THE GHOST TALKS • REVIEW

THE GHOST TALKS • DECLASSIFIED

• Pre-Titles Teaser... Jeff Randall is in hospital, laid out on a bed with his right leg in plaster and his left arm in a sling. Marty appears and doesn't look impressed. Jeff has fallen from a balcony while chasing a safebreaker. Marty tells him there was no need to chase the man as the police were waiting to pick him up. Jeff unfortunately didn't know that. Marty is upset because Jeff has made a mess of the case and now won't receive the reward for the safebreaker's capture. If Marty had been alive, he'd have made a better job of it, he contests. "At least I didn't fall off a balcony. The only time I slipped up, I got killed," he comments. And, after all, who solved Randall and Hopkirk's biggest case? Marty decides to keep his friend and partner occupied by telling him about it, of the time when Jeff was away for a fortnight in Scotland chasing pheasant poachers and Marty had to handle things in London on his own. He was in the office. Things were pretty routine, but wheels were turning in the corridors of power. In a Downing Street office, a man called Parker is going through the Yellow Pages, looking for an appropriate private investigator for his superior Major Brenan. He reads out a few names. At the sound of Jeff Randall's name, Brenan notes that he knew Randall in the forces and suggests that he would be ideal. Marty receives a call from Parker and explains that Jeff is away. Brenan ruminates for a moment and decides that as Randall's partner, Hopkirk will make a  perfect replacement...

• Production Brief... The Ghost Talks was the twenty-sixth and final episode to go before the cameras. It was the second episode to have been written by Gerald Kelsey (the other being The Smile Behind the Veil) and the sixth to be directed by Cyril Frankel, who had also been responsible for the previous episode, Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave - and was therefore already up to speed concerning the problem of a badly injured and immobile star actor...

• Mike Pratt's accident of 7th June 1969 (see Production Brief, Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave) necessitated a rewrite to the final script of the series, The Dead Don't Even Whisper. As Pratt was recovering from two broken legs and was mostly immobile, it was decided that Jeff Randall would be hospitalised and bedbound, making him a captive audience as Marty tells him about an investigation he had undertaken solo, not long before his death. As a consequence, the episode was reworked - in a hectic turnaround lasting "about three days", as writer Gerald Kelsey told author Geoff Tibballs - and retitled The Ghost Talks. The greater majority of the storyline was therefore told in flashback with Marty being the main protagonist instead of Jeff, and Jeff appearing only in the present day linking scenes in the hospital. Among the rescripted material was an explanation of how Jeff came to break his legs, and scenes moving - for obvious reasons - from Jeff's apartment to that of the Hopkirks.

• As well as the footage featuring Jeff and Marty in the hospital room, there are also incidences of voiceover by both characters, usually over a still frame pausing the action of the flashback.

• Exact filming dates for this episode are unknown, but it is believed to have been filmed in July 1969. A fully edited version of this episode was completed by late August 1969.

• On Location... The Ghost Talks marks Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'s second visit to the underground car park at ABPC Elstree Studios and makes use of other areas of the studio complex, but it doesn't end there. It goes right to the top, to Downing Street and the "corridors of power", taking in Belgravia, George V Docks, Primrose Hill, St. John's Wood (though not to Jeff Randall's apartment as he's laid up in hospital) and even the Wild West! More details in Locations: The Ghost Talks.

• Haunting Melodies... Edwin Astley was not asked to compose any new music cues for The Ghost Talks, with its score coming entirely from stock. One piece of library music was used to set the atmosphere for the Civil and Military Club at which Marty was to meet with Major Brenan. The track selected was Sea Adventures - Part 3 (Cue 2) by Sidney Torch, who composed the piece under a pseudonym, Denis Rycoth.

• Seeing Things... The Ghost Talks received its first UK broadcast on Friday 6th February 1970 at 7.30pm when it aired in colour in the London Weekend Television ITV region.

• Trivia... Whereas the actor Mike Pratt had sustained his broken legs in an inebriated state, having fallen while attempting to gain entry to his home after forgetting his keys, Jeff Randall received similar injuries in a rather more heroic fashion: he fell from a balcony chasing a safebreaker.

