Coronation Street and Carry On star Kenneth Cope dies aged 93

Coronation Street and Carry On star Kenneth Cope has died at the age of 93, his former agent said.

He made his name as ghost detective Marty Hopkirk in the ITV supernatural detective series, Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased). It saw him solve crimes from beyond the grave while being visible only to his partner Jeff Randall, after being murdered during an investigation in the series’ first episode.

Sandra Chalmers, of The Artists Partnership confirmed he died surrounded by his family on Wednesday (September 11). Cult classic series Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased) was known as My Partner The Ghost in the US, and was later remade with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer in 2000, and lasted two series.

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Acting agent Sandra Chalmers shared the sad news on Thursday (September 12). Sandra said: "Announcing the passing of a true icon Kenneth Cope. An absolute joy to work with and an honour to have known. A true gentleman in show business RIP."

Speaking in 1994, Cope said he had “happy times” making the programme. Cope 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.”

Born in Liverpool in 1931, he also starred in Coronation Street, appearing in the soap as Jed Stone in more than 100 episodes from 1961 to 1963, before briefly returning in 2008 and 2009. Cope went on to star in two Carry On films, Carry On At Your Convenience (1971) and Carry On Matron (1972), and he also appeared in 1963’s Carry On Jack in an uncredited role.

The actor featured in 1963 Hammer horror film The Damned and appeared in TV comedy drama Minder, an episode of espionage series The Avengers and the Warriors’ Gate episode of Doctor Who in 1981. The actor married actress Renny Lister, whom he worked with on Coronation Street, in 1961, the couple had two sons Nick and Mark, who formed a rock band called

The Candyskins together. They also had a daughter, Martha, who is an actress best known for her roles in Doctors and EastEnders. Cope spent the last years of his life living in Southport, where he was a columnist for the Southport Visitor magazine.

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