My Partner the Ghost (TV Series) Just for the Record (1969) User Reviews

Arise Sir Jeff

[ygwerin1 · 7/10 · 6 December 2022]

The very first thing that I have to say is a correction to the blurb about this Episode, Jeff is not acting as a bodyguard to Miss London, but to the Russian contestant Miss Moscow.

It's Jean Hopkirk who accompanies Miss London, Anne Soames to the National Records Office.

This is an episode like many others very much of its time and period, but this one in particular, as it's about a Beauty Show/Pageant these were very much part of the, British indeed world scene or at least western part of it. These events have become something of an anathema in more recent times, public opinion having changed drastically, with the consideration of it being demeaning to women.

A particular bete noire of mine regarding this episode is the royal family, as a republican socialist I am totally opposed to anything remotely related to them.

Bad Record...

[rich_groovy · 7 February 2006]

I recently picked up the Region 2 DVD set, ITC at 50 - one episode of each of the main ITC series'. These were mostly the pick of the crop, presumably so buyers might be introduced to new shows they'll also want to own on DVD. The Prisoner, Champions, Saint, Strange Report, Departmen S etc. episodes were all very good, some excellent, but I was disturbed to see 'Just for the Record' as the example of the wonderful Randall and Hopkirk (deceased).

This has always been my least favourite episode, for a number of reasons. R & H was always tongue in cheek, with larger than life characters and eccentrics to rival some sitcoms. Here, however, the villains are simply ridiculous - Ronald Radd, with type cast delusions of grandeur, and two very rough looking heavies who are supposedly Lords. As well as this, we have some of the very worst imposed images ever seen, even for a 60s show, when the villains are in a boat supposedly on the Thames. Jeff acts even more stupidly than normal, turning his back on the femme fatal so she can change her clothes (obviously, she hits him) and ignoring Marty and the case so he can chase the women he's supposed to be protecting. Which is another, slightly distasteful, thing about this episode. These 60s shows rarely miss the opportunity to show a woman in a bikini, but here things are taken to a new level as minutes of footage are devoted to a (plot-wise) superfluous Beauty contest. The final car chase also ends on a real anti-climax.

That's not to say this episode is plain awful - no episode of R & H is a complete loss. Danny Green (One Round in 'The Ladykillers') is of interest as one of the thugs (it was also his last screen role)and there is some good fire footage. The story goes that the film lot itself caught fire and that all the crews rushed out to get some material - the same fire appears in an episode of The Champions.

2/10

Not the most enjoyable

[dominic-paris · 4/10 · 8 December 2019]

Despite my love for this series, I've never been a fan of this particular episode for many of the same reasons as another reviewer touched on here. Awful backdrops, ridiculous villains, Jeff acting dumb and unprofessional when surrounded by beautiful women. This is completely out of character for him (even when Dandy, whom he escorted in A Sentimental Journey, tried to seduce him his response was: 'When I'm paid to do a job I do my very best') and an embarrassing fight involving two big burley men against one woman using her handbag in defence make for easily the silliest episode of the lot, even more so than The Ghost Talks, which is for another review. I only revisit this episode every few years for the few brief moments of comedy such as Jeff trying to give Marty the slip and Marty getting caught with his arm round Miss Moscow. Even when the V sign is given by a lorry driver, his mouth doesn't match the dialogue of 'get lost' so the moment is ruined a little. R&H was a family favourite when I was a kid but this is the one episode none of us liked.

Lordy, lordy

[Lejink · 3/10 · 6 March 2023]

So I guess they can't all be diamonds. "Randall and Hopkirk Deceased" was my favourite TV show as a child but I guess over 26 episodes, there has to occasionally be some dip in quality. In fact I don't even remember seeing this one back then, which probably says more about it as I undoubtedly did see it, but have conveniently forgotten it.

In truth, the plot is really rather silly, as an old pretender to the English throne, along with two musclebound fellow "Lords" uses a female contestant in a beauty contest to extract papers from the National Archive to prove their status. I know, just writing that down, I'm expecting to hear the dulcet tones of Graham Chapman shutting me down.

It gets worse as we're treated to the sight of numerous young ladies in swimsuits paraded in the now discredited entertainment that was a beauty contest and a fair deal of sexism leaks into the language and actions of most of the male characters too, not least Jeff himself who in the course of his investigation manages to "pull" Miss Moscow.

Marty doesn't do much more than get in the way although there was one nice image of him, or at least his stunt-double, atop a car driving through central London and I also smiled at the "Mission Impossible"-lite method the usurpers (you could hardly call them criminals) use to extract the prized documents at the beginning as well as the Batman and Robin-type life-or-death predicament Jeff and the would-be Royals' female accomplice have to face at the end.

Sorry, but this ghostly episode was a bit of a fright but for all the wrong reasons.