Randall and Hopkirk Deceased (1969)

aka My Partner the Ghost

This tv show from the late 1960s is about Randall and Hopkirk who are Private Detectives.  In the first episode, Hopkirk is killed in a hit and run due to a case Randall is working on.  He returns as a ghost who - as most ghosts do - wears all white.  Hopkirk won't rest until he solves his own murder and Randall is the only person who can see Hopkirk or hear him.

Ghosts must return to their graves before the morning light. When Hopkirk stays out past dawn to help Randall, he's locked out of his grave for one hundred years.  So the two become partners once again, along with Hopkirk's wife Jeanne who inherited half of the business and is the firms secretary. But Jeanne isn't aware that Marty is still around.

I loved this series when I was a teenager. It was syndicated as My Partner the Ghost.  It has some comedic overtones, and who wouldn't want a detective agency with a ghost partner?  They're really helpful in solving crimes since they can get all kinds of information the normal P.I. can't.

This show is similar to other late 1960s British shows such as The Avengers and UFO, both of which I enjoy.  It's definitely got a slower feel to it than current TV shows. I wonder if current teenagers would think of it the same way I think of movies from the 1940s and 1950s?  If you like 1960s detetective shows, you can't go wrong with this one.

Another reason I like old TV shows is seeing someone and thinking "That guy looks familiar" and then figuring out where I've seen him before. The beatnik hitchhiker in the first episode turns out to be Ronald Lacey, better known as  Major Arnold Toht, the Nazi villain in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

1969 - long haired Beatnik

1981 - Nazi