My Partner the Ghost (TV Series) That's How Murder Snowballs (1969) User Reviews

Stage Fright

[Lejink · 7/10 · 10 February 2023]

Another entertaining episode of my favourite TV series as a boy growing up. Written by regular ITC scripter Ray Austin, this one is set backstage at a theatre where during a variety show coincidentally attended by Jeff and Jeanie, a mind-reading act goes disastrously wrong.

Using Marty as his invisible Teller to his Penn, Jeff joins the bill as a replacement mind-reading act and soon uncovers a tale of deadly passion and jealousy which will claim more victims before Jeff and Marty finally flush out the guilty party in best assembled Agatha Christie fashion.

While I enjoyed the whole episode, I think I preferred the first half which had a number of humorous sequences, especially Marty's mid-show traipse across the stage to get to Jeff. The plot itself and denouement was perhaps just a little contrived and clichéd but I loved again the interplay between Mike Pratt's Jeff and Kenneth Cope's Marty although, as ever, would have been happier if Annette Andre's Jeanie had played a bigger part.

Still, I enjoyed the theatrical setting to the action, especially Jeff and Marty's take on the old mind-reading act, while eagle-eyed TV and movie buffs of the time will have fun spotting the very young David Jason and Valerie Leon in small supporting roles.

Top of the range R&H

[kmoh-1 · 26 March 2008]

Randall and Hopkirk at their best. Jeff is at the theatre when the mind-reading act goes horribly wrong, and the stooge - David Jason, no less, in an early and very minor appearance - shoots the mind-reader. There is no good reason for Jeff to investigate, but he does, and joins the company as a replacement mind-reader.

There is great scope for comedy here, and the duo don't disappoint. Marty has great fun here, dancing invisibly across the stage, and singing "There's no business like show business" to Jeff. The mind-reading act scenes are great; the chemistry between the two stars is by now impressive. Some familiar faces appear backstage, including the splendid Valerie Leon, and Arthur Borough from "Are You Being Served?" The plot, such as it is, involves Jeff, undercover, finding out what secret in the mind-reader's past explains his death. It reminds one very strongly, in atmosphere as well as detail, of the Miss Marple film Murder Most Foul. The identity of the murderer, sadly, is not terribly well concealed.

The one real mystery is why, given Jeff and Marty's act is so brilliant, they don't simply take it up full time.

One of the very best episodes from this well-loved series.

[jamesraeburn2003 · 31 October 2018]

A night out at the theatre turns to tragedy for Jeff Randall (Mike Pratt) and Jean Hopkirk (Annette Andre) when one half of a mind reading act is shot and killed on stage in front of hundreds of people. The victim is Fernandez (Tony Thawnton) and his assistant, Abel (David Jason), is arrested for his murder. It happened during a trick in which Abel had asked a woman in the audience to load a blank cartridge into a revolver. Abel then pointed the gun at Fernandez who had to say from which chamber the weapon would be fired before he pulled the trigger; but the blank cartridge had been switched for a live one. In his dying words Fernandez said to Jeff :"He said he would kill me". Although Inspector Nelson (Michael Griffiths) is totally convinced of Abel's guilt, Jeff is not and with the aid of his ghostly partner, Marty Hopkirk (Kenneth Cope), sets out to find the real killer. But who was the "he" who had threatened Fernandez's life? And the woman in the audience who loaded the revolver has vanished; who was she and did she switch the cartridges? If not, then who did? To be able to investigate the members of touring company, Jeff gets a job at the theatre as a mind reader with Marty as his invisible assistant. He finds out that the star of the show, the singer Gloria Marsh (Grazina Frame), used to be married to the murdered man. In addition, some years ago, Fernandez had been cleared of blame in a road accident in which a car he was driving hit and killed a man. The mystery woman is still stalking the theatre; Jeff is attacked and two more murders, including that of Gloria, follow before Jeff and Inspector Nelson unmask the killer by re-staging the last act of Fernandez and Abel in the auditorium of the Palace Theatre...

One of the very best episodes from the well-loved Randall and Hopkirk series, which has a great plot involving blackmail and forbidden love in the world of the variety theatre. One of the highlights is without doubt Jeff and Marty's mind reading act, which is hilarious to watch and the winning chemistry between Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope works a treat here. You will doubtlessly ask yourself why on earth Jeff did not jack in his unprofitable private detective agency when surely this was a no brainer: he would have made a fortune out of this mind reading lark with Marty's help! The same is also true of the episode in which Jeff was forced into a poker game by West End gangsters that was fixed for him to lose, only the invisible Marty was there and he literally cleaned up at the poker table.

Cleverly directed by Paul Dickson, a neglected talent, who skilfully blends the comedic aspects of this story with some high tension; the murder scenes are particularly effective and given the fact that they happen within the confines of a theatre (The Palace in Watford) there is a genuine sense of claustrophobia that heightens the suspense. There is also a reference to 'The Ventriloquist's Dummy' part of Dead Of Night (1945) where Jeff encounters a ventriloquist who literally lets his dummy take him over. "If they don't like the acts here, they shoot them" and before it can utter any more he puts his hands over its mouth as if to silence it, which startles the private eye.

Aside from Pratt and Cope who are always a joy to watch, performances are good all round from the supporting cast which includes a number of familiar faces like David Jason (Only Fools And Horses, A Touch Of Frost) in an early role, Patrick Holt, a former leading man from 1940's British cinema, who offers a good down to earth portrayal as a Fleet Street newspaper man and school friend of Jeff's. Also look out for Valerie Leon and Are You Being Served's Arthur Brough.