The Ghost and Raymond Doyle

Fanfiction
Title:	The Ghost and Raymond Doyle
Author(s):	Barbara Jones
Date(s):	1995
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	The Professionals/The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Relationship(s):
External Links:
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The Ghost and Raymond Doyle is a Professionals fusion with The Ghost and Mrs. Muir Bodie/Doyle story by Barbara Jones.

It was published in Unprofessional Conduct #5.

Reactions and Reviews

This story was inspired by the film "The Ghost And Mrs. Muir." In the early 20th century Doyle, a widower with a small daughter, rents a cottage near the sea to recuperate from illness and to get away from his meddling relatives. The house is haunted by the ghost of sea captain Bodie, who has driven away all previous tenants. Bodie and Doyle soon become friends and then fall in love but know that they can never have a real relationship in this life. Bodie helps Doyle write a book about his life at sea to help with finances. Bodie is afraid that Doyle will kill himself to be with him, thereby denying himself a full life and his daughter a father, so he is able to alter Doyle's memory and make him think their time together was a dream. Doyle lives another 20 years as a lonely and celibate author, then finally dies shortly after Bodie appears to him again. Bodie greets him in the afterlife, where they can now embark on the relationship they always longed for. The best is yet to come. I find this story incredibly sad. The lads can't have a physical relationship, though Doyle (unbelievably to me) seems content with that. In fact, this Doyle is so subdued he is almost unrecognizable. Also, Doyle's lonely 20-year separation from Bodie, which we (thankfully) don't have to read about, is such a waste. The ending is beautiful, but it doesn't make up for the rest of this depressing tale.

So! ‘The Ghost and Mrs Muir’ is one of my favourite films. It’s based on a book (which I haven’t read) by Josephine Leslie/R.A. DickIn it, widowed Lucy Muir escapes the stifling care of her late husband’s family, and brings her young daughter Anna and her servant Martha to live by the sea. The estate agent tries to persuade her away from Gull Cottage, but she is drawn to it nonetheless, even after she learns that it is haunted (Lucy Muir has a lot more courage than anyone would think!). However, she soon has incontrovertible proof that Gull Cottage has a resident spirit – the soul of Captain Daniel Gregg (played by Rex Harrison) a sea captain who died due to mishap via gas heater. He wants his house to be turned into a home for retired seamen, and so he chases all prospective buyers away. However, he is soon impressed with Lucy Muir’s spirit, and they reach an understanding – and Lucy begins to ‘ghostwrite’ (not the most accurate description, but I couldn’t resist!) Daniel Gregg’s autobiography (entitled Blood and Swash).

But…as well as everything is going, there remains the thorny fact that Daniel is a ghost, Lucy Muir is a young woman, and love is only for the living…or is it?

It’s the most charming film – and The Ghost and Raymond Doyle follows the plot and premise pretty faithfully for the most part. I think as fusion stories go, the Pros characters fit well into this one. Bodie takes the seafaring Captain Gregg role, of course, and Doyle take the part of the widower, rather than the widow. He’s been living with a smothering mother and aunt – but we meet him after an illness causes him to turn his life around, so he’s now set on living the kind of life he’s always wanted to life, free of control. So he stands up to his mother and aunt – and he takes no nonsense from Captain Bodie, either. So the characters really work for me. They have great teasing, in-character banter too ☺

[snipped]

The tragedy of the whole situation is also nicely captured by Barbara Thomas – the frustration of a love that can’t be consummated – I love how they discuss how things ‘could have been’ – it really hammers home the heartbreak of their current situation.

[snipped]

So – I think this is a nicely-written, well-handled fusion story, and I always enjoy reading it.

Nitpicks? I guess I don’t love that in this version, Doyle’s daughter is called Lucy instead of Anna for some reason. Since the female lead in ‘The Ghost and Mrs Muir’ is called Lucy, it tends to pull me out of this being a Doyle and Bodie universe. But that’s a very minor complaint.

Also, I don’t love the reason that Bodie leaves – he becomes worried that Doyle will commit suicide to be with him, and decides to leave Doyle’s life. In the film, Mrs Muir begins a relationship with a children’s book author – who highlights the impossible tension in Lucy and Daniel’s relationship. Daniel leaves (and causes Lucy to believe he has been a creation of her imagination).

