The BEST episodes of UFO

Every episode of UFO ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of UFO!

Around 1970, the British and American governments receive incontrovertible evidence that aliens exist and are abducting humans. In cooperation with the United Nations, they set up a secret worldwide organization, SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation), which operates in the 1980s. With resources and equipment under the seas, in the air, on land, in orbit and on the Moon, SHADO's purpose is to stop the alien incursions and find out why the aliens want humans.

Last Updated: 3/15/2024Network: ITV1Status: Ended
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Sub-Smash
star
8.45
67 votes

#1 - Sub-Smash

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/11/1970

Suspecting a UFO to be responsible for the sinking of a freighter, Straker, Foster and Nina Barry investigate in Skydiver. Attacked by an undersea UFO, the submarine is downed on a ledge on the sea bed and the crew are trapped. While Straker fights against his claustrophobia, Nina faces a living nightmare.

Directors: David Lane
Writer: Alan Fennell
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Mindbender
star
8.32
114 votes

#2 - Mindbender

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/13/1971

After a UFO inexplicably destroys itself less than two miles from Moonbase, a mysterious crystal rock is recovered, causes the person in its vicinity to hallucinate. The rock is eventually transferred to Straker's office, where he hallucinates that SHADO is simply a set for a TV series, he is an actor named Mr. Burns, Moonbase can be reached by stepping through two doors from the main control room at SHADO HQ, and 'Mr. Straker' is not available.

Directors: Ken Turner
Writer: Tony Barwick
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Timelash
star
8.16
82 votes

#3 - Timelash

Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/17/1971

While picking up Lt. Lake at the airport, Straker and Lake find that time has been frozen except for them. Sawdust hangs in mid-air, Lt. Ellis is frozen mid-word on a view screen, and one man is taunting them, apparently working for the aliens.

Directors: Cyril Frankel
The Square Triangle
star
8.14
86 votes

#4 - The Square Triangle

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/9/1970

In the woods between Clare Cross and Lingbury, an injured alien stumbles into a lonely cottage and is shot down by Liz Newton and her lover Cass Fowler. Liz and Cass are taken to SHADO HQ for questioning, but when Liz's husband arrives at the cottage, Paul Foster realises that the alien's death was no accident.

Directors: David Lane
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Sound of Silence
star
8.13
83 votes

#5 - The Sound of Silence

Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 7/17/1971

A UFO hides in a lake on a country estate of a well-known equestrian, who has since disappeared. When SHADO tracks down the UFO and manages to destroy it, it breaks up and leaves a strange item floating in the lake.

Directors: David Lane
Watch Now:Amazon
The Long Sleep
star
8.11
79 votes

#6 - The Long Sleep

Season 1 - Episode 26 - Aired 3/15/1973

A woman awakens from a 10-year coma and begins telling the tale about her encounter with aliens while she and her boyfriend were high on drugs.

Directors: Cyril Frankel
Watch Now:Amazon
Court Martial
star
8.11
82 votes

#7 - Court Martial

Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/1/1971

Foster is suspected of being a security leak but, during the trial, Straker learns that Foster's apartment was bugged.

Directors: Ron Appleton
Writer: Tony Barwick
Watch Now:Amazon
Confetti Check A-O.K.
star
8.09
81 votes

#8 - Confetti Check A-O.K.

Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 7/10/1971

Straker recalls his marriage, and the stormy days that followed as he worked covertly to get SHADO up and running and recruited personnel.

Directors: David Lane
Writer: Tony Barwick
Watch Now:Amazon
Conflict
star
8.08
134 votes

#9 - Conflict

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/7/1970

When an Alien Limpet UFO causes the destruction of Lunar Module 32, Straker demands a clean-up programme by the International Astrophysical Commission (IAC) to remove hazardous space debris from Earth orbit. But Straker finds himself butting heads with the IAC chairman, who wants a complete shut-down of SHADO operations.

Directors: Ken Truner
Writer: Ruric Powell
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Kill Straker!
star
8.07
85 votes

#10 - Kill Straker!

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/4/1970

When a Lunar Module is attacked by a UFO, Straker makes a split-second decision that endangers the astronauts, but ultimately saves them. Later, he is surprised to find his authority being questioned by his most loyal officer, Colonel Paul Foster, who spearheads a campaign against him. Then an attempt is made on Straker's life...

Directors: Alan Perry
Writer: Donald James
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Reflections in the Water
star
8.07
107 votes

#11 - Reflections in the Water

Season 1 - Episode 24 - Aired 7/24/1971

A mysterious dome is found under the sea, inside of which SHADO finds duplicates of their HQ personnel who are using non-alien technology to spoof SHADO's instructions to Moonbase and Skydiver.

Directors: David Tomblin
Watch Now:Amazon
E.S.P.
star
8.02
97 votes

#12 - E.S.P.

