MY LATE LAMENTED FRIEND AND PARTNER • REVIEW

MY LATE LAMENTED FRIEND AND PARTNER • DECLASSIFIED

• Teaser... Jeff pays a call on Fay Sorrensen, who has engaged his services to track her unfaithful husband John. He has plenty of evidence, photographs of Sorrensen out on the town in the company of other women, and Mrs. Sorrensen decides she has grounds to file for divorce. She is adamant that her husband will be unable to retain any interests in the family concern, a company called Steel Presses. Later, when Randall has gone and her husband has returned, Fay delivers an ultimatum. Sorrensen is unrepentant and insists that he will not allow her to beat him. He makes a telephone call to an underworld organisation which can arrange for people to be killed in apparent accidents or by seemingly natural causes. He is to bring an umbrella to a meeting point and rest his hat upon it to identify himself. Before going out to the rendezvous, Sorrensen pops in to say goodbye to his wife. The camera pans down and we see his hat, which rests upon the hilt of his umbrella handle.

• Production Brief... The success of My Late Lamented Friend and Partner is as much down to scriptwriter Ralph Smart as it is to series creator Dennis Spooner, perhaps more so. Spooner's original outline proposal is certainly quite some distance from what was ultimately realised on film. The proposal document describes Steven 'Steve' Randall as being in his late-twenties, ambitious, athletic and a magnet for the ladies, whereas in the series, Jeff is ten years older, is down on his luck and could only be described as ambitious in terms of hoping something might turn up to pay his next meal bill. Meanwhile, Martin 'Marty' Hopkirk is accident prone rather than the diligent, realist worrier we are introduced to in the opening scenes of My Late Lamented Friend and Partner and there is no sign of Jean, his wife and soon-to-be widow. Smart and Spooner worked in tandem to transform what was perhaps standard ITC fare of the time into a series that remains today one of the best regarded of those fondly remembered British adventure series of yesterday. Ralph Smart was also vital to the series being commissioned by ITC mogul Lew Grade in the first place. Dennis Spooner, interviewed by Andrew Smaje in Time Screen magazine in 1986, recalled that "Ralph was a sort of father figure as far as ATV (went)... At that time, it was touch and go as Lew Grade was never sure about Randall and Hopkirk, but Ralph Smart saw it and thought it was terrific. He said, 'I wanna write the pilot!' So I was delighted he wrote the pilot because that convinced Lew that we should in fact make the series." Such was the Danger Man creator's track record and reputation within ITC that Grade's initial misgivings were quickly overcome.

• Director Cyril Frankel, who also served as Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'s Creative Consultant, simultaneously held the same role on Department S and when joining the Randall and Hopkirk crew to direct My Late Lamented Friend and Partner, he had just finished directing chores on the Department S episode, The Man in the Elegant Room. He commented during the commentary which he, along with Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre provided for the Network DVD edition of this episode that "this episode was the way I saw the fundamental part of the series. (Kenneth Cope) however, introduced more comedy. I remember that when I came back for an episode, Kenneth said to me that "we've changed it a bit from your way." Cope went on to say that "Both Michael and I realised it could really go somewhere and we both tried so hard to make it work."

• Two action scene impacts - Marty being hit and knocked down by Sorrensen's hired killers on Lauderdale Road and the climactic car crash on Fore Street at the end of the episode - were not in fact impacts at all. There is no footage in the episode of Kenneth Cope or a stunt double actually being hit by the car and in slow motion it is possible to see the stuntman preparing to hit the deck after the car has passed (see screengrab, right). The impression of a collision is achieved entirely through editing, sound effects and music. The crash involving the Sorrensen and the two assassins in their Ford Cortina at the episode's conclusion was again achieved in editing and no actual crash was filmed. We see the vehicle head towards the crash position and then cut away to a shot of Marty looking on. As we hear the sound effect of the accident, Marty winces and can barely look. The action then cuts back to the roadside and we see the Cortina with its front wheels up on the kerb, its bumper lightly touching against a lamppost, with its bonnet up and engine steaming. The villains slowly emerge dazed from the car and the police arrive to mop up. All achieved in editing and the vehicle could go back to the supplier undamaged!

• Three standing sets were constructed for this episodes which would be used throughout the remainder of the series: the Randall and Hopkirk office and Jeff and Jeannie's respective flats. Other sets were built, some specially for the episode and others redressed from stock and these would appear many times throughout the run of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), though thanks to clever redressing, they are often hard to spot!

