NEVER TRUST A GHOST • REVIEW

NEVER TRUST A GHOST • DECLASSIFIED

• Pre-Titles Teaser... Marty Hopkirk is wandering the streets of London at night, for want of something better to do with himself. He pauses outside the Galerie Michele and peers in at a painting on display before returning to his stroll. His attention is then drawn by a courting couple across the road, who are kissing, completely oblivious to their surroundings. Marty looks on with a slight sadness, perhaps thinking of Jeannie and what he has lost. He moves on, leaving the lovers to their moment, his thoughts turning instead to the parking meters which line the side of the road. As he turns the corner, a realisation dawns upon him - did he catch sight of a man hiding in the shadows on the opposite side of the road? He casts a glance back. Yes, he was right. How odd... The man steps out into the open, and looks back up the road. He is young, with cruel features, and wears a brown overcoat. The sound of an approaching vehicle can be heard. At the sound, the man retreats back into the shadows. Very suspicious, thinks Marty. A moment later, the vehicle arrives. It is a black taxi cab - and it pulls up beside a well-to-do residence. A man wearing a bowler hat exits the cab and goes to pay the driver. Marty is concerned when he looks back to the overcoated man who had been acting suspiciously, for now he is brandishing a gun, to which he adds a silencer. Having received his fare, the cabbie drives off and the bowler-hatted gentleman opens his front door and enters. In a flash, the gunman is behind him, the weapon aimed at its target. Marty appears inside the house and watches events unfold. He is powerless to help, and his cries of warning go unheard. The would-be victim asked the assailant what he wants. "Just you, Howarth," comes the reply. Howarth throws his briefcase at the gunman and runs for the door to his study. He isn't quick enough, for the gunman recovers and shoots Howarth in the back. Marty is horrified as he watches the man slide down the door frame. The gunman looks pleased with himself. A cold smile breaks across his visage. He checks his handiwork - his victim is definitely dead. He unscrews the silencer from the gun barrel and picks up the receiver of Howarth's hall telephone. He dials a number and makes his report: "Rawlins here... Yes, it's done... No, there were no witnesses." Marty Hopkirk, at his shoulder, disagrees...

• Production Brief... Never Trust a Ghost was the fourteenth episode to go before the cameras. It was the fifth episode to have been written by Tony Williamson, and the third to be directed by Leslie Norman. The director had previously been responsible for A Sentimental Journey and It's Supposed To Be Thicker Than Water. It would prove to be Norman's final credit for Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) as, following the completion of this episode, he moved on to Department S (for ITC) and The Avengers (for ABPC). Both these productions and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) were produced out of Elstree Studios, and as their crew members regularly moved between productions, he was not exactly saying goodbye to his colleagues!

• After the director of photography role had been shared between Frank Watts and Brian Elvin during filming of the previous episode, When the Spirit Moves You, the pair went their separate ways from this one, with Watts filling the role on Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Elvin returning to Department S.

• At the start of this episode, we see Marty materialising as he walks past the Galerie Michele. This appears to have been an afterthought, achieved optically during post-production after filming was complete. The tell-tale sign here is that the start of the shot is an optical dupe with frozen static dirt suggesting that insufficient footage of the empty street was filmed prior to Kenneth Cope walking into shot. This means that the decision was taken to freeze a single frame of the empty street to give enough material to dissolve across to the rest of the take. There is a slight double imaging mid-dissolve as there was obviously a marginal camera movement between the start and end of the shot, but it is nonetheless effective and the decision taken adds to the atmosphere of the sequence. The images below show the most prominent dirt marks disappearing as Marty materialises.

Images © ITV Studios, 1969

• Production slates surviving on behind the scenes footage reveal that interior scenes featuring at least Kenneth Cope were filmed on the 6th December 1968 at Elstree, and that the exterior second unit footage showing Jeff's Vauxhall arriving outside his apartment (on St. John's Wood High Street, St. John's Wood) was filmed on 30th January 1969.

• Exact filming dates for this episode are unknown, but it is believed to have been filmed between early December 1968 and late January 1969, with production continuing through the Christmas and New Year period. Production slates, as mentioned above, reveal that filming took place on 6th December 1968 and 30th January 1969, though it is quite feasible that filming went beyond this latter date. A fully edited version of this episode was completed by late May 1969.

• On Location... Never Trust a Ghost boasts only a modest set of locations, with its centrepiece being on the Elstree backlot. Additionally, the episode recycled footage filmed for previous episodes, and made return visits to popular Randall and Hopkirk locales. More details in Locations: Never Trust a Ghost.

