Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)

Background

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) was conceived by producer Dennis Spooner in 1967. Spooner had a keen interest in the paranormal and ghostly phenomena, which he believed would be an inspired idea for a television series, incorporating it with the characteristic crime, drama and action of other earlier productions in the 1960s such as The Avengers and The Saint.

Spooner was strongly influenced by other paranormal films, such as Blithe Spirit and Topper, which had a profound impact on him, providing him with an understanding of the elements of the fantasy genre, studying the aspects of paranormal activity upon which a television series could be based.

While working on The Baron for ITC, Spooner met the producer Monty Berman, with whom he later formed the production company Scoton. Spooner had already worked with Mike Pratt and Annette Andre on The Baron, based on John Creasey's novels, in 1966 and 1967, and had known Pratt and Kenneth Cope from other series such as The Avengers and his work on the BBC's Z-Cars. Pratt and Andre had also appeared in The Saint earlier in the 1960s, with which both Spooner and Berman were familiar. Screen testing began in late 1967; Berman and Spooner agreed that the trio would make an ideal casting.

Scoton were informed that they were to commence the filming of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) in 1968, alongside the production of Department S. Filming commenced in 1968 and the cast worked strenuously into 1969 to complete the series. The first episode was broadcast on Friday 19 September 1969 on ATV Midlands, Harlech, Westward, Yorkshire, Granada, Channel and Ulster; LWT on Sunday 21 September 1969; and Southern on Sunday 5 October 1969. Other regions, such as Anglia, Border, Tyne-Tees, Scottish and Grampian, which would continue to broadcast in black and white for several months after the initial colour broadcast start date of 15 November 1969, decided not to screen the series at this time. Of this initial run, only LWT screened all 26 episodes. Ulster and Granada rested the show after eight episodes, Yorkshire, Channel and Westward did so after 14 episodes, Harlech after 15 episodes, and ATV Midlands only screened 21 of the 26 episodes.

Series overview

In the pilot episode, "My Late Lamented Friend and Partner", Marty is murdered in a hit-and-run during an investigation, but he returns immediately as a ghost, whom only Jeff (and the occasional psychic) can see, to help Jeff bring his murderer to justice. In helping Jeff with his case, Marty stays out of his new grave for too long and is cursed to walk the Earth for 100 years. Seeing the advantages of having a ghost at the detective agency, Marty stays as an invisible partner, playing the key role in helping Jeff solve crime thereafter, also meaning that he can see his widow, Jeannie, who works as a secretary at the agency every day.

Marty is instrumental throughout the series in ensuring Jeff is aware of the occurrences of crimes and more often than not is responsible for saving his partner's life in each episode by using his supernatural powers. His powers are very limited, in that he physically cannot touch anything and has no extrasensory knowledge of events that take place when he is not present. Whilst Marty aids Jeff immensely in his investigations, his persistence at urging Jeff to follow leads when Jeff has other engagements, where there is no obvious criminal activity or where he is putting his life and reputation at risk can seriously infuriate and terrorise the short-fused Jeff.

The comedic aspect of the series came to the surface in episode 2, "A Disturbing Case", which dealt with hypnotic suggestion. Written by star Mike Pratt, the episode features Marty impersonating the thick German accent of the German psychiatrist Dr Conrad (David Bauer), allowing him to direct the glazed, drugged Randall to do exactly what he wants whilst he is in his pyjamas in a nursing home. Although the second episode is undoubtedly the most comic of the series, Marty's ability to control hypnosis is an important source of comedy in subsequent episodes, notably episode 10, "When did You Start to Stop Seeing Things?", in which he hypnotizes a hypnotist to save Randall, directing him to behave like an animal and act like a Secret Agent contrary to expected professional behaviour.

In episode 3, "All Work and No Pay", a number of story elements important for later episodes in the series are introduced, particularly exposing the vulnerability and naivety of Jeannie Hopkirk, traits which can leave her life in danger due to her willingness to help people. Jeannie is manipulated by the Foster Brothers who, by using electronic equipment, falsely convince her that her late husband Marty is a poltergeist and that they as spiritualists will lay his spirit to rest. The brothers plan to employ Jeannie to bring other widows to them and use their supposed exorcism of Marty as a reward. Her falling into their trap nearly costs the life of another woman.

As she is invited into their manor house we see the start of a much used setting in the majority of the Randall and Hopkirk episodes, an eerie lavish country manor with a grand hallway and rooms and 1930s eccentric décor creating an element of suspense. The same set with a few alterations was used on the majority of later episodes filmed in the same studio set. The third episode also sets the scene for the themes of exorcism, paranormal spirituality, psychic mediums and placing Marty Hopkirk to rest which also feature in later episodes such as "Whoever Heard of a Ghost Dying?" and "But What a Sweet Little Room".