I don’t think Ray and Bodie need to follow that exact pattern – actually, they have an inbuilt source of tension already – Bodie wants Ray to start seeing women and find a stepmother for Lucy, believing Doyle’s feelings for him to be harmful. The ‘believing Doyle will commit suicide’ thing seems a bit flimsy, and ‘INSERT BIG MISUNDERSTANDING HERE’ (Doyle has no intention of committing suicide). I just didn’t feel it was necessary. I think with a tweaking of the circumstances that were already there – Bodie is a ghost, they can’t be physically together, as an author Ray will be going out in the world and broadening his social circle – there would have been reason enough for Bodie to leave. And it wouldn’t even affect the final scene, where Doyle’s opening remark to the returned Bodie is absolutely PERFECT –

[snipped]

I think I love this story even more BECAUSE it’s a fusion piece – the author has a nice balance of following the plot where it makes sense for the characters, but also deviating from it in order to better reflect how Bodie and Doyle would react to those particular circumstances. I think that’s a difficult thing to do, and that Barbara Thomasdid it so skillfully is a testament to her ability as a writer.

So, if you’ve read it, what are your thoughts? Do you think the Pros characters slot in well to the Ghost and Mrs Muir world? Do you think it followed the film too closely, or did you prefer the parts where the author deviated from the original piece? What did/didn’t you like about the story? Does it being a fusion piece enhance your appreciation of the story, or does it detract from your enjoyment of the story? Or does it matter at all, when the end result is this much fun?

I love the film and so this fusion was likely going to work for me unless the author really mucked it up. In the end, I enjoyed it, and I reread it occasionally, and I like it very much, although possibly not quite as much as you do. *g* I agree completely about the suicide misunderstanding that was unnecessary and over-the-top. I do have a little trouble accepting the premise of a passive, really rather feminized Doyle (to begin with). I mean, the film puts the female character into the position she is in, in part because she is female. Her bid for independence says a lot about her character and infuses the subsequent events. I've always admired her spirit and integrity. Putting a man into that role doesn't say the same things about his character, given the difference between the opportunities and roles of men and women at the time. I think the author did a good job trying to explain why Doyle was in that situation, but in the end, for me, he comes across in the beginning as passive and not at all Doyle-like. It's just a whole different vibe from the film and is something that I have to put aside. That niggling does get buried beneath the enjoyment of the story. *g* (And the fact that I put the story in the AU category, and thus am a lot more open-minded about the characterizations.) The fact of the matter is, I'm a sucker for the premise, so I find it a very enjoyable comfort read. I think, though, it would be interesting to take the premise and move it into the CI5 world. Give it a harder edge; really think through some things.

I do have a little trouble accepting the premise of a passive, really rather feminized Doyle (to begin with). I mean, the film puts the female character into the position she is in, in part because she is female. Her bid for independence says a lot about her character and infuses the subsequent events. I've always admired her spirit and integrity. Putting a man into that role doesn't say the same things about his character, given the difference between the opportunities and roles of men and women at the time. I think the author did a good job trying to explain why Doyle was in that situation, but in the end, for me, he comes across in the beginning as passive and not at all Doyle-like. That's really interesting, and I think I agree, in part at least. I was going to write that Doyle is a bit more subdued than I would imagine him to be - I just go by my feeling after reading, rather than analysis (which doesn't make for compelling argument - "Sure, you point to all this evidence. But I have A FEELING!"). But looking back, I figured the backstory, Doyle's illness, and the fact that he's still quite determined works okay to explain why he's not quite as Doyle-like as readers might want - like he's an alternate, road-less-travelled Doyle. But I like how you explain it. Putting him in the feminized role - no matter how well it's done or explained (and I do think Barbara Thomas does a good job on both scores) does create a certain 'hmm' at times. But it is quite easy to forget it and just go with the fun of the story :)

"I think, though, it would be interesting to take the premise and move it into the CI5 world. Give it a harder edge; really think through some things."

Have you read An Affair To Remember by Meg Lewtan? There the author just uses the 'idea' of the film, but changes the surrounding completely. It fits into the CI5 world. I think both has its charms! Reading The Ghost... I always had the pictures of that b/w movie im my mind and I could 'see' (especially)Bodie and Doyle acting in that context(?). That was just amazing!

But I think I would have problems to see them in the High Society world of a Cary Grant and a Deborah Kerr... ;-). So it was probably a good thing that Meg Lewtan just uses this 'dramatic, big misunderstanding' premise of the movie. :-)

I don´t know the movie, though the story sounds very much like the descriptions that can be found online.

