Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)

Greetings, ‘Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)’ is a British television programme that was created by Dennis Spooner, produced by ITC Entertainment and was first aired from 1969 to 1970. It lasted for one season and contains 26 episodes. The now defunct ITC Entertainment made numerous cult TV shows during its run including ‘The Prisoner’, which I reviewed numerous years ago, and had a reputation for producing shows centring on private eyes and spies. The subject of this blog update is one of the former but has an interesting twist that makes it stand out from other detective shows. Those hoping for a more standard sleuthing experience are going to be disappointed as this is a fairly kooky programme that doesn’t follow that formula. The cast consists of a main trio of Mike Pratt, the recently passed Kenneth Cope and the last surviving member Annette Andre. The music was composed by Edwin Astley who worked on a number of other ITC shows including Rodger Moore’s ‘The Saint’.

The plot begins with London based private investigators Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk, along with Marty’s wife and secretary named Jeannie, being hired for a job. They are employed by a Mrs Fay Sorrensen to spy on her husband whom she suspects is being unfaithful. It is a typical day for the duo and Randall is able to provide her with numerous photographs showing her husband, John, in compromising situations with other women. Fay, who has a heart condition, plans to divorce her husband with the evidence in her hands. In doing so, she will remove John’s access to his business assets in the steel company he works at as her father had founded the company and she is a major shareholder in it. Aware of her plans, John calls up a firm that arranges hit jobs and he requests that his wife be discreetly murdered. The following day, Marty arrives by himself at the Sorrenson residence to speak to Fay and her solicitor while Jeff is conducting other business elsewhere.

The meeting doesn’t take place as Fay, while taking a bath in the next room, is electrocuted by the assassin. The murder is committed by a cable that was threaded through a hole in the wall and attached to a van parked outside their home. Marty barges into the bathroom when he hears Fay’s screams but the murder weapon has been retracted into the van before he can see it. With his business at the Sorrenson’s abruptly concluded, Marty speaks to some children who were loitering on the street and they tell him about the cable they had seen. The interaction is watched by John who was hoping to blame Fay’s death on her weak heart. He decides to order Marty’s murder as well to keep his tracks covered. Not long after Marty is killed by a hitman who hits him with a car at high speed. This isn’t the end of his partnership with Randall however for Marty comes back from the grave as an apparition in a sharp white suit.

I very much like the campy, unserious tone the series has and am fond of its vintage 1960s charm. The premise always stuck out to me as a neat idea and it does make good use of its concept. While the ghostly form of Marty can influence the world around him, he is in restricted in what he can do to ensure there is some way to build up tension. For instance, only Randall can see and hear Marty but episodes do write around that when needed by having Marty appear to drunkards, psychics and people who have been hypnotised. That comes in handy as Jeff and Jeannie often end up being kidnapped and need to be rescued by outsiders. The series was remade by the BBC in 2000 with comedians Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer in the titular roles. I’m not sure if I’ll be checking that out anytime soon as I thoroughly enjoyed the original and it would be difficult envisioning them as these characters.

Plot=8/10

Characters=9/10

Special Effects=7/10

Overall=8/10

Quote of the Day

I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own!

Number Six

The Prisoner