• Seeing Things... Never Trust a Ghost received its first UK broadcast on Sunday 12th October 1969 at 7.25pm when it aired in monochrome in the London Weekend Television ITV region.

• It was first shown in colour on ITV when it was repeated on Sunday 21st June 1970 at 3.45pm in the LWT region.

Images © ITV Studios, 1969

• Although Mike Pratt had previously been attired in his brown leather jacket in A Sentimental Journey and Who Killed Cock Robin?, this episode marked the first time that Jeff was decked out in an all brown outfit, complete with the jacket. Between Never Trust a Ghost and the end of the series, it would become his trademark look.

• Unusually, there are three instances in this episode of rolling backdrops being used as driver side-window backgrounds for cars in motion, rather than the more commonly employed optically printed backgrounds (shot against blue screens, with the moving backgrounds added in post production). The same scenery canvas on a revolving drum is used at 3 minutes 50 seconds, 22 minutes 12 seconds and 23 minutes 9 seconds. The giveaway is the very regular repetition of building characteristics and the lack of degradation of the foreground image (process shots always looked inferior to the camera negative as they dropped a film generation when combined optically with the background).

• A static backdrop depicting the entrance to Jeff's apartment is used in the background when he telephones Jeannie from the callbox across the street. This painted backdrop matches in well with the real location.

• Another in-studio painted backdrop represents the row of garages opposite Jeff's flat which Jeannie and then the police park. In the previous episode, When the Spirit Moves You, this same backdrop represented the opposite side of the road to the Randall and Hopkirk offices (for the shot of Perrin watching from his car). Other shots in other episodes show that there are no garages opposite either Jeff's apartment or his office!

• Jeff gets a severe beating in this episode from Rawlins, and this scene is notable for having some very poorly concealed stunt doubling. You can imagine Mike Pratt and Philip Madoc watching from the sidelines and wondering if the definition of "double" had changed overnight! Additionally, when Rocky Taylor leaps over the chair, he catches Madoc's head quite heavily with his left foot.

Images © ITV Studios, 1969

• We learn in this episode that Marty can operate the keys of a typewriter by thought power alone. Marty also demonstrates that he is perfectly well adjusted and an accurate reporter of real world events when he is tested at the British Museum by ghost expert Dr Plevitt.

• This is one of only four episodes in the series to have been presented on DVD with their original 'graveyard' British opening titles, on the Network release of the series, the other episodes being When the Spirit Moves You, Money to Burn and The Man from Nowhere. These episodes were mastered from standard prints and the title sequence was added during mastering by Network DVD to approximate how they would have looked on their original British transmissions. Subsequently this opening sequence was featured on all episode of the series when Network issued Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), restored in High Definition from the original film elements, on Blu-ray in 2017.

• Only You, Jeff? Ghost expert Dr Plevitt, who is based at the British Museum, has absolutely no trouble in seeing and conversing with Marty. However, Marty finds his relationship with the somewhat dotty academic a little frustrating, as Plevitt has a number of theories about ghosts, and most of these appear to be unfounded. Particularly inaccurate is Plevitt's suggestion that ghosts do not live in the real world and are therefore unreliable witnesses to real world events. As a result, Marty has to participate in a series of tests to convince Plevitt that he is not hallucinating.

• Ghosts and Ghoulies... Once again, Marty is the solitary spectral presence in this episode. However, Plevitt is hardly surprised by Marty's appearance in his office at the British Museum, so we can assume that the doctor has seen a steady flow of visitors from the other side.

• The Vehicles... Appearing in this episode were the following wonders of transport...

	1958 Austin FX4 Taxi Cab Registration 627 DXB Incidental Vehicle	Also appeared in: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - 'A Sentimental Journey'
	1968 Vauxhall Victor FD 2000 Registration RXD 996F Driven by Jeff Randall	Also appeared in: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - used extensively throughout the series Department S - 'The Last Train to Redbridge', 'The Man from X'
	1968 Ford Zephyr Deluxe MkIV Registration PXD 976F	Also appeared in: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - 'My Late Lamented Friend and Partner', 'A Sentimental Journey', 'You Can Always Find A Fall Guy', 'Who Killed Cock Robin?', 'The Trouble With Women', 'Whoever Heard of a Ghost Dying?', 'Vendetta for a Dead Man', 'A Disturbing Case', 'Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave'  Department S - 'The Bones of Byrom Blain' and other episodes
	1964 Austin Mini Super Deluxe Mk I Registration BAP 245B Driven by Jean Hopkirk	Also appeared in: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - 'My Late Lamented Friend and Partner', 'You Can Always Find a Fall Guy', 'All Work and No Pay', 'Vendetta for a Dead Man', 'Just for the Record', 'Could You Recognise the Man Again?', 'A Disturbing Case', 'Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave', 'The Ghost Talks' Department S - 'The Man from X' The Saint - 'The Time to Die' The Persuaders! - 'Greensleeves'
	1968 Lancia Fulvia Coupé Registration UBY 96F Driven by Rawlins	Also appeared in: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - 'Money to Burn', 'Vendetta for a Dead Man' Department S - used extensively in the series (Annabelle Hurst's car)