I really liked the story very much, even though it´s quite sad, even the end and though they´re together. Not because Doyle ddn´t get to say goodbye to his daughter and never saw his grandchild, but that they have to be dead in order to finally being able to "live" their love.

Except for the outburst when Bodie comes back to Ray, I can´t really see Doyle in this role. He´s so colorless, no backbone somehow.... It´s easier with Bodie, his playfullness, stubborn to leave the house to a stranger, making Doyle laugh while telling his stories!

What really irritates me in Au´s and specially in a fusion story, is the almost desperate use of character names from the series. Since it´s "The ghost and Mr. Doyle" it´s fine for the main characters to keep their names. But shouldn´t Cowley go by the name of the character in the movie?

And all the other uses of Pros characters really throws me off, because they´re from PROS, and some o the characters just can´t blend in with the fusion thingy.

I was able to get hold of a copy of this story. I'm sorry to say I really didn't care for it. I'm still not a big fan of AU. The Doyle in this story just didn't work for me - for many of the reasons listed by the others. I could see some Bodie in the Captain - but Doyle just wasn't there. The story was well written and you could tell the author was enjoying herself writing it. I haven't seen the movie, so maybe that's one reason this didn't really touch me. (I did watch the old TV show, many years ago...) I did enjoy the final scene - I think she did capture both of them there!

I do love AUs, and I love the idea of this story so maybe I'm more lenient about characterisation. I definitely think this isn't the Doyle you see in Pros episodes, but I found enough flashes of him that he worked for me in the story. But msmoat's comment I think really hits on something - putting Doyle in the feminised role does create a tension, because he's not female and he's not going to 'read' the same as Mrs Muir in the film.

I was a bit sceptical in the beginning when I heard about this story(death fic). But then I googled a bit and found the film and was immediately intrigued

After that I wanted to enjoy the story, and I did! :-) Maybe because I was in the mood for some old fashioned black and white romance?

And I love AU anyway. So I 'allow' the story to be more OOC than I would with a CI5 plot.

And the moment Doyle has made up his mind to leave his old home(after so many years... ;-)), he was very determined and brave - you can say Doyle-like. :-)

The suicide misunderstanding and the end was heartbreaking. But in a good way! That's the kind of death story I can cope with.

It's of that kind you sit there sobbing desperately your Kindle wet, but feel better afterwards... ...;-)

This is a story I'm very fond of, and perhaps oddly because I hadn't seen the original film when I read it, my memories of The Ghost and Mrs Muir were from the tv series. When I knew you were going to review it based on the film though, I actually went out and bought the dvd and watched it - and I'm very impressed at how closely Barbara Thomas stuck to the film's story!

I liked the way our lads were slotted into the story, though I can see the film-based-story being fitted to fanon-lads rather than canon-lads in some ways. Doyle is often portrayed in historical fic as a gentleman in distressed circumstances of some kind or another, and Bodie his "rescuer" (very Mills and Boon, now that I've written it that way!), and that's what happens here... Despite that she gives Doyle a bit of spark in his dialogue with Bodie, as you say, and I get just enough of a glimpse of him to believe it is him, so that works.... Perhaps, too, it makes such sense that Bodie is the blood thirsty sea captain that Doyle had to take the part of Mrs Muir.

The suicide "misunderstanding" is pure fanon as well - a misunderstanding between the two of them that causes Bodie to run away (usually back to Africa and his mercenary career, here to the afterlife), but it's done differently enough that again it didn't just make me roll my eyes and put down the story... Interesting how that can work - what comes across as cliche from one author can be turned into something better by another... I do wonder why the author didn't go for the same plot device as the film though, for getting Bodie to leave - Ann Holly would have worked perfectly, especially as she left Doyle in canon, just as what's-his-name was discovered to be unsuitable for Mrs Muir... I can see Bodie having sympathy for them though, and deciding that he'd be best out of the way so that they can be happy together - he's compassionate about many people in Pros really, though its his other characteristics that are more loudly played.

So... I take the point that others have made, that Doyle was portrayed as much less himself than in the eps - as less of a fighter, in some ways, and perhaps too much "Mrs Muir" - but the story still works for me, and I'll no doubt re-read it again! Thanks for the prompt to re-read it this time! *g*

[I] just sat down with the zine again, opened it, looked at the contents page and realised why. It's the final story in the zine. And one of my favourites is the first long story and there are a few others I like in it too. I think I simply end up reading the whole zine in order - or rather, trying to, and getting interrupted. There are risks to being the final story in a zine!