Never Trust a Ghost

Last updated

"Never Trust a Ghost"
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) episode
RandallHopkirk4.jpg
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 4
Directed by Jeremy Summers
Written by Donald James
Production code04
Original air date12 October 1969 (1969-10-12)
Guest appearances
Caroline Blakiston
Philip Madoc
Donald Morley
Brian Oulton
Edina Ronay
Peter Vaughan
Episode chronology
 Previous
"All Work and No Pay"
Next 
"That's How Murder Snowballs"
List of episodes

"Never Trust a Ghost" is the fourth episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 12 October 1969 on ITV. Directed by Jeremy Summers.

Contents

Synopsis

One evening, whilst idly passing the time away, Marty witnesses an ambush outside the home of a wealthy civil servant, James Howarth. Mr Howarth arrives home and is threatened by a man waiting in the street and forced into his own house, where he is promptly shot. The killer then immediately gets on the telephone and tells somebody that his mission was a success and that there were no witnesses (unaware of Marty's presence of course) and reveals himself to be a Mr Rawlins in the process.

Marty immediately calls round to see Jeff and convinces him to call the police. Jeff rings a grumpy inspector Clayton, who seems to have a particular dislike for Jeff and is none too pleased at being disturbed in the middle of the night. Nevertheless he agrees to call on the Howarth's as the seriousness of Jeff's phone call, suggesting that a murder has been committed, cannot be overlooked.

The inspector and Jeff turn up at the Howarth house and are greeted by a rather surprised Mrs Howarth. The inspector asks to see her husband but she refuses to disturb him. However, much to Marty's surprise he actually shows up asking what is going on. Marty insists that he saw him being murdered but can't explain how he's there! The inspector rebukes Jeff for wasting his time.

The next day Marty calls on Jeff and tells him that he's not satisfied and he knows what he saw. He eventually convinces a reluctant Jeff to pay the Howarth's another visit with the ostensible excuse that he is apologising, whilst Marty does some investigating. Mrs Howarth answers the door and can't believe that Jeff would have the audacity to call again, however he pushes his way past her and rather rudely takes a seat in the living room, without being asked.

Just as Jeff is about to leave, Marty informs him that he has seen Rawlins in the study. Jeff then insists that he will wait for Mr Howarth to return and he'll wait in the study. Mrs Howarth is enraged and asks him to leave immediately, but he opens the study door and looks in. However the room is completely unoccupied and Marty is at a loss to explain where Rawlins has gone!

Mrs Howarth calls the police and Jeff is arrested by a gleeful Inspector Clayton who is keen to throw the book at him. However, for some unknown reason Clayton's boss calls him and is instructed to let Randall go. During this time Marty has been spending more time at the Howarth's house to try and get to the bottom of things. He discovers that the Mr & Mrs Howarth that have been talking to the police and Jeff are actually look alike imposters and the real Mr & Mrs Howarth are lying dead in the basement. He also discovers that the group are working for a foreign power and have a hidden photograph laboratory behind the bookcase in the study (explaining Rawlins' earlier disappearance from the study). Their motives are not revealed at this stage.

Marty immediately goes round to see Jeff and informs him of his findings. He tries to talk Jeff into breaking into the Howarth house' basement and take a look for himself. However, after the last two episodes Jeff is extremely reluctant. Once again though he eventually takes Marty's advice and breaks into the basement only to find, once again, that Marty appears to have led him up a gum tree and there are no bodies! During his attempt to get out of the basement the Mr & Mrs Howarth imposters spot him and they call the police.

In a panic Jeff calls Jeannie and asks for her help to come up with an alibi. He asks her to come round to his apartment, get into bed and, when the police call, to say that she's been with Jeff all night. She reluctantly cooperates with Jeff's plans and inspector Clayton is once again robbed of his chance to incriminate Jeff.

