Monday, June 12, 2006

Randall and Hopkirk Deceased/My Partner the Ghost

Here is a very good lighthearted comedy adventure show from England. Randall and Hopkirk Deceased is about 2 detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk. While working on a case the villains run down Hopkirk and he dies. He comes back as a ghost that, of course only Randall can see and to help him solve the crime and his murder. Hopkirk breaks one important rule of being a ghost. Normally he has to return to his grave before the sun rises. To help Randall he has to stay till after the sunrise. He now has to wander the Earth as a ghost for all time. Now Hopkirk had a very pretty wife named Jean. Jeff Randall is attracted to her and has a hard time fighting that attraction and his loyalty to Hopkirk. It is even harder since Jean works at the office as the agency secretary. Hopkirk notices the attraction and is jealous. Part of the comedy comes in when he over reacts. For example Randall and Jean have to get alone to discuss a case so that the villain doesn’t over hear them. Hopkirk thinks Randall is trying to get her alone to ask her out on a date. Other comedy came with Hopkirk getting use to his ghostly powers. In one episode he found that he could imitate anyone’s voice. When Randall is drugged he will only respond to the crooked Dr.’s voice. He won’t do anything unless the Dr. tells him to. So Hopkirk imitates the Dr. telling Randall where to walk to and who to attack to get out of the hospital. This was a very good show that only lasted one season. I wish there was a good American version. The closest that we came was when it was syndicated on late night TV in the USA. Here it was called My Partner the Ghost. My cousin Randy and I ran across it when we were sleeping over at either his house or mine. I forget which right now. We liked the show. I found it again a week or two later but never saw it again till I found this VHS tape. Now I see it is available on DVD. The complete series. I guess the name Randall and Hopkirk Deceased is a good title. However, I think My Partner the Ghost is better. It sums up the series in the title and gives you a sense of fun and adventure. Posted by Picasa

1 comment:

Booksteve said...

The public library has the full run of the original series. There was a remake a few years ago that wasn't bad and featured Tom (DR WHO) Baker in a new role as an angel-type character.