• As is now practically Randall and Hopkirk legend, Kenneth Cope's wig was incorrectly applied in My Late Lamented Friend and Partner and for the next two episodes filmed, But What A Sweet Little Room and For the Girl Who Has Everything. Kenneth Cope recalled, when interviewed by Annette Hill for Time Screen magazine, that "I had it on back-to-front... because we had this Canadian hairdresser and she was rubbish! It was alright, but I looked like the middle one of The Three Stooges." Marty's parting in these episodes is on the left-hand side rather than the intended right-hand parting which he sports from A Sentimental Journey onwards.

• While Marty's clothing is all white, the soles of his shoes are clearly black.

• When Marty appears to walk through the hotel walls while looking for the beatnik Hendy, an age-old technique was employed to achieve the effect known as 'Pepper's Ghost'. The trick has long been used on the stage, in the cinema and even in haunted house rides at fairgrounds and is named after John Henry Pepper, who first demonstrated the technique in the 1860s. It achieves its illusory effect by use of a large plate glass angled in front of the camera, with the 'ghost' subject harshly lit at 90° to the glass (and to the side of the camera). The image (in this instance, of Kenneth Cope running back and forth) was then reflected on to the glass and was filmed as a live, combined image. This technique allowed the performers to exchange dialogue in a natural fashion, but set up times were very long and Kenneth Cope later commented that it was very difficult for him, being a part of the action but in reality completely removed from it: "It got very lonely doing that behind the camera... playing shots with Michael with my back to him." In the end, a compromise was decided upon which would involve the the actors 'freezing', Cope moving into or out of shot as required and then Cope and his fellow performers starting up again on a given cue. The final effect would be achieved by editing out the frames between freezing and continuing. As viewers will note, some actors were superb at this discipline - Mike Pratt for starters - while others, normally visiting artistes, were less well versed in the technique and so the effect is rarely seamless. This is how the vast majority of Marty's appearances and disappearances were achieved in the series and the 'Pepper's Ghost' process was employed sparingly from this point onwards.

• One of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'s unsung heroes is the man who was for a year the regular double for Mike Pratt in Second Unit sequences, Harry Fielder (or 'Aitch' as he is better known). It should be pointed out that Aitch is a something of a legendary figure in fandom, having appeared in just about every British television series and film ever made, or so it seems. Among hundreds of roles, he has chalked up, parts in many ITC series, plus Doctor Who, Blakes 7, Secret Army and even Star Wars. Harry also makes an uncredited appearance in My Late Lamented Friend and Partner as the male passer-by who goes to the scene in the aftermath of the hit and run incident in which Marty Hopkirk is killed (see image, right). The voice we hear is, however, dubbed by another actor. Most of the rest of the time in the series, you only see his face by accident, as generally he would be seen from behind, to mask the fact that he was not Mike Pratt. According to Kenneth Cope, this reputedly caused the studio to require Aitch to diet, so that he would look more like the slim actor whom he was doubling. Such dedication! You can read more about Aitch and his experiences working on Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and many other films and series at his website: www.harryfielder.co.uk. Watch out for his autobiography soon.

• Post production work on this episode was completed in early October 1968 and was noted on ITC documentation as the episode that "must be transmitted first". It would, however, not receive its first UK broadcast until nearly twelve months later, when it was transmitted by the ATV, Channel, Granada, HTV, Westward, Ulster and Yorkshire ITV regions on Friday 19th September 1969.

• On Location... This episode positively explodes with lush location work, taking in a large number of central and west London locales. The second unit Eaton Place location work in Belgravia, London SW1 was filmed on Friday 19th July 1968 and this footage would form the first sequences of the series to be seen by viewers.

• The Eaton Place location would go on to be more famous as the setting for the classic LWT drama series Upstairs Downstairs, with 'the house' being one of the properties on the other side of the road, number 65 (re-numbered 165 in the series).

• Particularly notable is the setting for the scenes in which Sorrensen and his hired killers hunt Jeff down towards the end of the episode, as whereas we are often in the position of discussing locations used that have since been demolished, these locations, in the main, were actually under construction while the sequences were being filmed, making the Then and Now comparisons at this site all the more interesting. More details in Locations: My Late Lamented Friend and Partner.

• Only You, Jeff? Being the first episode, it is no great surprise that only Jeff Randall can see Marty in his spectral form. We also learn that Marty's voice can't be recorded, at least via a tapped telephone, despite Jeff being able to hear it.

• Ghosts and Ghoulies... Marty Hopkirk is the solitary spectral presence in this episode, returning as a ghost after being killed in a hit and run incident.