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/21/1970

John Croxley's talent for extra sensory perception is heightened after his wife is killed when a UFO crashes into their house. With his mind under the influence of the Aliens, Croxley learns the secrets of SHADO and lures Straker and Freeman to the remains of his house - to kill them!

Directors: Ken Turner
Writer: Alan Fennell
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Survival
star
7.98
112 votes

#13 - Survival

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/6/1971

Foster, with his radio knocked out and his oxygen line cut, is presumed lost during a confrontation with a UFO on the moon's surface. Foster is found by an alien, and they develop a bond when the alien attempts make-shift repairs on Foster's suit.

Directors: Alan Perry
Writer: Tony Barwick
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Responsibility Seat
star
7.94
107 votes

#14 - The Responsibility Seat

Season 1 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/8/1973

Freeman takes over temporarily while Straker deals with a woman apparently determined to investigate what SHADO is all about.

Directors: Alan Perry
Writer: Tony Barwick
Watch Now:Amazon
The Psychobombs
star
7.90
110 votes

#15 - The Psychobombs

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/30/1970

A UFO imbues three young people with incredible powers. One blows up a radar station. The second steals fingerprints and tries to get aboard a Skydiver sub, blowing it up. The third, a woman, tries to blow up SHADO HQ.

Directors: Jeremy Summers
Writer: Tony Barwick
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Computer Affair
star
7.90
108 votes

#16 - Computer Affair

Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/15/1971

After a pilot is killed when Moonbase operatives fail to give him course change information, the personnel are recalled to Earth for an investigation. A UFO crashes in northern Canada and the same personnel are assigned to the operation to find the UFO.

Directors: David Lane
Writer: Tony Barwick
Watch Now:Amazon
Identified
star
7.81
310 votes

#17 - Identified

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/16/1970

SHADO engages in its first battle with the enemy. Sky One cripples an alien ship which crash-lands in a lake. Straker's team capture its pilot, a strange blue-skinned humanoid - and the grim secret behind the aliens' are revealed.

Directors: Gerry Anderson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Flight Path
star
7.79
113 votes

#18 - Flight Path

Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/20/1971

A SHADO technician, being blackmailed for information by an unknown party, is caught by Freeman, but not before the information is passed. The technician divulges to SHADO the information he gave to the blackmailers and, after much work on the encrypted data, they discover it is part of a plan by the aliens to attack the Moonbase undetected.

Directors: Ken Turner
Watch Now:Amazon
Destruction
star
7.76
153 votes

#19 - Destruction

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/2/1970

A Naval vessel shoots down a UFO in the Atlantic, but the Admiralty rejects further investigation into the incident. Straker suspects a cover up and wants to know why, so Foster courts Admiral Sheringham's secretary, Sarah Bosanquet. What they discover could mean the end of all life on Earth.

Directors: Ken Turner
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
A Question of Priorities
star
7.68
129 votes

#20 - A Question of Priorities

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/14/1970

"Important? What can be more important than your own son's life?" Straker faces the toughest decision of his career when his son is critically injured in an accident. The drug that can save his life can only be ferried from New York in time aboard a SHADO transporter - the same transporter that is in the prime position to track an Alien defector on the West Coast of Ireland

Directors: David Lane
Writer: Tony Barwick
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Exposed
star
7.65
230 votes

#21 - Exposed

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/23/1970

An XV-104 test plane wanders into a UFO target area and the pilot, Paul Foster, makes sightings of both the UFO and Sky One. Angry and frustrated that no one believes his story, Foster suspects a cover-up and decides to conduct his own investigation into the activities of ex-USAF Colonel Ed Straker.

Directors: David Lane
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Man Who Came Back
star
7.63
108 votes

#22 - The Man Who Came Back

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/3/1971

Reported missing and presumed dead after a UFO incident which has left SID disabled, astronaut Craig Collins turns up alive and well. But as an operation to complete repair work on SID is planned, Colonel Lake and Colonel Grey discover that Collins is not the man he used to be.

Directors: David Lane
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Cat with Ten Lives
star
7.63
118 votes

#23 - The Cat with Ten Lives

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/30/1970

The body of an Alien, recovered after a UFO attack on Moonbase, reveals some startling new evidence which overturns all SHADO's previous theories about the Aliens. For Interceptor pilot Jim Regan, the news has tragic consequences as he becomes possessed by the mind of an Alien held in the body of a Siamese cat!

Directors: David Tomblin
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Close Up
star
7.46
117 votes

#24 - Close Up

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/16/1970

Straker gets approval from above to build a probe with a camera that will track a UFO back to its home planet.

Directors: Alan Perry
Writer: Tony Barwick
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Dalotek Affair
star
7.45
140 votes

#25 - The Dalotek Affair

Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/10/1971

Two members of SHADO dining at a restaurant, see a diner who was part of Dalotek, a moon-based, private company which discovered an alien device that disrupted Communications between Moonbase and SHADO on Earth.

Directors: Alan Perry
Writer: Ruric Powell
Watch Now:Amazon