Jeff Randall

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For the former BBC Business Editor, see Jeff Randall (journalist)

Jeff Randall is the fictional detective played by Mike Pratt in the original private detective series, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) from 1969 to 1971. He is the only man in the world (with the exception of the occasional psychic) who can see and hear the ghost of his deceased partner Marty Hopkirk.

Randall is a successful private detective whose success in mystery solving becomes inevitably greater once he has the benefits and paranormal abilities of his deceased partner Marty Hopkirk who was murdered during an investigation. Randall is described as being tall, around 6ft, very thin and dishevelled looking although he is most clean shaven. He is quick, agile and light on his feet and is able to manoeuvre around attackers very briskly but often shows a distinct lack of physical strength and staminar. Randall is known to have a short fiery temper and can become particularly irritated with certain situations and people, particularly the ghost of Marty who torments him as much as helps him. He smokes regularly and is a heavy drinker under stressful situations.

Jeff at times can be a highly ambiguous character. In certain episodes he can show morals and respect for other characters. However at times he can also appear as immoral and verging on criminal in his behaviour. In the fifth episode That's How Murder Snowballs for example, Randall rather than reporting to the police after the murder of the theatre performer, he rang a newspaper immediately to ensure that his tip off saw him a substantial amount of money for leaking story, 'blood money' as Jeannie called it making money out of a dead man.

Randall is also a womanizer and he attracts many beautiful women from episode to episode. However any love interest also fizzles out very quickly due to his commitments to follow up Marty's leads leaving them stranded.

[edit] Remake

From 2000 to 2001 Randall was played by Bob Mortimer in Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), the remake. By contrast to the original series, Randall on this occasion is a far more moral individual, refusing to become involved with Jeannie after Marty's death despite being significantly tempted, and displaying little real interest in other women even when they make their attraction clear. He shows a greater understanding of other people than the original, but lacks his hand-to-hand combat skills, with most of the physical side of their cases being handled by Jeannie.