Back in the late 1960s, out of nowhere, the ITV channels started promoting two new series that were coming up. I know there were two, because the trailers were played back to back. The first was a police series. I can remember that, because uniformed officers appeared in most of the clips. But that’s all I can remember about it. I seem to think I watched it when it came on, but it clearly had nothing like the impact the other show did.
When one of the main characters is killed off in the first episode, that kind of grabs your attention. Bear in mind that I was only about 7 years old when Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) was first screened.
By today’s standards, quite a drab title sequence, but the music does take me back to those childhood days.
Of course, I didn’t even know what “deceased” meant. Apparently, the Americans couldn’t be trusted to know either, because in the States it was called My Partner, the Ghost. To be fair, there are some very intelligent Americans. Unfortunately, TV producers over here seemed to make their assessments of intelligence based on Hanna Barbera cartoons. (These days they might be forgiven for making their judgements based on political leaders, but it’s probably better to not go there.)
Anyway, this primary school-aged child had to ask what “deceased” meant. I seem to recall being even more confused at the title of an episode of Bonanza called The Late Ben Cartwright, because it had nothing to do with tardiness. Still, it just goes to show that watching TV can be educational. My use of vocabulary grew dramatically in those early years.
For those of you unfamiliar with this series, here’s the concept. Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk are private investigators struggling to make a living. When someone takes a dislike to an investigation they’re carrying out, Marty is run over and killed. But (and the Americans may have been ahead of me on this one) Marty comes back as a ghost, which turns out to be useful to a firm of PIs.
Yet again, ITC had come up with a series that crossed genres. Detectives and ghosts – what’s not to like?
It also combined the light-hearted with action. Yes, there were tense moments, but there was often comedy, particularly as Marty struggles to get to grips with what he can and can’t do in the physical world.
Mike Pratt played Randall. His lean frame and craggy features made him an unlikely looking hero, but his portrayal of a down-at-heel PI was spot on.
Kenneth Cope was probably the better known of the two at the time (though 7 year old me hadn’t heard of either of them) because he’d spent some time on Coronation Street. His abilities as a comic actor were used to great effect, but also his pathos, the latter most apparent when it came to his widow, Jeannie.
Played by Annette Andre, up to then a regular guest on other ITC shows, this was – as far as I’m aware – her biggest role on a TV series. Even as a kid, I couldn’t work out how such an attractive woman would end up married to someone looking like Kenneth Cope, but I’ve always been shallow like that.
Following his death, Marty is only allowed to be seen by one person, and he chooses Jeff (“Only you can see me, Jeff, only you…”). As a result, there is occasional frustration at being unable to communicate with Jeannie, and that she lives her life oblivious to his presence.
Potentially a complex series, it never really felt it and, even as an adult, I’ve watched and enjoyed it for what it is: entertainment.
Unusually for me, I not only tolerated a remake of the series, but actually embraced it. In part this was because the concept was more important than the casting. Which is fortunate, because I wasn’t a massive fan of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. Nevertheless, together with Emilia Fox as Jeannie, they played the parts well. Clearly some aspects were changed, but the producers really got it. They didn’t try to make it something it wasn’t, and the style used was very much a throwback to the way ‘60s and ‘70s television was made. Given the casting, it was inevitably more light-hearted, but when the first episode aired and the pre-title scenes set the story up nicely before launching into the new titles, I knew it was going to work – and it did.
If you watched the original series yourself, you’ll know what I’ve been talking about here. If you didn’t, look it up and give it a go. And, just in case you’re still not sure, I’d better warn you: there’s a ghost in it.
Even though the original was before my time i have watched it and thought it was a great show.
Glad you’ve clarified that, Sarah. Wouldn’t want to age you prematurely!
ha ha 🙂 x
OMG Graeme I absolutely loved the original series as a child, but never really got into the remake, somehow – and the theme tune was just perfect! There was always something puzzlingly ‘adult’ about the relationship between Jeannie and Jeff, with poor Marty always on the sidelines, left out 🙂
Would I be right in thinking you were a real fan, Ruth? I always got the impression that Jeff wanted something to happen between him and Jeannie, but she couldn’t see it. Then there’s that conflict of knowing her husband’s there watching over them to put a bit of a dampener on things. Like I said, it had the potential to be complex, but it never really felt like it was. I think we ignore the creativity of these kinds of programmes at our peril.