The appearance of psychic mediums develops in the next episode "Never Trust a Ghost" and also establishes Jeff Randall's trust in his ghostly partner for the series. Jeff visits a deranged medium to query whether Marty can be reliable, and subsequently begins to doubt his ghostly partner. We see Jeff become seriously frustrated with Marty as he places his reputation in danger by following up Hopkirk's seemingly false leads, yet Marty persists on bothering him even when he is in the company of women. The medium believes that ghosts hallucinate, but Marty, whom the medium can see, takes hours to convince him of his capabilities. Marty's correct deductions and his ability to stop enemy agents in the end solidifies Jeff's trust of him. The medium is also significant as he is the first man other than Jeff who can see and communicate with Marty the ghost, repeated later in the series as other mediums can communicate.

In episode 4 it really becomes evident that Randall has a distinct hatred of the police, which is reciprocated. In nearly every episode where the police are involved with enquiries some way or the other they always suspect Randall as the villain in a crime with Randall many a time treating them rather rudely in his frustration. In many episodes he conflicts with the suspicious Inspector Large played by Ivor Dean. In the eighth episode "Whoever Heard of a Ghost Dying?" and the 10th episode "When did You Start to Stop Seeing Things?" in particular, Randall is suspected of not only being a criminal involved in the operation of diamond operations but is suspected as a murderer, implicated to directly throw the police off guard.

The fourth episode is also the first time we really see that Jeff Randall is a womaniser, followed up in the sixth episode "Just for the Record" where he is surrounded by beautiful women at a beauty contest, offering Miss Moscow "a cup of tea" as a cover for sex. Even when Jeff does not physically make contact with attractive women it is clear there is always a mutual attraction between them, for example in the 17th episode "Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave" where he flirts with the housekeeper.

In episode 7, "Murder Ain't What it Used to Be", Randall shows that he does have morals in some areas of his life; when hired by American racketeer Paul Kirstner to look after his daughter, he initially baulks at the thought of working for a criminal, but eventually relents when he is given a substantial sum of money. However, whilst money and earning a living means a great deal to him and is often why he initially decides to take up a case, in episode 12, "For the Girl who Has Everything", he turns down a pay-off of £250 because of the particular circumstances, even though the case superficially appears to be solved. In "Money to Burn", he becomes directly implicated in a crime because of his indecisiveness over whether to accept £500,000 of old money that is to be incinerated.

A number of developments are made to Marty's character in episodes 7-10. "Murder Ain't What it Used to Be" is the first episode where another ghost appears alongside him, in the shape of Bugsy, the cackling Chicago gangster who was killed in the 1920s who returns to haunt his double-crosser Paul Kirstner. Marty immediately defers to him and his abrasive attitude, and is unwilling to confront him even when he pesters Jeannie. However towards the end he teases Bugsy by manipulating objects in his direction, objects that can be seen moving and crashing to the human eye. In the episode it also becomes clear that Marty as a ghost can travel back in time, as Bugsy takes him back to the black-and-white 1920s to witness his murder over a prohibition scam.

In episode 8, "Whoever Heard of a Ghost Dying?", it becomes clear that Cecil, a psychic medium, can see Marty (unbeknownst to him) and is able to use him to deliberately put Jeff off the track of a series of diamond robberies; Randall had been secretly filmed seemingly speaking to himself on a number of occasions. Despite being a ghost, the power of the psychic puts Marty's health in serious jeopardy to the point where he nearly disappears at the end of the episode, when the medium attempts to exorcise him at his graveside.

In episode 9, Marty proves that in many ways his feelings are still human and he shows as much fear of other ghosts and paranormal activity as any human would. In "The House on Haunted Hill", Marty shows a great fear of electronic equipment in a house attic pretending to producing the sounds and noises of ghosts. He is far more afraid than even Jeff, and he doesn't appear to have any sense of other paranormal phenomena when he can not physically see them.

Filming Randall and Hopkirk

Hopkirk's appearances were achieved by the simplest and cheapest of means, which had been in use since the earliest days of cinema. While the camera remained static, the other actors would freeze, Kenneth Cope would enter the scene and the other actors would unfreeze. Cutting out the extraneous footage in between was all that was necessary. Disappearances used the same method in reverse. Optical effects, which were prohibitively expensive and time-consuming at the time, were largely avoided, although superimposition or bluescreen travelling matte shots were very occasionally used. In at least one scene, the Victorian theatrical illusion Pepper's Ghost was used.