• This is one of just four episodes in the series which doesn't feature Jeff in a hand-to-hand fight with an adversary. The other episodes that feature this unusual turn of events are All Work and No Pay, Money to Burn and The Ghost Who Saved the Bank at Monte Carlo.

• Speaking to Annette Buckley in Time Screen Number 11 (Spring 1988), Kenneth Cope reflected on The Ghost Talks: "I took over the script that Mike was supposed to do [as Mike Pratt had broken his legs], and that's how we got round it. We would keep going back to the bed where I was telling Mike what was going on. It was nice playing a live guy at the very end [of the series]. I could smoke, they were very nice to me. Michael had a cigarette allowance. Though most people frown on smoking, I believe in belonging to a minority, as he used to smoke Gitanes on set. Even though I was a ghost and couldn't smoke, I was given an allowance as well. It was so nice to be able to open doors and walk through them instead of having to glide through them, and talk to people."

• Jean is covering the office while Jeff is away, seemingly something that was arranged between Marty and Jean without Jeff's knowledge. Marty says he needed someone in the office to answer the phone.

• The original intended opening to the episode before it became necessary to rewrite it witnessed Jeff worrying about the firm's cash flow on a Friday afternoon. He hands Jean her weekly wage in an envelope, She opens it and hands some of the notes back to him as she knows only too well how bad things are - and goes home for the weekend. Marty appears and tells Jeff perhaps his contacts in military intelligence might lead to work. "You were in the cook-house!" Jeff retorts, but Marty maintains that he knew some high-ups. The action switches to Whitehall (though in transmitted episode, it is specifically Downing Street, which is off Whitehall) where Parker and Brenan find the Randall and Hopkirk agency in a classified directory. Brenan remembers a "Martin Hopkirk" who was in his unit and decides to engage Randall as "anyone dumb enough to go into business with Martin Hopkirk is just the man we need!"

• The episode ending was also reworked. In the unfilmed version of the script Marty raises the alarm by exercising his spectral powers on the equipment in the radio room.

• Only You, Jeff? This is the episode where 'Only You, Jeff' barely applies as in the majority of the episode Marty is alive and able to interact with everyone and give his wife Jean a big hug and a kiss.

• Ghosts and Ghoulies... As this episode harks back to an adventure prior to Marty Hopkirk's death, it is by its very nature much more of a standard thriller than most Randall and Hopkirk episodes. It therefore contains no supernatural elements over and above Marty's presence in the present day as storyteller.

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

	1964 Austin Mini Super Deluxe Mk I Registration BAP 245B Driven by Marty Hopkirk	Also appeared in: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - 'My Late Lamented Friend and Partner', 'All Work and No Pay', 'You Can Always Find a Fall Guy', 'Never Trust a Ghost', 'Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave' Department S - 'The Man from X' The Saint - 'The Time to Die' The Persuaders! - 'Greensleeves'
	1968 Vauxhall Ventora 3300 Registration RXD 997F Driven by Major Brenan	Also appeared in: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - 'Money to Burn', 'A Disturbing Case' Department S - used extensively in the series (Stewart Sullivan's car)
	1967 Bedford CAL MkIII Registration WAR 425E Driven by Parker
	1967 MV Britannic Refrigerated Cargo Ship Official Number: 334702 IMO: 6719316 Registration Date: 27 Nov 1967 Broken up: 19 May 1996	Also appeared in: Department S - 'The Perfect Operation', 'The Duplicated Man'
	1968 Ford Zephyr 6 MkIV Registration OXE 998F	Also appeared in: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - 'It's Supposed To Be Thicker Than Water', 'Money to Burn', 'The Man from Nowhere', 'Could You Recognise the Man Again?' Department S - 'The Man in the Elegant Room', 'The Last Train to Redbridge', 'The Double Death of Charlie Crippen'
	1967 Ford Zephyr 4 MkIV Registration OLR 477E	Also appeared in: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - 'That's How Murder Snowballs', 'All Work and No Pay', 'Money to Burn', 'The Man from Nowhere'

• Seen It All Before? Brenan is seen driving the Vauxhall Ventora (RXD 997F) used by Stewart Sullivan in Department S and seen previously as Leonard Whitty's car in A Disturbing Case and O'Malley's in Money to Burn. That car certainly got around...

