Randall and Hopkirk Deceased Vol 5

Another fantastic four episodes of Randall and Hopkirk Deceased have found their way to release. And, as per usual, they are up to the highest standard. Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope are fabulous in their titular roles, as Jeff and Marty, detectives separated only by Hopkirk's inconvenient death.

First, a little background. Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk are/were a brilliant team of private investigators, until the latter was killed in a hit-and-run. Rather than leave earth, Marty stayed to help find his killer and consequently missed the boat to heaven. Thus, he is doomed to stay in Limbo, where his best friend, Randall, is the only person who can see him.

The first episode, The Man From Nowhere, has a stranger turn up at Hopkirk's wife's door, claiming to be her dead husband. A strange occurrence, considering that Marty is standing right beside him in his ghostly white suit!

Marty discovers in When The Spirit Moves You that he has to deal with a villain, who can see and hear him when he's drunk. In episode 17, Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave, Randall and Hopkirk find that somebody, who looks strangely from another time, has been digging up Marty's grave.

Finally, in Could You Recognise That Man Again?, Hopkirk's wife is held hostage to stop her giving evidence in a murder trial, where the victim is found in Jeff's car. Marty tries his best to find her, but, even with the ability to walk through walls, has little luck.

Episodes 15-18 delve right into the middle of the Randall and Hopkirk series, but new viewers need not worry, as each episode is a self-contained story, with different characters, excluding the three protagonists.

For ardent fans of the Sixties show, this is definitely a must.