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Old 21st Sep 2018, 3:32 pm   #16
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

I've never seen any of this programme so this one, with the walk about the forts, was a doubly good introduction. Thanks

David
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Old 21st Sep 2018, 9:02 pm   #17
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

It's often been suggested that Danger Man was 'The Prisoner' after he resigned.

It was the same actor of course but there was never any hint that the two programs or characters were connected.
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Old 22nd Sep 2018, 11:05 am   #18
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

Many thanks for this - very enjoyable! Were the interiors a set? I ask because it seems odd to go to the lengths of using a genuine pirate radio station when any sea-based location, such as an anchored ship, would have done. Mind you, 401s and 3012s wouldn't have done so well in the high seas!
In the Prisoner all the exterior locations in Portmeirion were shot and matched to the interiors created in Pinewood. Anyone visiting and expecting No. 6's villa to be like shown in the series gets a surprise - it's tiny! Must have been a nightmare for continuity.
As mentioned above, this was the last black and white episode, after which McGoohan resigned form the series to make The Prisoner. His method style was becoming apparent with a willingness to perform his own stunts and overlapping dialogue which came to define No.6's character.
McGoohan did say Drake and No.6 were not the same person, but then again....
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Old 22nd Sep 2018, 4:17 pm   #19
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

This is the only episode of Danger Man of which I have any recollection and is what sparked my interest in Radio. The fort complex was a curious and fascinating structure, and that it contained a broadcasting station was prime material for this child's imagination. Danger Man, The Man from Uncle and the other spy/adventure TV programmes were the basis of many of our playground games having largely supplanted cops and robbers and cowboys and indians.

Offshore/pirate radio was at its height when the episode was broadcast - there were eleven stations dotted around the UK coast at the time - so weaving a thriller around the world of pirate radio was very much of the moment. I'm sure Radio 390 were pleased to have a credit, even though as a MOR station it was somewhat different from most of the others and the station portrayed.

Then, in a way, fact overtook fiction with the events around Radio City on neighbouring Shivering Sands Fort.
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Old 22nd Sep 2018, 5:09 pm   #20
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Default Re: 'Danger Man' aboard the estuary forts (Radio 390)

Just a little bit of trivia...
Whilst working in Sheffield city centre for 24 years I parked at St Vincent’s car park which was in the grounds of a now defunct church and school.
Patrick McGoohan used to attend that school after his Irish parents moved to Sheffield from America.
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