The final episode, "The Ghost Talks" (actually released as the 21st to be filmed) contained extended flashbacks of Hopkirk alone solving a case—Jeff being out of town—before his death. This was necessitated by Mike Pratt having been injured in a fall from a drainpipe while trying to get into his locked flat. Pratt broke both his legs, rendering him bedridden in a real hospital bed (Pratt also had a nurse in attendance) on the set of a hospital room for duration of filming for that episode. Jeff's incapacity in the episode was explained by his having fallen off a balcony whilst in pursuit of a safe-cracker.

Although Marty is not supposed to have a physical presence, beds and armchairs can sometimes be seen sagging under his weight. He blows a cabinet door open in "When the Spirit Moves You" and, in another episode, he actually pushes aside a bead curtain. It is never explained why he has a shadow.

Except for some brief exterior scenes in the pilot episode and original opening titles, most of the scenes featuring the principal cast were shot in the studio. Exterior scenes were usually either simulated using bluescreen, shot using body doubles or made use of the Associated British Elstree Studios lot. Unusually for an ITC series, however, one episode had a significant amount of location shooting with principal cast members—at Woburn Abbey.

Cars used by the main characters were a white Vauxhall Victor 2000 FD, registration RXD 996F (incorrectly referred to as RXD 966F by Inspector Large, and confirmed as such by Jeff, in "Money To Burn") and a red Austin Seven/Mini, registration BAP 245B. The Victor was one of six loaned by Vauxhall Motors for filming the series, and viewers may sometimes catch the second-unit continuity out, as some scenes of Jeff Randall's Victor show the car with a burgundy interior and others a black cabin. The actual car bearing the RXD 996F plate was last seen in a scrapyard in Wales in 1976. The red Mini was used by all three characters, but was Marty Hopkirk's car and driven by Jeannie Hopkirk after his death. The car was also used briefly for a scene in one episode of The Persuaders! when Tony Curtis shows up in disguise as a butler at Lord Brett Sinclair's country abode. The current whereabouts of this Mini remain unknown, although it bears road tax and an MOT certificate until August 2017.

Jeff Randall is a keen but often financially struggling private detective whose success in mystery solving becomes inevitably greater once he has the benefits and paranormal abilities of his deceased friend and partner Marty Hopkirk. Randall is described as fairly tall, around 6 ft, very thin and dishevelled looking although he is mostly clean-shaven. Throughout the entire series, aside from a grey or dark suit with a white shirt for work, Randall consistently wears brown or beige clothing, instantly recognizable by his tan leather jacket and beige polo neck jumpers or his long beige mac.

He is quick, agile and light on his feet and is able to manoeuvre around attackers very briskly. Randall is known to have a short fiery temper and can become particularly irritated with certain situations and people, particularly the ghost of Marty who torments him as much as helps him. He smokes regularly and is a heavy drinker in stressful situations.

Jeff at times can be a highly ambiguous character. In certain episodes he can show morals and respect for other characters. However at times he can also appear as immoral and verging on criminal in his behaviour. In episode 5, "That's How Murder Snowballs", for example, Randall rather than informing the police after the murder of the theatre performer, rang a newspaper immediately to ensure that his tip-off earned him a substantial amount of money for leaking story, 'blood money' as Jeannie called it, making money out of a dead man.

Randall is also a womaniser and he attracts many beautiful women from episode to episode. However any love interest also fizzles out very quickly due to his commitments to follow up Marty's leads leaving them stranded.

Marty Hopkirk is a deceased private detective murdered in the line of duty. After being the victim of a hit and run, Marty returns as a ghost, selecting his friend and partner Jeff Randall as the only man who can see and hear him as he returns to the world of the living. After staying out in the daylight to help Jeff solve the case of his own murder, he is cursed to roam the Earth for 100 years. Marty is a highly persistent character clad in an all-white suit to mimic that of a ghost. At times his pressuring of Jeff to pursue cases, and to follow up leads that he has witnessed, nearly puts Jeff at breaking point and haunts Jeff almost as much as he aids him in fighting crime.

As a ghost, Marty travels by teleporting from one place to the other, although he can seemingly walk as a human would in whatever location he is in. Although he cannot physically touch people or things, he can manipulate objects such as vases and furniture which prove crucial in many cases in putting attackers of Jeff at bay. Marty's use of wind blowing also proves very important in distracting people allowing Jeff to manoeuvre and enter situations, which would have otherwise proved impossible. In one episode ("Just for the Record"), Marty saves Jeff's life as he is being burnt in a warehouse, by using his concentration to shatter the alarm bells.

