Kenneth Charles Cope (born 14 April 1931) is an English retired actor and scriptwriter. He is best known for his roles as Marty Hopkirk in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Jed Stone in Coronation Street and Ray Hilton in Brookside. Early life Kenneth Cope was born on 14 April 1931 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. Career Cope began playing character roles in films from the mid 1950s, and between 1961 and 1966, gained attention for his regular role in Coronation Street as the shady Jed Stone, a part he returned to in 2008. The appearance led to the recording of a novelty pop single, "Hands Off, Stop Mucking About", with Tony Hatch. Although it was not a hit, it led to a regular slot as a disc jockey with Radio Luxembourg. Cope also appeared in the satirical series That Was The Week That Was from 1962 until 1963. He played Subutai in the 1965 film of the life of Genghis Khan, and in the same year appeared in Dateline Diamonds playing Lester Benson. In 1967 he appeared as Tom Savage in "The Bird Who Knew Too Much" episode of The Avengers. In Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969–1970), Cope played the ghost private eye Marty Hopkirk opposite Mike Pratt's Jeff Randall. He also took leading roles in two Carry On films. In Carry On at Your Convenience (1971) he played Vic Spanner, the obnoxious shop steward central to the film's trade union and industrial problems storyline and the rival in the film's romantic sub-plot. In Carry On Matron (1972) he took the more sympathetic role of Cyril Carter, the son of a thief who is forced to impersonate a female nurse as part of his father's attempt to rob a maternity hospital. Once there, Cyril finds love with a real nurse. In an episode of the first series of The Adventures of Black Beauty, "Sailor on a Horse" (1972), he played Henry Thackery, a missing heir from Canada, returning from sea, just in time to save the land and Beauty's paddock next to the Gordon family, which greedy, contentious lawyer Weems tries to sell by fraud, palming one of his clerks off as being the true heir. He appeared as Jack Victor in Catweazle ("The Wogle Stone") in 1971. In 1975–1976 he wrote three series of the BBC children's television series Striker, starring the young Kevin Moreton and inspired by the local youth