• Seen It All Before? The Elstree backlot is probably as familiar to ITC fans as famous landmarks are to most people. The sections utilised here featured the 'Galerie Michele', which viewers will remember as being opposite John Mannering's antiques shop from The Baron, and the entrance to Jeff's bank (last seen in When the Spirit Moves You).

• An in-studio backdrop depicting a row of wooden garage doors is utilised several times in this episode - first Jeannie parks outside them when driving to Jeff's, then when Rawlins shoots at Jeff, and finally when Jeff is in the car ducking the shots. The backdrop had previously been used in When the Spirit Moves You.

• Two studio sets were redressed for use in this episode: the lounge set as Howarth's study, and Inspector Large's office, subtly altered to accommodate Inspector Clayton.

• The name 'Rawlins' may seem familiar to viewers of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - perhaps that's because it is used (with the alternative spelling 'Rawlings') in But What a Sweet Little Room.

• When Rawlins pretends to be a potential client of Randall and Hopkirk, he gives James Wentworth-Smith as his false name. 'Wentworth' appears to have been a favoured name, maybe even an in-joke, as it had been employed twice before in the series. It had first been used by writer Donald James in For the Girl Who Has Everything, which featured the characters Kim and Larry Wentworth, and Who Killed Cock Robin, written (like Never Trust a Ghost) by Tony Williamson, which made reference to the family home as the 'Wentworth Howe estate'. Williamson had previously used the Wentworth-Howe name in The Positive-Negative Man, a 1967 episode of The Avengers, and the character, Cynthia Wentworth-Howe was be played by Never Trust a Ghost guest star Caroline Blakiston!

• The 1968 Lancia Fulvia Coupé driven in this episode was borrowed from Department S, where it featured on a regular basis as Annabelle Hurst's car. It would appear again in Money to Burn.

• After being absent for three consecutive episodes, the white Ford Zephyr police car makes a return in Never Trust a Ghost.

• Cock-ups... At 4 minutes and 6 seconds into the episode, we find Marty alone in Jeff's flat, so whose is that shadow passing along the wall behind him?

• At 5 minutes and 39 seconds, Jeff hands Sandra a glass of wine. She raises the glass to her lips. The shot changes and rather than the glass being at her lips, she is raising it again. One wonders whether this was due to an error made during filming, in that the continuity point was overlooked, in editing, or if perhaps this episode was sponsored by the Alcohol Abstention League?

Images © ITV Studios, 1969

• At 24 minutes and 31 seconds, Jeannie's Mini speeds down Greenberry Street and parks up outside a row of garages. Jeannie exits the car and we now see the car is miraculously standing opposite Jeff's apartment block. The magic of editing is that it does make sense in isolation in this episode. However, it disagrees with the depiction of the environs of Jeff's home in other episodes, notably You Can Always Find a Fall Guy.

• That row of garages is back at 33 minutes and 48 seconds, representing the frontage of Adams Furniture, the building which contains Jeff's office. However, the building had no such feature - and we had seen it mere seconds earlier in a shot of Rawlins in his car, representing the other side of the road!

• And Finally... Jeff manages to get his partner's widow Jeannie into his bed in this episode. She agrees to drive round to Jeff's in her nightgown, late at night, to provide him with an alibi - is she really that naïve? We've all tried that one, haven't we? The late night call to an attractive young woman, the tall story about why she should come round to your place in her flimsiest of negligees... Even though Marty accepts the extinuating circumstances, that doesn't stop him locking Jeff out of his own flat once the police have gone!

Plotline: Scoton Productions / ITC • UK Transmissions by Simon Coward and Alan Hayes
Review by Alan Hayes • Declassified by Alan Hayes
with thanks to Vince Cox, Sam Denham, Alys Hayes, John Holburn,
Anthony McKay, Andrew Pixley, Shaqui Le Vesconte and Jonathan Wood

All timings given on this page relate to the Blu-ray editions of this episode