Clearly exasperated by Marty's continual false leads Jeff decides to seek help from a psychic expert called Professor (also Dr) Plevitt and asks him if it's possible for a ghost to tell lies. Plevitt advises that they certainly may not always tell the truth, though they do not knowingly tell lies. He explains that they live in a 'fantasy world' and you must take what they say with a pinch of salt. Whilst Jeff is doing this the spies plot on killing him after they realise that the police have failed to apprehend him yet again. Marty hears this and gets back to Jeff who is, at that time, driving back to his office.

Marty tries to convince Jeff of this plot but Jeff is dismissive after his visit to Plevitt. Jeff placates Marty however by suggesting that he checks the office out first before he goes up there. Whilst Marty is doing this Jeff is shot at by Rawlins in a waiting car. The bullets put holes in Jeff's windscreen and narrowly miss him. Jeff's faith in Marty is once again restored and he returns to his office. Shortly after this Jeff is visited by Rawlins, masquerading as a potential client. However Marty recognises him and advises Jeff, whereupon a fight ensues. Unfortunately Jeff comes second in this encounter and is taken, unconscious, back to the Howarth house and is tied up.

The plan is for the spies to leave that night for the airport and leave the real Mr & Mrs Howarth's bodies in the living room with Jeff, who they plan to also shoot and make it look like he killed the Howarths and then shot himself. At this time the imposters reveal that they are spies for a foreign (undisclosed) country and that they chose Mr Howarth to impersonate as he is in charge of salaries for various British Intelligence agencies and, as such, he has access to every undercover agent's details used by the UK. The imposter Howarth has been busy photographing all the important documents whilst he has had access to his place of employment.

Marty pays Jeff a visit before the spies have had a chance to murder him and Jeff advises him to see Plevitt and convince him to call Scotland Yard and say that a murder is about to take place at the Howarth's address. Plevitt can see Marty but assumes that he is not telling him the truth. He insists that Marty takes some tests before he'll be convinced by the truth of what he's saying. Marty passes with flying colours of course and Plevitt eventually decides to call the police. They arrive in the nick of time just as the spies were planning on shooting Jeff and Jeff is finally able to give a first hand account of what's been going on to Inspector Clayton and the spies are arrested.

Cast

Production

Although the 4th episode in the series, Never Trust a Ghost was the 14th episode to be shot, filmed between December 1968 and February 1969. [1]

A small amount of location shooting was done for this episode: the exterior of Jeff's apartment on St Johns Wood High Street, where Jeff is seen arriving in act one, Jeannie arriving by Mini and the arrival of the police car with Inspector Clayton in act two. When Jeff drives back from his visit with Dr Plevitt, exterior footage of the Vauxhall was shot on Great Chapel Street and Oxford Street. Second-unit footage of the exterior and street of Adams Furniture in Harrow for the sequence showing Jeff driving back to the Randall & Hopkirk office in the Vauxhall and being shot at by Rawlins, who then drives off.

Back projection footage seen behind Jeff and Marty in the studio shot car interiors consisted of footage of Goodge Street, Charlotte Street, Tottenham Court Road and Howland Street. Stock footage depicting London at night at the start of the episode consisted of shots of Berkely Street, Lambeth Pier and the Houses of Parliament. Stock shots of New Scotland Yard and the British Museum were also used. The street and exterior of Howarth's home were shot on the standing street sets on the backlot at Elstree studios.

Related Research Articles

<i>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)</i> British television series (1969–1970)

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) is a British private detective television series, starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope respectively as the private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk. The series was created by Dennis Spooner and produced by Monty Berman, and was first broadcast in 1969 and 1970. In the United States, it was given the title My Partner the Ghost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivor Dean</span> British stage, film and television actor

Ivor Donald Dean was a British stage, film and television actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">My Late Lamented Friend and Partner</span> 1st episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"My Late Lamented Friend and Partner" is the pilot episode of the 1969 British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 21 September 1969 on ITV and directed by Cyril Frankel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Disturbing Case</span> 2nd episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"A Disturbing Case" is the second episode of the 1969 British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), distributed by ITC Entertainment and starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 28 September 1969 on ITV. It was directed by Ray Austin.