• Major Brenan lives in the same backlot house as Albert Phillips (A Disturbing Case). The area it stood in also doubled for Prohibition era Chicago in Murder Ain't What It Used To Be!

• Our old favourites the hallway and lounge sets were redressed one last time for Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), this time as the Civil and Military Club interior.

• Cock-ups... In the pre-titles teaser, Marty says that he undertook Major Brenan's case when Jeff was away for a fortnight. As part of the flashback at 2 minutes and 30 seconds, Marty explains to Parker on the telephone that Jeff is away for a week. This in itself is not necessarily an error, as Jeff could either have already been away for one week or the engagement, in the fullness of time, ended up taking longer than expected. However, Parker's explanation to Brenan, having been definitively told that Jeff is away for a week, that he is "away for a week or more", seems to be a scripting or continuity slip.

• At 5 minutes and 46 seconds, there is a continuity error when Marty is standing in the office talking to Jeannie, who is sitting by the typewriter. He leans across, asks if she will congratulate him and then draws himself up to his full height, expecting a kiss. When the shot cuts, he is leaning forward once again.

Images © ITV Studios, 1969

• At 8 minutes and 36 seconds, we have a variation on Calvin P. Bream's drink that replenishes itself (When the Spirit Moves You). This time, it's Major Brenan's cigar, which suddenly grows in length from one shot to the next...

Images © ITV Studios, 1969

• At 13 minutes and 46 seconds, during the safecracking scene, Marty looks through the contents of the safe. He finds an official government envelope but. rather than having typed labels and official stamp marks, the text on it is all handwritten in felt tip, which is not entirely convincing.

• When Marty hands the envelope to Brenan at 15 minutes and 7 seconds, it is not the same envelope. The writing is subtly different and the envelope itself looks considerably more worn than it was when Marty found it.

• At 24 minutes and 23 seconds, Marty's stand-in (Dougie Lockyer) gets into his Mini outside an off licence on Sharpeshall Street. The sequence then cuts to the studio with Kenneth Cope in the car against a backdrop depicting wrought iron railings which are not present on the part of the street that the Mini is parked on.

Images © ITV Studios, 1969

• At 26 minutes and 55 seconds, Marty and Jean hold and study the photograph of Jeff's regiment.  The editor cuts to a 2nd unit insert and the hands seen belong to a much older man with clubbed nails.

Images © ITV Studios, 1969

• At 37 minutes and 39 seconds, Marty has been abandoned by Long, meaning that Brenan's henchmen can finally grab Marty. They confront him and escort him from the Dry Heat Room, with the man nearer to the camera twisting Marty's arm behind his back, manhandling him through the doorway. When the camera cuts to the other side of the door, this man is a couple of steps back and has a gun aimed at Marty. Where did that come from?

Images © ITV Studios, 1969

• And Finally... So Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) drew to a close, but it had a whole lease of life ahead of it as when production drew to a close, its opening episode had not even been transmitted. With screenings commencing in September in Canada (17th) and the United Kingdom (19th), there were hopes for a renewal, but since this depended on a sale to a USA network, these wishes were never fulfilled. The three regular cast members were brought together for one final hurrah - to publicise the ITV screenings - on the popular game show The Golden Shot, hosted by Bob Monkhouse. This programme was transmitted live from the recently inaugurated ATV Centre on Broad Street in Birmingham at 4.45pm on Sunday 26th April 1970. Annette André deputised for Anne Aston as the 'Golden Girl' hostess and Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope also featured. Indeed, a pre-recorded insert with Cope witnessed him appearing and disappearing much as he would normally do on film in the series. But even this was not the end as more than fifty years later the series is still loved and the subject of home media releases, TV reruns and... this website!

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, Alys Hayes, Annette Hill, John Holburn,
Anthony McKay and Andrew Pixley

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