Absolutely, there was aways that undercurrent of something unspoken, not overt desire as such but just enough longing to keep it intriguing 🙂
You’ve nailed it, Ruth.
ha I loved this. As to the cop show, I was addicted to softly softly back then and in 1969 when R&H started the original Softly Softly was rebranded Softly Softly – taskforce. Maybe that was it?
Thanks, Geoff. I remember Softly Softly (and Task Force) being on, though I didn’t watch it much. But I’m pretty sure it was a BBC series (and wasn’t it connected to Z Cars as well?), whereas Randall & Hopkirk was definitely on ITV (or whatever the commercial channels were referred to in those days – ATV in my region), and the two were promoted back to back. It’s one of those quirky memories that clings on, in spite of being irrelevant to the rest of the story.
We will have to track it down….
It really isn’t that important, Geoff!
I remember this show very well and really enjoyed it, yet I don’t remember the theme music. Kenneth Cope was brilliant in it and I loved the humour the part brought for him. I don’t remember the remake at all, but then I’ve never been a Bob & Vic fan.
When you said ‘and the Americans may have been ahead of me on this one’ were you referring to the series The Ghost & Mrs Muir? Same sort of theme. but I can’t remember if The Ghost & Mrs Muir was a detective series.
I suspected this might be up your street, Hugh. As for the Vic and Bob version, they were severely toned down for Randall and Hopkirk, which was one of the reasons I enjoyed it. In fact, Bob’s Jeff Randall was played pretty much straight. Worth taking a look at some time.
My comment about the Americans was referring back to the US title used, which pretty much spelt it out for them. That being the case, I didn’t think it would have been a surprise for them to discover that one of the PIs died in the first episode.
The Ghost and Mrs Muir was a completely different ball game. I seem to recall it was more like a sitcom, though it was based on a movie of the same name. I remember Hope Lange played Mrs Muir (I’m sure she did a lot of other work, but the only other role I can remember her in was as Charles Bronson’s wife in Death Wish). The ghost was played by Edward Mulhare, who later went on to be David Hasselhoff’s boss in Knight Rider. It has been said that I’m full of worthless information – I’m certainly full of something!
Yes, you’re right, I do now remember a comedy element to The Ghost & Mrs Muir.
Worthless information? I think you’d do very well on Mastermind with cult TV as your chosen subject. ?
I think random trivia would be closer to the mark
Randall and Hopkirk was one of my favourite TV programmes as a child. I can remember making a little review magazine for my sister and parents which was never anything more than a summary of the latest episode – which we’d all watched together anyway.
Softly Softly was BBC. It was a spin off of Z Cars.
It’s wonderful how our creativity was sparked by these TV shows, April. Even making the review magazine showed that – whether the rest of the family wanted to see it or not!
Thanks for confirming my thoughts about Softly, Softly. I should have known for sure. James Ellis (Bert Lynch from Z Cars) was a drinking buddy of my dad’s for several years – yes, this Irish actor ended up living in a village in Nottinghamshire! Lovely bloke too. First person to speak to me after I’d said a few words at my dad’s funeral.
Great show and watched the repeat run not too long ago along with The Invaders. No age guessing allowed….I am not a number I am a free man 🙂
Didn’t see The Invaders until it was rerun in (I think) the late ’70s. For some reason, it didn’t grab my attention – though that may have been more to do with adolescence and my attentions shifting direction. As for the age guessing, it depends when you watched The Prisoner. It was probably the mid ’70s when I saw that for the first time, but if you saw it on the first run, you have my sympathies! I suspect I’ll be coming back to Number 6 at some point in the future. Thanks for commenting, Gary
ah yes, the hormones of youth do have a tendency to change behaviour and TV watching is oft likely to suffer in consequence. I’ve watched most on re-runs although I think David Vincent was tackling The Invaders whilst I was in school. Taps into my Sci-Fi genes. I didn’t pick up The Prisoner until hearing the Iron Maiden song of the same name with the intro using the classic line I quoted above. Curiosity kept me watching out for the repeats. in fact it appears in a book of mine as a pub quiz question strangely enough 🙂
You came to The Prisoner later than me then, so we’ll ignore the age thing altogether from here on in. And it is good to have these references in our books – for the reader who “gets it”, they’re a pleasant surprise and they probably feel like they’re in on something with you.