However Hopkirk can also be a highly jealous character and is often quick to jump to conclusions. For example in the episodes "Never Trust a Ghost" and "Murder Ain't What it Used to Be", when it appears that Jeff and Bugsy had bedded his widow Jeannie, he becomes highly irritated and angry at the situations. This also shows that, while Marty can move from place to place by teleporting and has certain extra-sensory abilities, his abilities to understand situations where he is not present are as limited as a human's.

Despite being a ghost, there are many situations where Marty proves that in many ways his feelings are still human and he shows as much fear of other ghosts and paranormal activity as any human would. In the episode "The House on Haunted Hill", Marty shows a great fear of electronic equipment that produces the sounds and noises of ghosts in the attic of a house. He is far more afraid than even Jeff, and he doesn't appear to have any sense of other paranormal phenomenon when he cannot physically see them. He also shows a subservience to the 1920s American gangster ghost of Bugsy in episode 8, "Murder Ain't What it Used to Be".

Episode 21, "The Ghost Talks", which is a flashback of Marty when he was alive, also reveals he was physically very weak and would lose in a fight very easily. His physical strength appeared to be particularly lacking for a professional detective.

Jeannie Hopkirk (Annette Andre) is the young widow of Marty Hopkirk and serves as a secretary at the Randall and Hopkirk Private Investigation office. She is an attractive woman with neat blonde hair and a petite frame and build. Jeannie can prove a very useful character in Jeff's exploits and she has saved him many times from an early demise. She is highly resourceful and able as a secretary but often she appears as very naive and vulnerable, which has put her own life in danger on many occasions. In only the third episode, "All Work and No Pay", she believes the tomfoolery of the Foster brothers as they use electronic equipment to pretend that the poltergeist of Marty is destroying her apartment. She believes that they are spiritualists who indeed have the ability to contact her deceased husband. In episode 8, "Whoever Heard of a Ghost Dying?", she again believes the enemy when they pretend that Marty's spirit needs to be exorcised and, true to her nature, she is as helpful as possible in aiding them—unknowingly placing herself in another difficult situation. Later, in episode 15, "The Man from Nowhere", Jeannie goes as far as to partly believe that an impostor is actually her deceased husband Marty in spirit, again emphasising her vulnerability.

Inspector Large

Detective Inspector Large (Ivor Dean) is the officer Jeff Randall most frequently encounters during his many run ins with the police. Although very adversarial in nature, their relationship invariably culminates in Randall assisting Inspector Large's apprehension of a criminal. He appears in five episodes.

Jennifer

Jenny (Judith Arthy) is Jeannie's sister, who is introduced in "A Disturbing Case" when she visits Jeannie, and reappears in "The House on Haunted Hill" covering Jeannie's secretarial duties whilst she is away on holiday.

Sergeant Hinds

Detective Sergeant Hinds (Richard Kerley) is Inspector Large's subordinate. He appears in three episodes.

Inspector Nelson

In two episodes Randall is pitted against Inspector Nelson (Michael Griffiths) in exactly the same manner of mutual distrust he shares with Inspector Large.

Episode list

Airdates given here are for LWT (London). It was the only ITV station to screen all 26 episodes without breaks in transmission. Other ITV regions varied airdates and transmission order.

Filming took place between May 1968 and July 1969.

Broadcast

The 26 episodes were made by ITC Entertainment in 1968/69 on 35mm colour film. They were initially screened on ITV in the United Kingdom in 1969/70 by ITC's sister company ATV and most of the other ITV stations, (1970/71 in some regions that waited until full colour had been implemented by all ITV contractors) repeats lasted until 1976 in most regions, it was repeated again on ITV in 1986/87, the pilot was screened in 1992 on Channel4/S4C as part of the Frank Muir series "TV Heaven" as an example of TV shows from 1969, later in the 1990s the series was bought by the BBC and shown at least three times on BBC2 between 1994 and 1996 (these were restored prints), this was the last time complete prints were screened in the UK. Bravo also repeated the series from 1995-1997. Later Granada Plus repeated the series until the closure in 2004. The series was also re-run on UK digital channel ITV4 from November 2005, (where the episodes were cut to 45-46 mins) until 30 October 2010. In the US they appeared in syndication from around 1972, retitled My Partner the Ghost (remembered by many as My Friend the Ghost) because audience research suggested that Americans would not understand the word "deceased".

