Annette André

Character & Episodes: Jean Hopkirk in all episodes except A Sentimental Journey,
When the Spirit Moves You and The House on Haunted Hill
Born: 24/06/1939, Sydney, Australia (as Annette Christine Andreallo)

Born in Australia, Annette André's father was an Italian who worked in a Sydney upholstery business and married a local girl. Annette was educated at Brigidine College in Sydney and her earliest wishes were to be a ballerina. For a short time she was with the Australian Ballet Company, but they dispensed with her services when they realised that she was under age. Her path into acting can be traced to when she was at a convent and a nun suggested she get into radio and enrolled her at radio school. Radio was still then the main entertainment medium, with television in its infancy. Annette quickly became popular and appeared with Bob Hope and Benny Hill when they toured the country. By then she was a dancer, singer and worked in theatre as an actress as well. She was encouraged by director Leslie Norman (the father of TV critic Barry Norman) to try her hand as an actress. With this in mind she went to Italy and played an extra in the 1963 epic Cleopatra. Annette had earlier made a few appearances on Australian television but these were only seen by the home audiences.

She then went to England and appeared in the stage production of Vanity Fair. From this she was cast as Jinny in the film This Is My Street (1964). This led to other notable parts on television, guesting in such shows as The Saint (five episodes between 1964 and 1967), The Prisoner, The Baron and The Avengers. Her good looks and flowing blonde hair made her a natural for the female lead guest star in such series. Another role she is remembered for is Phila, a beautiful virgin concubine in the 1966 film version of the Broadway musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Annette worked with silent comedy legend Buster Keaton on the film and thought him "a lovely old man". She also used her comic talents alongside Dick Emery, Sid James and Benny Hill, and was one of the first 'Hill's Angel' girls. Hill even asked Annette to marry him. She remembers Benny as "a wonderful man, very shy and lonely, and a bit eccentric". She was for a while linked with the footballer George Best, though Annette says the press made rather more out of their couple of dates than the relationship warranted.

Annette had been considered for the role of Sharron Macready in The Champions, though the role would go eventually to Alexandra Bastedo. When Annette was later cast as Jean Hopkirk in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), she would often swap wardrobes with Alexandra as the concluding episodes of The Champions were still being filmed on a nearby set. The two women would become good friends. After filming finished on Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Annette's career started to slow down. She did however make notable contributions to The Persuaders! and The New Avengers in the Seventies. She would also star in the cheap and cheerful Midlands soap Crossroads and the Australian prison drama series-cum-soap opera Prisoner (shown in the UK as Prisoner Cell Block H). To date, her last screen appearance was in the short film Nobis (2017).

Annette also appeared in London's West End in the mystery thriller The Business of Murder at the Playfair Theatre in 1985. In 1989 she married the producer Arthur Weingarten (1935- ) and retired from the industry to start a family. She has a daughter, Anouska, and two grandchildren. Annette lives in Southern California but visits London regularly to see her daughter. She devotes much of her time to animal welfare and has in the past worked closely with Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna of the Born Free Foundation. Annette loves to paint and has sold several works. She wrote her autobiography, Where Have I Been All My Life? - A Memoir, which was published by Quoit Media Limited in 2018. She has her own website - annetteandreofficial.wordpress.com - and is active on Facebook.

Judith Arthy

Character & Episodes: Jennifer in The House on Haunted Hill and A Disturbing Case
Born: 12/11/1940, Brisbane, Australia (as Judith Anne Arthy)

Judith Arthy made her professional debut at the age of 16 at the Brisbane Repertory Theatre, while also working in teaching, and would later appear on stage in Sydney in the musical play The Fantasticks. She first appeared on Australian television in the first half of the 1960s in series including Consider Your Verdict, and a number of other television productions.

She came to Britain in 1966 and appeared immediately in an episode of The Baron with Steve Forrest. She gained a few other roles, including another ITC appearance in Man in a Suitcase (1967), before being cast in 1969 as the sister of Jean Hopkirk in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). The role of Jenny Hopkirk was created and cast to cover for the unexpected absence of regular cast member Annette André (a fellow Australian) who had fallen ill. Judith played Jenny in two consecutive episodes (in terms of their production), with the second featuring both Judith and Annette and belatedly serving as Jenny's introduction. Other guest appearances followed, most notably in Budgie (in 1971), Z Cars (in 1971 and 1973) and The Protectors (in 1973).

As well as appearing on television, she played opposite Kenneth More in The Secretary Bird at the Savoy Theatre, and also had minor roles in the films The Shattered Room (1967) and Arthur? Arthur? (1969).

In 1976, Judith featured as a regular cast member alongside Derek Griffiths and Julia McKenzie in a short-lived BBC comedy sketch series based on the differences between men and women, called Battle of the Sexes. Later in the same year, she made a guest appearance in one episode of Big Boy Now!, an ATV situation comedy starring Leslie Crowther and Fabia Drake. This would prove to be Judith's final screen appearance in Britain.

