Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)

Marty Hopkirk (1969)

Real Name: Martin "Marty" Hopkirk

Identity/Class: Ghost

Occupation: Private detective

Affiliations: Jeff Randall (partner), Dr.Plevitt (ghost expert who could see Marty), Henry Mace Horsfall (Irish detective who couldn see Marty), Sir Oliver Norenton, Inspector Large (though Large didn't know of Marty's continued existence as a ghost), Mrs. Pleasance (village tea shop owner, another person who could see him)

Enemies: Dr. Conrad, the Foster brothers, Rawlins, Bugsy Spanio, Cecil Purley, Hellingworth, Carol Latimer, Hinch

Known Relatives: Jeanie Hopkirk (widow), Jennifer (sister-in-law), Clara Faringham (aunt)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: London

First Appearance: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) Episode #1 "My Late, Lamented Friend and Partner" (ITC, 21st September 1969)

Powers/Abilities: Permanently insubstantial and invisible to most people, able to materialise and dematerialise. Though insubstantial, he eventually learned how to interact with solid objects in a limited fashion, allowing him to (for example) operate a typewriter, make small objects shake or topple, lights flicker, or shatter glass with sufficient concentration. He can influence the actions of dogs, cause flowers to wither, and his presence can be felt by and disturb cats and birds. He can sense the approach of living people and is able to perfectly mimic others voices (though since only Jeff and a handful of others can hear him, this has limited uses). Doesn't need to sleep, nor does he feel the cold. He can generate gale force winds by blowing.

History: "Afore the sun arise anew, each ghost unto his grave must go. Cursed be the ghost who dares to stay, and face the awful light of day. Ye shall not to the grave return, until a hundred years be gone."

Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk were partners in a detective agency, until Marty was killed by a hit-and-run driver while investigating what had appeared to be an ordinary divorce case. Realising he had been murdered on the orders of the philandering husband (who had also killed his wife, who had hired the detectives), Marty refused to take his death lying down. He haunted Jeff with ghostly calls to draw him to his grave, where he appeared before his stunned partner and explained both his suspicions and that Jeff had been picked as his earthly contact, the only person who would be able to see and hear him (though, as things turned out, that proved to be not quite the case). Together they caught Marty's killers, but not before Marty broke a strict ghostly rule about being back at his grave before dawn. As a result, Marty was now stuck on Earth for the next hundred years. With nothing better to do, he decided to continue helping Jeff on his cases. Together they faced Dr.Conrad, a psychiatrist who was hypnotising patients to assist in burgling their own homes; the fake spiritualists, the Foster brothers; and ghost mobster Bugsy Spanio, as well as many other, more mundane, foes. So successful were they at solving cases that one mobster even figured out Jeff was getting supernatural help, and called in clairvoyant Cecil Purley to exorcise Marty.

Comments: Played by Kenneth Cope.

My Late, Lamented Friend and Partner
A Disturbing Case
All Work and No Pay
Never Trust a Ghost
That's How Murder Snowballs
Just For The Record
Murder Ain't What It Used To Be
Whoever Heard of a Ghost Dying?
The House On Haunted Hill
When Did You Start To Stop Seeing Things?
The Ghost Who Saved The Bank At Monte Carlo
For The Girl Who Has Everything
But What A Sweet Little Room
Who Killed Cock Robin?
The Man From Nowhere
When The Spirit Moves You
Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave
Could You Recognise The Man Again?
Money To Burn
A Sentimental Journey
The Ghost Talks
It's Supposed To Be Thicker Than Water
The Trouble With Women
Vendetta For A Dead Man
You Can Always Find A Fall Guy
The Smile Behind The Veil

In America the series was called "My Partner, the Ghost". In Peru it was "El Detective Fantasma".

Marty Hopkirk (2000)

Real Name: Marty Hopkirk

Identity/Class: Human ghost

Occupation: Detective

Affiliations: Jeff Randall (partner), Wyvern (his ghostly mentor), Jeannie Hurst (fiancé), Nesbit

Enemies: Dr.Lawyer, Captain Graves, Richard Shelley, Sidney Crabbe (ghost of a criminal killed by Marty's father), Dickie Bechard

Known Relatives: Larry Hopkirk (father, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: London, U.K. and Limbo

First Appearance: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) Episode #1 "Drop Dead" (BBC 1, 18th March 2000)

Powers/Abilities: Insubstantial, and invisible to most people. He can imitate people's voices perfectly, and levitate small objects. He can possess people, entering their bodies and controlling their actions, but doesn't do so often, as it can be a risky venture. Able to shrink shoes.

History: Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk were private detectives hired by famous artist Gordon Stylus to watch his wife Annette, whom he claimed was mentally unstable and suicidal. The night before he was due to get married, Marty was watching Annette, but things went badly; Marty ended up on the bonnet of a car Annette appeared to be driving, and the two went over a cliff to their deaths. Jeff and Marty's fiancé, Jeannie, suspected things were not as clear cut, and began to investigate; with their lives in danger too, Marty returned as a ghost visible only to Jeff to make sure they didn't join him in the afterlife. They proved Stylus had been behind everything, but Marty missed his chance to return to his grave on time, becoming stuck on Earth and in Limbo, unable to move on for a hundred years.

Comments: Played by Vic Reeves.

The new show lasted two seasons, one of six episodes, one of seven.

Drop Dead
Mental Apparition Disorder
The Best Years of Your Death
Paranoia
A Blast from the Past
A Man of Substance
Whatever Possessed You?
Revenge of the Bog People
O Happy Isle
Pain Killers
Marshall and Snellgrove
The Glorious Butranekh
Two Can Play at That Game

In addition, there were two original novels produced.

Ghost from the Past
Ghost in the Machine

CLARIFICATIONS: None.

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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