My Partner the Ghost (TV Series) Never Trust a Ghost (1969) User Reviews

Marty Spies a Plot

[Lejink · 7/10 · 11 February 2023]

Another entertaining episode of this wonderful ITC 60's series. After its first run on prime time ITV, I remember it was repeated on the graveyard shift around midnight which is when I recall many a time as a boy staying up well past bedtime to watch it.

The thing is, I still get a real kick out of watching it today some fifty years on. You're basically expected to believe that because he's wearing all-white, Kenneth Cope's Marty Hopkirk is a ghost, back from the dead to help his erstwhile private investigator partner Mike Pratt's Jeff Randall solve strange cases and oversee the welfare of his pretty young widow Jeanie, played by Annette Andre.

This episode sees Marty witness the murder of a senior civil servant which he naturally conveys straight away to Jeff who, unluckily for him, is on a hot date at the time. However by the time Jeff alerts the police to the situation and they all descend on the man's posh London apartment, the victim appears alive and well. Naturally though, Marty keeps digging and Jeff keeps disbelieving until finally they unravel a case of deception, murder, impersonation and spy-secrets.

It's all great fun, laced as usual with leavening touches of humour like when Jeff hurriedly coerces Jeanie into becoming his night-time alibi and when Marty has to convince an old quack scientist of his existence. TV watchers of the 70's will also get to see early performances by future stalwarts Peter Vaughan and Philip Madoc.

The ghost who cried "Wolf!"

[ShadeGrenade · 10/10 · 29 April 2010]

Tony Williamson's 'Never Trust A Ghost' has one of the best openings to a 'R & H ( Deceased' ) episode. It is night. We are in London. Marty Hopkirk, unable to return to his grave after breaking an ancient curse, paces the empty streets, a lonely, dejected figure with nothing to do except observe a world he is no longer a part of. Spotting two lovers kissing, he shakes his head sadly and moves on. It is moments of pathos such as this that mark the original out from the Reeves and Mortimer version, which was played entirely for laughs.

Observing a brutal murder - a man named Rawson ( Philip Madoc ) shoots dead another by the name of James Howarth ( Peter Vaughan ). Marty brings Jeff to the scene ( which involves poor Jeff having to ditch his latest date, a cool looking chick named Sandra, played by Edina Ronay ), but finds Howarth alive and well, along with his wife Karen ( Caroline Blakiston ). Made to look a complete fool, Jeff apologises.

Suspecting something is not right, Marty returns to the house, and finds Rawson and the Howarths moving the corpses of the real James and Karen into the cellar. Again he summons Jeff. But by the time he arrives, the corpses have gone. So is Marty telling the truth or deliberately misleading his friend and partner?

A good episode, almost 'Department S' like at times. The Howarths have been killed and replaced by doubles as part of a complex spy operation. It has its fair share of laughs though, most notably Jeff's trying to give himself an alibi with the police by pretending to have spent the night with Jeannie ( Annette Andre ). Marty's outrage at his wife's 'infidelity' is hilarious. Brian Oulton's eccentric ghost expert is straight out of 'The Avengers'.

Pity the fight in Jeff's office has a stand-in for Philip Madoc who looks nothing like him.

A well judged blend of straight cold war espionage drama and comedy.

[jamesraeburn2003 · 7 November 2018]

Wandering the deserted London streets in the wee small hours, Marty Hopkirk (Kenneth Cope) witnesses the murder of a senior civil servant called James Howarth (Peter Vaughan) whom is shot dead inside his own front door by Rawlings (Philip Madoc). Marty informs his partner, Jeff Randall (Mike Pratt), who duly informs the Yard. But when they call at the house, they are answered at the door by Howarth's wife, Karen (Caroline Blakiston), who informs them that her husband is alive and well. Jeff only narrowly avoids being charged for wasting police time and is threatened with legal action by the Howarths. Marty, however, is determined to prove to Jeff that he saw what he saw. So he hangs around the house and he finds out that Howarth and his wife were both murdered by Rawlings and the two people seen by Jeff and Inspector Clayton are impostors, foreign spies. Howarth was in charge of salaries for MI5, which meant that he had access to the names, addresses, status and zones of operation of every secret agent employed in Britain. The phoney Howarth has been secretly photographing this confidential information while posing as the real one at MI5's offices and, once he has the lot, he and his two accomplices will return to their own country who will use it to wreck Britain's inteligence services. Marty discovers that the bodies of the real Howarth and his wife are hidden in the basement. But when he alerts Jeff who reluctantly agrees to break in to the house, the bodies are gone. Again, he only escapes by the skin of his teeth and is forced to use Marty's widow, Jeannie (Annette Andre), as an alibi to prevent his arrest and potentially a long term of imprisonment. Jeff begins to doubt whether Marty, being a ghost, is a reliable witness so he visits an expert in psychic manifestations, Dr Plevitt (Brian Oulton), who tells him that ghosts are prone to hallucinations and therefore unable to tell the truth. "Never trust a ghost", he says, and Jeff seems to believe him. The problem is Marty has just found out that Howarth and his accomplices are planning to kill Jeff before they leave the country taking the names and addresses of all of Britain's spies with them...

All in all, Never Trust A Ghost emerges as a must see entry in this deeply felt fantasy detective series. Tony Williamson's screenplay strikes the correct balance between a straight cold war espionage drama and comedy. For instance, Jeff calls Jeannie in the middle of the night having just fled from the Howarths' house to set up his alibi. She answers the phone half asleep and asks "Do you know what time it is?" and "I'm not even dressed!" when he asks her to get over to his flat immediately. "That's the way I want you", he replies and she asks him if he has been drinking. When he implores her saying that he is in danger of getting sent down for ten years, she does what he asks. At Jeff's flat she climbs into Jeff's bed just before Inspector Clayton arrives to give the impression that they have been together all night thus stating that Jeff could not possibly have broken into the Howarths' home. Clayton is annoyed because he does not like Jeff and has been looking to pin something on him for a long time. Then Marty appears and he's furious because, although he is dead and no longer legally married to Jeannie, he remains possessive and gets jealous if she thinks she is involved with other men. This scene is very funny and so is the chemistry between Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope throughout this episode. The story line also creates opportunities for edge of seat suspense like when the Haworths hold Jeff prisoner in their house and Marty has to try and get help to him before they kill him. Since Dr Plevitt, being a psychic, is the only other person who can see him, he's the best chance. However, the doctor forces him to take numerous tests to prove to him that he doesn't have hallucinations before he will agree to phone Scotland Yard. And, all the while, time is running out fast to apprehend the spies and save Jeff's life. It is well acted by the entire cast with the guest stars Peter Vaughn, Caroline Blakiston and Philip Madoc offering Pratt and Cope solid support as the foreign spies. Donald Morley also provides some laughs as the harassed Scotland Yard man who dislikes Jeff and is furious when he can't make anything stick against him. The solid direction is by Leslie Norman who neatly judges the mixture of serious spy thriller and comedy within the script.