Based on the classic 1960s series of the same name, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) saw TV comics Bob Mortimer and Vic Reeves take on the roles of Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk — two private detectives who tend to stumble along from one case to another. Things take an unusual twist when Marty gets killed during a case and comes back in the form of a ghost that only Jeff can see. Unsurprisingly, this makes Marty the ideal partner as he can get information and go places where no one else can. The other main characters were Jeannie — Marty's girlfriend, and Wyvern — Marty's mentor in Limbo, who was suberbly played by former Doctor Who star Tom Baker.

The mastermind behind the re-make was Charlie Higson, best known as one of the stars of The Fast Show, and more recently as the writer of the Young James Bond novels. Of the six episodes in Season One, Higson was solely responsible for scripting five of them, sharing writing duties on Paranoia with his Fast Show co-star Paul Whitehouse. Season Two saw the introduction of a number of new writers to the series, with Gareth Roberts and Kate Wood both co-writing an episode each with Higson. Roberts was allowed to go solo on Painkillers, and this proved to one of the highlights of the series. The very final episode was written by Mark Gatiss and Jeremy Dyson, best known for their work on The League of Gentlemen. As well as writing the majority of the series, Charlie Higson also found the time to direct four episodes, and in true Hitchcock fashion appeared on screen in all thirteen.

Unfortunately, the mix of comedy and special effects was obviously not to the liking of the Saturday evening audience, and the ratings fell for nearly every episode over the two seasons. This despite appearances from the cream of modern-day UK television comedy, including over half the cast of The Fast Show (John Thomson, Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson himself, Arabella Weir, Simon Day), Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson from Spaced, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith from The League of Gentlemen, and also David Walliams and Matt Lucas who have since found fame in Little Britain. The remainder of the acting talent included the likes of Charles Dance, Hugh Laurie, Steven Berkoff, Richard Todd, Mark Benton, Dudley Sutton, Gareth Thomas, Hywel Bennett, Sir Derek Jacobi, Dervla Kirwan and Pauline Quirke. By the time Two Can Play at That Game was shown, the ratings had plummeted from 10.63m to a paltry 3.24m.

Both seasons of the re-make have been released on DVD, with the Season One release being rather crudely cropped to 4:3 rather than being left in its original widescreen format.