• Poetry Corner: The ghostly rhyme that leaves Marty cursed to walk the Earth for one hundred years, in full...

Afore the sun shall rise anew,

Each ghost to his grave must go.

Cursed be the ghost who dares to stay

And face the awful light of day.

He shall not to the grave return

Until a hundred years be gone.

• The Vehicles... Appearing in this episode were the following wonders of transport...

	1968 Vauxhall Victor FD 2000 Registration RXD 996F Driven by Jeff Randall	Also appeared in: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - used extensively throughout the series
	1964 Austin 7/Mini Registration BAP 245B Driven by Marty Hopkirk	Also appeared in: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - 'You Can Always Find A Fall Guy', 'All Work and No Pay' and 'Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave' The Persuaders! - 'Greensleeves'
	1965 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III Registration CDK 978C Driven by John Sorrensen's chauffeur	Also appeared in: The Avengers - 'You'll Catch Your Death'
	1964 Thames 10CWT 400E Registration FGN 365C Driven by 'Electrician'
	1965 Humber Super Snipe Series V Registration EHP 416C Driven by 'Electrician'	Also appeared in: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - 'A Disturbing Case'
	1968 Ford Cortina 1600E MkII Registration OYR 877F Driven by 'Assassin'
	1958 Austin FX4 Registration YYW 297 Driven by Taxi Driver
	1968 Ford Zephyr Deluxe MkIV Registration PXD 976F Driven by Police Officer	Also appeared in: Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - 'A Sentimental Journey', 'You Can Always Find A Fall Guy', 'Who Killed Cock Robin?', 'The Trouble with Women', 'Whoever Heard of a Ghost Dying', 'Never Trust A Ghost', 'A Disturbing Case', 'Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave'  Department S - 'The Bones of Byrom Blain' and other episodes

• Seen It All Before? In this episode, Annette Andre, as Jean Hopkirk, wears an outfit previously worn by Alexandra Bastedo in the 1967 ITC series, The Champions.

• Cock Ups... When Jeff Randall drives down Eaton Mews North towards Happy Lee's flat, he parks the Vauxhall in the middle of the road alongside a green Volkswagen Beetle. The shot then cuts to a view of Jeff's car in front of Happy's flat and not only is the Vauxhall parked tight to the side of the road, but the green Beetle is ahead of it. In the first shot, the car is driven past Happy's flat and for the second it has been reversed! 

• In the same sequence, Jeff approaches the door to Happy's flat. The exterior of the door is a dark blue on location, but a white when the action cuts to the studio.

• Actress Dolores Mantez, who portrayed Happy Lee in this episode, is mistakenly credited as Dolorez Mantez in the end credit sequence and in the ITC synopsis.

• Trivia... We learn that at their respective homes, Jeff lives in flat number 41 and Jeannie in flat number 8 - though not in the same buildings, of course!

• After interrogating the beatnik Hendy, Jeff and Marty follow a lead to the driver of the car that hit Marty. They proceed to 2B Tower House on the Fulham Road and this is the only setting in the episode that is not introduced with a second unit or stock establishing shot. Although Fulham Road is a genuine road name, there is not a 'Tower House' there in reality.

• The regular Randall and Hopkirk players had a unique way of welcoming guest artistes, as Kenneth Cope recalled on the commentary for the Network DVD edition of My Late Lamented Friend and Partner: "It's very difficult coming into a show just to do a day's work on a show that's already established. It's so tricky and you remember anyone who is ever kind to you. Mike, (Annette) and I used to give (each of them) a paper cup of champagne - just one - to make the visiting people happy and more relaxed." This pleasant atmosphere was not exactly replicated across the way in the other series being made at Elstree in tandem with Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - Department S. Annette Andre commented that "Joel Fabiani (who played Stewart Sullivan in Department S) used to come over to us because he hated the set over there so much." Kenneth Cope went on to explain why perhaps their series was so great to work on: "We were OK because we had a live guy, a dead guy and a woman. There was no competition anywhere. There was nobody vying for anything."

• And Finally... The filming location for Marty's funeral was actually an area of the Elstree Studios backlot and the cemetery set was re-used swiftly afterwards in the Department S episode, The Double Death of Charlie Crippen. Marty's grave was, however, not seen.

Plotline: Scoton Productions / ITC • UK Transmissions by Simon Coward and Alan Hayes
Review by Alan Hayes • Declassified by Alan Hayes with thanks to Vince Cox and Andrew Pixley