This emphatically British series still has a considerable fanbase in the USA, long after it went out of production. The first British animated series to be syndicated across the US, 'Danger Mouse' is a sort of earlier, animated, less tacky take on Austin Powers. In fact DM himself is a genuinely charismatic 007 type character, who is probably more convincing then Roger Moore ever was. His sidekick, Penfold, is an excruciatingly British nerd hamster who says things like "Cor!" and "Crumbs!", and who reminds one too much of Morocco Mole from 'The Secret Squirrel Show' to be completely coincidence.

DM is a suave superhero/spy, constantly called upon to foil meglomaniacs of one sort of another, but generally his toad nemesis Silas Greenback, who is obviously a parody of Aurich Goldfinger, but who manages to remind one of the villain from 'Inspector Gadget' at the same time (except he has a a pet caterpillar rather than cat).

It's not hard to see how this show has endured and retained a big fanbase since its heyday in the 80's. It's almost patriotically British, and turns this into a gimmick without ever being quite as self-effacing as Austin Powers. It's nothing really remarkable, but it was also nothing like anything on American TV at the time, and it was a remarkably successful torchbearer for British TV animation, as well as spinning off the almost equally likeable 'Count Duckula' series, which was also a hit in the US.

No doubt about it - with his eyepatch and perfect voice charaterisation, Danger Mouse was a memorable creation, who carved a big soft spot with lots of animation fans who grew up in the 80's.