SPIRIT OF AN ERA...

Cult TV fave Cope dies aged 93

- TOM BRYANT

NOT many actors could be murdered in the first episode and still go on to be the star of the show.

Kenneth Cope, who has died aged 93, was familiar to millions from Coronation Street, Brookside and the Carry On films.

But his most famous turn was as private detective Marty Hopkirk, who offered advice from beyond the grave to his pal Jeff Randall, played by Mike Pratt, in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).

The series, first broadcast on ITV in 1969, ran for 26 episodes and became a cult favourite. Speaking in 1994, Kenneth said: "I used to think people liked it because they were happy times when we made it. The sun was always shining.

"As a kid you wanted to be Superman, you wanted to be able to do things, to find the magic stone and rub it and a genie would appear. Randall and Hopkirk was quite escapist. There was a nice guy there who could do magical things." The show was branded as My Partner the Ghost for more literal-minded US viewers, and was itself resurrected by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer in 2000.