Two versions of the show's opening titles were made. The original, which was first seen in the UK when the series was repeated on ITV in 1986/87 and is the version on all subsequent TV re-runs and video/DVD releases, features events seen through images of a finger moving a glass on a ouija board; after shots of Marty shying away from the approaching car the animated spinning hand print gives way to the series title, which fills the screen. Then, specially shot sequences of Jeff, Marty and Jeannie outside their office building are seen through a red handprint. When originally transmitted, and for all UK repeats in the 1970s, this sequence was replaced by a more explicit montage of shots from the pilot, which includes the final scenes at the graveside, but now with Marty explaining (a voice over by Kenneth Cope) that only Jeff can see him: "Jeff, it's all right Jeannie can't see or hear me....nobody can, Only you Jeff, only you". This was also the version on US prints. It is unknown why the original handprint title sequence was replaced by the graveside titles for the first UK transmissions. The original ad break bumper film, available on Network DVD's 2008 release of the series, proves the current handprint title sequence is the original as it features exactly the same animation of the title graphics. Further evidence is the fact that a version of the handprint title sequence was made without the usual Annette Andre footage but with a clean shot of the office and a caption crediting Judith Arthy for the episode "The House on Haunted Hill".

Music

The theme music of Randall and Hopkirk, like that of other ITC productions The Baron, Danger Man, The Saint, and Department S, were composed by Edwin Astley. The use of a brass band and orchestra with the prevalent use of flute, clarinet, violins, trumpets, and harpsichord on both the main title track and other soundtracks epitomised the music scores created for many action series in the 1960s. The heavy use of the harpsichord and high-pitched flutes and clarinets was intended to create a quirky atmosphere for the paranormal series, while a loud brass band was to help create all the tension needed in an action drama at the most intense periods in the series.

DVD release

The series was released on seven region 2 DVDs in 2000–2002, which were then issued as a box set by Carlton. The episodes are in the LWT broadcast order. Volume 2 includes the original UK transmission opening titles as an extra, and the US version on Volume 3. In 2002 all seven discs were released in a boxset by Carlton.

The series was released in Australian in a DVD box set 2005 by Umbrella Entertainment. It contains audio commentaries from Annette Andre, directors Roy Ward Baker and Cyril Frankel, guest stars George Sewell and Jane Merrow and production crew members malcolm Christopher and Ken Baker. It also includes two newly filmed interviews with Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre, almost 15 minutes of previously unseen production footage, extensive stills galleries, insert reprint of the original ITC promotional brochure, ITC publicity and scripts (as pdfs), all the alternate opening credits, Memorabilia gallery, cast and crew profiles, production notes and a bonus episode of the ITC series The Baron, starring Annette Andre.

The series was re-released in the UK in a further box set in 2008 by Network; the episodes were remastered from the original negatives and are in production order not broadcast order, containing a similar though different set of extras to the Australian release, including a specially-commissioned documentary with contributions from Kenneth Cope, Annette Andre, Mike Pratt's son Guy and several writers and directors and 15 mins of mute production footage. Also four episodes had the graveside titles reinstated, a bonus episode of "The Man in Room 17" featuring Mike Pratt and the original ad break bumper and US titles and original music/photo galleries were also included, as was the 1946 film Angel On My Shoulder starring Paul Muni, and two extensive printed booklets of programme notes by UK television historian Andrew Pixley.

The first half of the series is also available on DVD in the North American market from A&E.

Blu-Ray release

The complete series will be released in the UK by Network on six region-free BDs during early 2017. Twenty-one of the episodes have been remastered from the original camera negatives; the remainder from first-generation inter-positives (where the negatives no longer exist).

The episodes are being released in production code order with the first disc, containing Episodes 1-4 coming out on 9 January 2017. Subsequent discs will be released at approximately fortnightly intervals, with a complete box-set due for release in October 2017. Details of the extras in the box-set are not known at this time.

In 2000–2001 the series was remade by Working Title Films for the BBC with a more elaborate storyline, starring Vic Reeves as Hopkirk (once again in a white suit) and Bob Mortimer as Randall, with Emilia Fox as Jeannie. Two series were made. The show was produced and occasionally written by Charlie Higson, who also directed some episodes, and featured numerous writers including Gareth Roberts, Mark Gatiss, Paul Whitehouse and Jeremy Dyson. The premise of the show was the same, but the circumstances of Hopkirk's death were changed.

In January 2011, Entertainment Weekly announced that Jane Espenson and Drew Z. Greenberg would be writing a pilot for Syfy. Espenson told io9 that "The version we're proposing is quite different in tone and content from the original." She added "We took the basic premise of a Ghost Detective and his still-living partner and invented our own take on it."

In January 2016 rumours currently circulate about potential new remake with Sky Atlantic with both Paddy Considine and Matt Smith being linked to roles.