I actually shared the extract including the reference on here ages ago and was amazed by the number of folk that got it and made a point of reminiscing about the show. Seems to be a very good way of assisting readers into identifying with parts of a character or plot. Maybe I should have run a quiz asking what the scene was actually about ?
Agreed…age is irrelevant….especially this year for me!! I put that scene in an extract on my blog and was amazed by the response to the TV programme itself. Should have quizzed them to see if they knew what the scene was actually about lol. I actually tag music and TV now and again to make characters seem identifiable. A lot of my readers seem to enjoy that aspect…trick is not to get too close wrt copyright!!?
I’m not even going to bite on the relevance of this year for you.
One of the reasons I started writing this series of posts was because I realised how the TV I’d watched as a child had influenced my interests and tastes in consuming and producing fiction. Like Randall and Hopkirk, I suspect a lot of what I write will cross genres. But also, in Ravens Gathering, for instance, I found it was easier to make references to cultural items of the day (TV shows, music) to help the reader connect with the time and setting. So yes, it does seem to get a response. Though you’re right about copyright. I did have to be very careful when referencing a Dr Hook song.
Best not to, it’s rather like Lancelot rushing the castle in the Holy Grail with the guards seeing him way off in the distance and suddenly hrs there with “Aha!” I too dress that question…”what genre is it?” All of them really tends not to quite match up with comprehension that some of us just write and don’t look at tags and boxes. My apologies for the double reply. My reader failed to acknowledge the reply went through so I came back to redo it. It was only after replying here that the page loaded after a submission alert that it appeared. Most odd indeed ?
Graeme, my fine fellow, it seems replies from my reader are simply not coming through properly. It concludes the send message but does not acknowledge the reply has gone through. Upon returning to check I find it is absolutely right and it hasn’t! Not sure if this has been mentioned before or it is just me? Also explains the double up post above. I didn’t think it had sent, came here and it seemed not to have until I did another. Whereupon I get a submission confirmation notice before it responds. Most strange.
Agreed upon year significances; I have filed that in the deliberate amnesia box and already forgotten what it was all about! I, like, you seem to be cross genre writing. I’ve never really liked labels and boxes…all very OCD. A story is a story and travels on its own path…often once immersed I feel more like a biographer than a creator as things unfold. Absolutely agree with the use of material that can place the reader in time and space too.
Gary, the reason for the delay is that all comments are currently subject to moderation (it is something I need to address) and I’ve been stuck in the day job all day without an opportunity to look at them. So please accept my apologies, and bear with me while I get this sorted out satisfactorily. In spite of some overlap, I allowed both of your previous comments to go through because there was a slight difference – and will do the same again here. Thanks for sticking with it!
Ahh, ordinarily when I check my comments are visible to me and the in moderation notification lets me know. There is a notification that comes up before I can submit to your blog however that says insecure form, continue to submit yes or no that requires me to physically click continue. I thought that might have affected replies from the reader. Clearly above they did indeed drop through to you. Many thanks for letting me know all is well. It’s a tad off putting when replies on the reader are left in limbo and you never quite know if a message has gone or disappeared through a wormhole into another dimension!
I know what you mean, Gary. I recently went self-hosted, and there have been some teething problems as I get used to the mechanics of the way it works – but I am getting there. Thanks for your patience.
Ah yes, the learning curve. I am about yo totally re-theme my own blog too. Daunting stuff indeed. I only mentioned the things I experienced just in case you weren’t aware. I’ve done it before and the blogger concerned had no idea and it was causing her traffic loss. Fear not Graeme, one never gives up too easily!
I appreciate that, Gary.