Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) Logo 'My Late, Lamented Friend And Partner'
by Ralph Smart
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) Cast

Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk are two private detectives who run a small agency based in London. Jeff is currently working on a divorce case for Fay Sorrensen, and has photographic evidence that proves her husband, John, is cheating on her; this is enough for Fay to be able to divorce him and take her father's business with her. Jeff is unable to attend a meeting with Fay and her solicitor the next morning, and so Marty has to fill in for him instead. Meanwhile, John Sorrenson makes plans for his estranged wife's death. The next morning, when Marty arrives and waits for Fay to finish her bath, he hears a scream and finds her dead. Unseen, an electric wire is pulled from the bath through a hole in the wall, and gathered up in an electrician's van, which then drives off. The doctor arrives and pronounces Fay’s death to be from a heart attack, but Marty's detective instincts cause him to suspect something other than natural causes. Before Marty can explain his theory to Jeff at the office, his wife Jean phones, and, more interested in returning home than worrying about the case, Marty promises to tell Jeff about everything the next day. But as Marty crosses the street in front of his flat, he is killed by a hit-and-run driver. After the funeral, Jeff gets strange phone calls at midnight - the voice not only sounds exactly like his dead partner, but also claims to be him, and begs Jeff to come to the cemetery. Ignoring the calls, Jeff takes some tranquilisers to help sleep, only to wake up in a trance at 4 am; driving to the cemetery, Jeff arrives and finds Marty's ghost, dressed all in white, sitting on his fresh grave. Marty tells Jeff that his death was no accident: he was murdered. Marty chose Jeff to be the only one who can see and hear him. As dawn arrives Marty disappears, due to an ancient rhyme: "Afore the sun arise anew, Each ghost unto his grave must go”. Jeff visits Happy Lee, who supposedly owned the car that ran Marty down; she gives him the name of a beatnik named Hendy. Joined by Marty, Jeff corners Hendy, who tells them where to find Fay’s murderer. But the assassin is found gassed to death, and Marty recognises him as the electrician. The two detectives then set a trap: Jeff calls Sorrenson and demands £25,000 to keep quiet about the murders, and, as expected, Sorrenson contacts his hitmen. Dawn is breaking, and Marty is anxious to go, remembering another part of the rhyme: "Cursed be the ghost who dares to stay, and face the awful light of day”. Jeff persuades Marty to stay by pointing out that if he dies, no one will look after Jean; together they capture Sorrenson and the assassins. Marty is happy his murderers have been apprehended, and returns to the cemetery, only to have the grave reject him. He now recalls the rest of the rhyme: "Ye shall not to the grave return, Until a hundred years be gone”. Marty is stranded on Earth for a century, and so agrees to help Jeff with his cases, and to keep an eye on Jean.

Jeff Randall (Mike Pratt), Marty Hopkirk (Kenneth Cope), Jean Hopkirk (Annette Andre), Frank Windsor (John Sorrensen), Anne Sharp (Fay Sorrensen), Ronald Lacey (Beatnik), Harry Locke (Night Porter), Dolores Mantez (Happy Lee), Harold Innocent (Hit Man)

Directed by Cyril Frankel

TX:
UK: 21st September, 1969 @ 7.25pm

Notes:
*Featuring Jeff Randall, the late Marty Hopkirk, and Jean Hopkirk