By the mid-Seventies, Judith was also working in her native Australia, where she appeared in several television series, including Case For The Defence (transmitted in 1978) and eventually settled. She later taught English and Drama in a school in Brisbane, and went on to write two novels. Judith made a return to the theatre in 2002. She has been twice married, firstly to actor Kerry Francis and then to Australian croquet champion and film maker Aggy Read, until his death in 1998.

Kenneth Cope

Character & Episodes: Marty Hopkirk in all episodes
Born: 14/04/1931, Liverpool, England (as Kenneth Charles Cope)
Died: 11/09/2024, Southport, Sefton, England

The son of an engineer, Kenneth Cope originally got a taste of acting in the Boy Scouts, taking part in several gang shows. He later worked at the Automatic Telephone Company, and was first encouraged to enter acting seriously by his friend Norman Rossington. As a youth, Kenneth was in a production of The Merchant of Venice at the David Lewis Theatre in Liverpool, and at the age of 19 he enrolled at the Bristol Old Vic. In 1952 he was in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure with the Old Vic Company. He would have spell at Cromer before he moved to London and entered theatre in the city.

Kenneth began to appear on television from the first half of the 1950s. His early television engagements included a live BBC Sunday Night Theatre play, The Duenna (transmitted on 19th July 1953 with a second live performance on 2nd July 1953), Fabian of The Yard (1955), Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School (1955-56) and Ivanhoe (1958). In addition, Kenneth gained minor roles in the films Doublecross (1956), The Dangerous Years (1957) and Dunkirk (1958). Later he was cast as Buggins in the drama series Kipps (1960), which starred Bryan Murray. The first real break for Kenneth was in 1961, when he was cast as Jed Stone in the soap opera Coronation Street. During his first year working on this series he met his wife Renny Lister. He left the show in 1966 and made a momentous return some 42 years later in 2008, and stayed for a brief time. Whilst working on Coronation Street in the Sixties he also joined the regular cast of the satire show That Was The Week That Was (1962-63) and also wrote some material for it.

Kenneth kept busy throughout the Sixties, whether playing uncredited as a sailor in Carry On Jack (1964), or in character roles in films such as Hammer's The Damned (1962), Genghis Khan (1965), Night of the Big Heat (1967), Hammerhead (1968) and The Desperados (1969). On television he appeared twice in both Z Cars (1965 and 1967) and The Avengers (1967 and 1968), in addition to a number of other credits. His most famous role followed when he played the ghost Marty Hopkirk in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) from 1969-70 alongside Mike Pratt and Annette André.

In 1971, Kenneth played the first of two leading roles in the Carry On film series when he was cast as Vic Spanner in Carry On At Your Convenience. The following year he returned as Cyril Carter in Carry On Matron, complete with him cross-dressing as a nurse in one of his most entertaining performances. He continued to work steadily in film and television through the Seventies, with roles in Rentadick (1972), The Adventures of Black Beauty (1973), The Famous Five (1978), Minder (1979, with further appearance in 1985 and 1994) and Shelley (1979) being highlights. In 1980 he starred in the film version of George and Mildred and worked on Doctor Who, playing Packard in Warriors Gate (transmitted in January 1981). In 1984 he wrote and starred in the comedy Bootle Saddles. Sadly, this was not particularly successful and was cancelled after just one series. The Eighties saw Kenneth make guest appearances in TV shows such as Rumpole of the Bailey (1987), Casualty (1988 and 1994) and Bergerac (1989). In 1994 he had a role in an episode of Lovejoy and three years later he played a dodgy ex-copper Charlie Fairclough in True Confessions - an episode of A Touch of Frost. From 1999 until 2002 he played Ray Hilton in the Liverpool-based Channel Four soap opera Brookside. Later appearances, all on television, included Doctors (2004 and 2007), The Bill (1992 and 2006) and Last of The Summer Wine (1997 and 2008).

Kenneth also wrote scripts with his wife Renny Lister (m. 1961) for numerous programmes, which included Village Hall (1974-75), Striker (1975-76) and The Squirrels (1976-77). The couple also once ran a restaurant in Watlington, Oxfordshire, named Martha's Kitchen after their daughter. They had three children: Martha, an actress, and two sons, Nick and Mark, musicians and former members of the rock band The Candyskins.

Kenneth's autumn years were spent living in Southport, not far from the city of his birth. He suffered from health issues in his eighties and into his nineties, but not from the lung cancer he was mistakenly diagnosed as suffering from in 2000 and was treated for for six years before the error was realised. He passed away in his sleep on 11th September 2024 at the ripe old age of 93, with his wife Renny and their three children at his side.

