The WORST episodes of Ironside

#1 - Close to the Heart

Season 7 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/28/1974

When a woman crashes her car into the Chief's van after suffering a minor heart attack, doctors discover a bullet lodged in her chest, where it has apparently been for several years. When she claims to have no knowledge of ever being shot, the Chief investigates, and soon links her case to that of an unsolved murder.

#2 - A Game Of Showdown

Season 6 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/22/1973

Ed and the Chief are on their way out of the city for a fishing trip, when they get mixed up in a fatal shooting at a motel-cum-poker hall run by a sleazy professional gambler. Interested at first only in solving the murder, Ironside soon becomes involved in a young couple's struggle to win back their money and escape before it is too late.

#3 - A Man Named Arno

Season 5 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/9/1972

Alone in the office, Fran Belding is attacked by an escaped convict, and helped by a mystery man who refuses to tell her his name. The next morning he is reported missing by his wife, and his disappearance seems to be connected to the case of a major drug dealer whose very existence has always been suspect.

#4 - Downhill All the Way (2)

Season 7 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/8/1973

#5 - What's New with Mark?

Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/26/1974

Mark and his girlfriend come across a murder whilst on a date, but decide to defend the killer when it transpires that he acted in self defence. During the case the pair get married, and Ed decides to move in with the Chief in Mark's place.

#6 - The Leaf in the Forest

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/21/1967

Lonely old women are being strangled, and Chief Ironside believes that there is more to it than just a serial killer at work. Setting Eve up as a potential victim requires a little ingenuity, but it might just prove to be worth the effort.

#7 - Once More for Joey

Season 7 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/17/1974

The work of a quartet of musicians is being pirated, and whilst Ed and Fran are investigating, a member of the group is murdered in front of them. Their investigations lead them into the backgrounds of all those involved at the recording studios where the three survivors work, but all of the possible suspects appear to be friends with the group, and therefore unlikely candidates.

#8 - A Matter of Love and Death

Season 2 - Episode 25 - Aired 4/3/1969

A young woman is found dead in a park, and it soon transpires that she died as a result of an illegal abortion. Greatly affected, Eve disguises herself as a pregnant woman, and tries to discover who the back-street abortionist is.

#9 - Two Hundred Large

Season 7 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/10/1974

A robbery goes wrong and one of the thieves is killed, whilst another, an unlikely sort to be taking part in a robbery, is arrested. The third thief manages to escape with the money, but when the young daughter of the arrested gang member is kidnapped, the ransom being the unrecovered money from the heist, the team faces a race against time to capture the missing man.

#10 - The Best Laid Plans

Season 6 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/15/1973

The Chief is in the bank when it is robbed by a gang of three men, planning to await the arrival of a payroll delivery truck. The threesome are at odds with each other from the start, and Ironside plans to work on the antagonism between them, but they are wise to his plans and will stop at nothing to get what they want.

#11 - Another Shell Game

Season 6 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/1/1973

A major art display comes to San Francisco, just as an old adversary of the Chief's is released from jail. Anthony Justin is determined to get his revenge on Ironside by beating him in a test of skill, but it soon transpires that his target is not the vast collection of paintings, but the owner - Elizabeth Van Deering, a fun-loving young woman with whom Ed has fallen head over heels in love.

#12 - Love Me in December

Season 6 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/1/1973

When her fiancé is accused of murder, a young woman comes to Ironside for help; but when it transpires that the fiancé in question is an old Naval acquaintance of the Chief's, a man with whom he did not get along, the assistance is both offered and accepted somewhat grudgingly. It soon becomes clear, however, that the prejudice which exists in the couple's home town is in serious danger of destroying an innocent man's life.

#13 - A Special Person

Season 6 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/11/1973

Whilst the Chief and Ed are at a party, the host is shot at by an unseen assailant, and Ironside wastes no time in settling himself down with the rest of the guests to try to work out who the would-be killer might be. The truth, he is sure, is in the garden somewhere; and all that he and Ed have to do is to find it before their opponent strikes again.

#14 - Buddy, Can You Spare a Life? (2)

Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/16/1972

The Chief continues his to try to reopen the case, struggling to convince a young mother to come forward and admit to her part in events that she would rather try to forget. Meanwhile he comes ever closer to the truth, as somebody tries to ensure that he never finishes his investigations.

#15 - Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Murder

Season 5 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/3/1972

The small daughter of a friend of the Chief's dabbles in witchcraft, and becomes convinced that she is responsible for the death of her parents' landlord. Taking to the case to show her that the truth is otherwise, Ironside discovers that the man arrested for causing the death might be equally innocent.

#16 - The Tormentor

Season 2 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/27/1969

A famous baseball player who is an old friend of Ed's begins to receive nuisance mail, which soon turns into something far more sinister. Fearing for his family, he refuses Ed's offers of assistance, and tries to handle the situation alone. Ed has to persuade him to change his mind, before events get out of hand.

#17 - And Be My Love

Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/20/1969

Following a series of robberies amongst San Francisco's richest inhabitants, Eve Whitfield falls in love with one of the victims, only to discover that he is the Chief's prime suspect. Whilst the rest of the team worry about how to catch the thief, however, Eve is wondering if it may be time to quit the force to get married.

#18 - Up, Down, and Even

Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/9/1969

Eve's niece is arrested for possession and use of marijuana, and the Chief investigates her school and friends in a bid to clear her. It soon becomes obvious that she is guilty as charged, but how many others are involved, and just whose fault is it?

#19 - Class of '40

Season 7 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/7/1974

The Chief attends his high school reunion, only to find two of his old classmates recently murdered, and somebody apparently after his own neck. With Ed and Fran to help him, he searches for some clues, which soon prove to be leading him back to the accidental death of another old friend in 1940.

#20 - Terror on Grant Avenue

Season 7 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/31/1974

An elder in the Chinese community is murdered, and a young man is held to be responsible. The Chief calls in his friends in the community to help him find the young man in question, whom he believes has been framed in order to cause a rift between young and old in China Town.

#21 - The Organizer

Season 8 - Episode 19 - Aired 5/13/1993

Mark and Ed go undercover as gangsters at a big meeting designed to unite the small time hoods of California's underworld under one leader. With the help of Ironside, himself posing as a businessman staying at the same hotel, the pair set out to trap the would-be crime kingpin, by helping him to dig his own grave and destroy any chance of gangland unity.

#22 - The Faded Image

Season 8 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/16/1975

Ed befriends the daughter of the judge presiding over his latest case, only for the girl to come to him in fear for her father's life. It seems she is overreacting to a series of accidents, but events soon suggest her suspicions may be correct; especially after it turns out that her father's new wife has old Underworld connections she thought she had left behind.

#23 - The Return of Eleanor Rogers

Season 8 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/2/1975

Ed befriends the daughter of the judge presiding over his latest case, only for the girl to come to him in fear for her father's life. It seems she is overreacting to a series of accidents, but events soon suggest her suspicions may be correct; especially after it turns out that her father's new wife has old Underworld connections she thought she had left behind.

#24 - The Visiting Fireman

Season 8 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/26/1974

A British police inspector visits San Francisco for a conference, and whilst there assists his old friend Chief Ironside with an awkward investigation. It soon appears, however, that he knows more about the case than he should do, and that his involvement may have something to do with his deteriorating state of health.

#25 - Speak No Evil

Season 8 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/12/1974

A friend of Ed's becomes the target of an assassin, but cannot shed any light on the reasons for the attempt on his life. When Ed discovers that his friend is a priest, prevented from speaking by the bounds of confession, he and the Chief attempt to discover the truth; which soon leads them to three unexplained murders amongst the city's drug dealers.