<i>Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)</i> (2000 TV series) Television series (2000–2001)

Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) is a British television series, produced by Working Title Television for BBC One, written and produced by Charlie Higson. It is a revival of the 1960s television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and stars Vic Reeves as Marty Hopkirk and Bob Mortimer as Jeff Randall, two partner private detectives, Emilia Fox as Jeannie Hurst, Hopkirk's fiancée, and Tom Baker as Wyvern, a spirit mentor. Two series were commissioned and were broadcast in 2000 and 2001 with the pilot episode airing 18 March 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All Work and No Pay</span> 3rd episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"All Work and No Pay" is the third episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 5 October 1969 on ITV. Directed by Jeremy Summers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">That's How Murder Snowballs</span> 5th episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"That's How Murder Snowballs" is the fifth episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. Directed by Paul Dickson and written by Ray Austin, the episode was first broadcast on 19 October 1969 on ITV.

Just for the Record (<i>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)</i>) 6th episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"Just for the record" is the sixth episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 25 October 1969 on ITV. Directed by Jeremy Summers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whoever Heard of a Ghost Dying?</span> 8th episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

Whoever Heard of a Ghost Dying? is the eighth episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 9 November 1969 on ITV. The episode was directed by Ray Austin.

For the Girl Who Has Everything (<i>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)</i>) 12th episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"For the Girl who Has Everything" is the twelfth episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 6 December 1969 on ITV. Directed by Cyril Frankel, it featured Lois Maxwell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">But What a Sweet Little Room</span> 13th episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"But What a Sweet Little Room" is the thirteenth episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 14 December 1969 on the ITV. Directed by Roy Ward Baker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">When the Spirit Moves You</span> 16th episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"When the Spirit Moves You" is the sixteenth episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope. The episode was first broadcast on 2 January 1970 on ITV and was directed by Ray Austin.

A Sentimental Journey (<i>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)</i>) 19th episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"A Sentimental Journey" is the nineteenth episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope. The episode was first broadcast on 23 January 1970 on the ITV. It was directed by Leslie Norman. In this episode Marty learns to search every hotel room in London quickly and is able to blow an entire small aircraft across the runway. Annette Andre does not appear in this episode. The absence of Jeannie Hopkirk, as with her lack of appearance in "When the Spirit Moves You", is not explained in this episode. Also as with "When the Spirit Moves You", Andre still receives a credit at the end of this episode, despite her lack of appearance.

The Trouble with Women (<i>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)</i>) 23rd episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"The Trouble with Women" is the twenty-third episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 28 February 1970 on ITV. It was directed by Cyril Frankel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vendetta for a Dead Man</span> 24th episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"Vendetta for a Dead Man" is the twenty-fourth episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 27 February 1970 on ITV. It was directed by Cyril Frankel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">You Can Always Find a Fall Guy</span> Episode of Randall and Hopkirk

"You Can Always Find a Fall Guy" is the twenty-fifth episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 6 March 1970 on the ITV. It was directed by Ray Austin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Smile Behind the Veil</span> 26th episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"The Smile Behind the Veil" is the final episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope, and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 13 March 1970 on the ITV and was directed by Jeremy Summers.

Money to Burn (<i>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)</i>) 20th episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"Money to Burn" is the twentieth episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. It was directed by Ray Austin.

The Ghost Talks (<i>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)</i>) 21st episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"The Ghost Talks" is the twenty-first episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 6 February 1970, on ITV, and was directed by Cyril Frankel.

Who Killed Cock Robin? (<i>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)</i>) 14th episode of the 1st season of Randall and Hopkirk

"Who Killed Cock Robin?" is the fourteenth episode of the ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 21 December 1969 on ITV.

References

  1. "Programmes". Randallandhopkirk.org.uk. Retrieved 8 April 2014.