Mike Pratt

Character & Episodes: Jeff Randall in all episodes
Born: 07/06/1931, London, England (as Michael John Pratt)
Died: 10/07/1976, Midhurst, West Sussex, England

Born in London, the son of a journalist who later went into advertising, Mike Pratt grew up wanting to be an actor from an early age. His initial steps, though, were to follow in his father's footsteps into advertising after the disruption caused by the Second World War. After five years, Mike landed a job as an assistant stage manager in a revue, and whilst working on this he was introduced to a young Shirley Bassey. He soon got tired of the job and went back to advertising but also gained some minor acting roles. Mike's restlessness struck once again, and before long he had quit and was touring Europe in an old taxi with three friends, one of whom was Lionel Bart, later to rise to fame as a writer of songs and musicals. Mike himself was an accomplished jazz musician and he played the piano, guitar and skiffleboard. After returning from Europe in 1956, Lionel introduced him to a friend of his called Tommy Hicks at a party. They became friends and performed together, Tommy singing and playing the guitar whilst Mike played the piano. This led them to form a band called The Cavemen. The group played in pubs and coffee bars, Tommy Hicks soon changed his name to Tommy Steele, and Mike started writing songs for the band. Locally the band grew in reputation, were spotted by a representative of Decca Music studios, and by autumn 1956 had released their first single Rock with the Cavemen, which made the top twenty of the British Pop Charts. Other songs recorded were Handful of Songs, Water, Water and Butterfingers, the latter being a favourite of Tommy Steele. Tommy would soon embark on his solo career, but Mike and Lionel Bart would still write his songs. The song The Duke Wore Jeans went to number 1 in the charts in 1958 - and Mike received a story writing credit on the film of the same name during the same year. The following year, Little White Bull – a song written by Mike – went to number 4 (as did Tommy's album) and received the 1959 Songwriters Guild Ivor Novello Award for best novelty song. About this time Mike formed his own folk group called the Cotton Pickers. With Mike on piano and washboard, the group played mainly in clubs over the next couple of years.

Mike then tried his hand at writing, and speculatively wrote a number of plays and television scripts, but sadly gained no commissions. During this period Mike got married and would have two children, Karin Louise and Guy Adam (Guy would also be a musician and played bass with Pink Floyd for a while). After his writing failures Mike was determined to become an actor. His early television appearances included minor roles in the ABC Television's Out Of This World (1962), a BBC Sunday Night Play (1963) and Maupassant (1963) for Granada Television. He gained his first real break when he was cast as Sid Graham in the film This Is My Street (1964). The film was also notable for the appearance of a young Australian actress called Annette André. As a result of this, Mike started to appear regularly on television, and was also writing for the Dave King sitcom Dave's Kingdom, a weekly half-hour show that ran in the last quarter of 1964. In 1965, Mike appeared in four episodes of Danger Man with Patrick McGoohan, acted as lyricist on a song featured in the film Be My Guest, and became a regular in the TV serial The Fatal Slip. For 1966, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared in several notable productions. The following year was a busy one for Mike, with him taking on guest spots in a number of well-known series including The Saint, Theatre 625 and Man in a Suitcase.

At the end of May 1968 he began filming on Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Producer Monty Berman later said, "He was the first to be cast; he had just the touch we needed for the character of Jeff Randall." It would be this series that would propel Mike to national recognition and become the role he is most fondly remembered for. He would also co-write the episode A Disturbing Case. Apparently, Mike was a quiet man and during filming would often stay in his dressing room playing the guitar. Many of the pictures in Jeff's apartment in the show belonged to Mike. However, he did not end the series as he would have wished. Due to an accident that occurred while he was celebrating his 38th birthday - it was not a good idea to climb a 20-foot drainpipe while drunk - Mike broke both his legs and this meant that he was bed-ridden in the final episode produced, The Ghost Talks. Production on the show wrapped in July 1969 after fourteen months of filming.

His next notable role was in early 1970 in the sci-fi series UFO which starred Ed Bishop and Michael Billington. The following year he played an army deserter in Long Voyage Out of War, which Mike cited as the most challenging acting role he ever played. He continued to be busy in the years that followed, appearing in a variety of television series such as Jason King, Owen MD, Arthur of The Britons, Black Beauty and Crown Court. In 1973 he appeared in the horror film The Vault of Horror. His last main role was as Don Stacey in the popular mid-Seventies series The Brothers. However, by this time, Mike was not a well man, looking far older than his years. Mike's character was an alcoholic airline pilot and, despite being ill, he appeared in the show until January 1976 when he was admitted to a hospital near Guildford, Surrey. Sadly, Mike would lose his battle with lung cancer on 10th July. He was cremated at Golders Green Cemetery and his ashes were scattered in Section 3-Q. On 8th August, a special show was staged in his honour at the London Aldwych Theatre, the proceeds from which went to his family. Amongst the numerous celebrities and friends in the show were Glenda Jackson, John Le Mesurier, Fenella Fielding and Harry H Corbett.

In his private life, Mike got married in 1959 to Tessa Jenkinson, who at that time was a script typist and who also at some point worked in the wardrobe department of the Mermaid Theatre. The couple would go on to have two children, Karin and Guy. Kenneth Cope summed up Mike Pratt beautifully some years ago: "A lovely man. Should have been destined for big things - maybe Hollywood. A great writer and actor. I miss him a lot. He was a good friend."