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The Worst Episodes of Dalgliesh

Every episode of Dalgliesh ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Dalgliesh!

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A recent widower and acclaimed poet, enigmatic Inspector Adam Dalgliesh employs his exceptional empathy and insight to plumb the darker depths of the human psyche while investigating complex crimes in 1970s England.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    Dalgliesh Season 3 Episode 6 - Devices and Desires (2)
    7.4/10(251 votes)

    #1 - Devices and Desires (2)

    S3:E6

    The hunt is on for a second killer as the threat to the local community looms larger than ever. Can Dalgliesh unpick a complex web of loyalties before it's too late?

    Director:Roger Goldby
    Writer:Helen Edmundson

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  2. Dalgliesh Season 1 Episode 1 - Shroud for a Nightingale (1)
    7.5/10(793 votes)

    #2 - Shroud for a Nightingale (1)

    S1:E1

    January 1975. Student nurse Heather Pearce dies during a training demonstration. Detective Chief Inspector Adam Dalgliesh is sent to investigate, accompanied by his partner DS Masterson. Pathologist Dr. Chopra confirms that Pearce was poisoned. Dalgliesh and Masterson take statements from the nurses, despite Matron’s attempts to intercede.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Dalgliesh Season 1 Episode 3 - The Black Tower (1)
    7.5/10(665 votes)

    #3 - The Black Tower (1)

    S1:E3

    March 1975. Dalgliesh is invited to Dorset by his old friend Father Michael, only to discover that he died a few days ago. Father Michael lived in a home for the disabled run by the enigmatic Wilfred, who has organised trips to Lourdes ever since he was miraculously cured there of a serious illness.

    Directors:Ryan Tohill, Andy Tohill
    Writer:Stephen Greenhorn

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  4. Dalgliesh Season 3 Episode 1 - Death in Holy Orders (1)
    7.5/10(380 votes)

    #4 - Death in Holy Orders (1)

    S3:E1

    Dalgliesh travels to a remote seminary overlooking a windswept lake, where a body has been found gruesomely murdered. Nearly everyone in the seminary has reason to resent the victim, and Dalgliesh and DS Tarrant must unpick a complicated set of motives to find their killer.

    Director:Geoffrey Sax
    Writers:Helen Edmundson, Colette Kane

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  5. Dalgliesh Season 3 Episode 2 - Death in Holy Orders (2)
    7.5/10(302 votes)

    #5 - Death in Holy Orders (2)

    S3:E2

    A second death shakes the order. As Dalgliesh uncovers the secret agenda of one of his suspects, the seminary falls further into disrepute. But this may be the key to unlocking the killer's motive.

    Director:Geoffrey Sax
    Writers:Helen Edmundson, Colette Kane

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  6. Dalgliesh Season 3 Episode 3 - Cover Her Face (1)
    7.5/10(301 votes)

    #6 - Cover Her Face (1)

    S3:E3

    Dalgliesh investigates a murder in the Essex home of the Mehtas, a staggeringly wealthy family with connections to the British government. With the help of local detective Clive Roscoe, Dalgliesh builds a picture of events in the weeks leading to the crime, confronting a blanket of secrecy among his guarded suspects.

    Director:Bertie Carvel
    Writers:Helen Edmundson, Kam Odedra

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  7. Dalgliesh Season 3 Episode 4 - Cover Her Face (2)
    7.5/10(272 votes)

    #7 - Cover Her Face (2)

    S3:E4

    A pair of grueling interrogations brings the victim's life into sharper focus, but will it lead the police to the killer? After a shocking confession is made, Dalgliesh realizes he has been lied to.

    Director:Bertie Carvel
    Writers:Helen Edmundson, Kam Odedra

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  8. Dalgliesh Season 1 Episode 2 - Shroud for a Nightingale (2)
    7.6/10(709 votes)

    #8 - Shroud for a Nightingale (2)

    S1:E2

    After Fallon’s death, Dalgliesh finds a library book in Fallon’s room and a letter in Pearce’s pigeonhole about a patient of Courtney-Briggs’ called Martin Dettinger, whose recent death on the hospital ward upset her. He later discovers rose spray, which Chopra confirms was used to poison Fallon. In the woods Dalgliesh is violently attacked.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Dalgliesh Season 1 Episode 4 - The Black Tower (2)
    7.6/10(582 votes)

    #9 - The Black Tower (2)

    S1:E4

    Wilfred announces that he will transfer the Grange to the Ridgewell Trust and hold a vote on whether he will carry on as spiritual adviser. Maggie threatens to down the ‘whole rotten place’. Despite Eric and Helen’s plot to usurp Wilfred, the majority of the Grange vote for Wilfred to stay, ensuring the Lourdes trips will continue.

    Directors:Ryan Tohill, Andy Tohill
    Writer:Stephen Greenhorn

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  10. Dalgliesh Season 1 Episode 5 - A Taste for Death (1)
    7.6/10(573 votes)

    #10 - A Taste for Death (1)

    S1:E5

    May 1975. 8-year-old Darren and churchwarden Miss Wharton find two dead bodies in the vestry of St Matthew’s Church, Paddington, their throats slashed. One is Sir Paul Berowne, a baronet and recently-resigned Tory MP; the other a homeless man called Harry Mack. Dalgliesh is called in to investigate, accompanied by DS Masterson and his new DS Kate Miskin.

    Director:Lisa Clarke
    Writer:Helen Edmundson

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  11. Dalgliesh Season 2 Episode 1 - Death of an Expert Witness (1)
    7.6/10(538 votes)

    #11 - Death of an Expert Witness (1)

    S2:E1

    When a senior forensic biologist is found dead in his lab, Dalgliesh is called to East Anglia, where the murderer is lying in wait to strike again.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Dalgliesh Season 3 Episode 5 - Devices and Desires (1)
    7.6/10(269 votes)

    #12 - Devices and Desires (1)

    S3:E5

    Dalgliesh is sent on an urgent mission to investigate a terrorist plot against a nuclear power station on the Kent coast. He is soon drawn into a complex and highly charged hunt for a serial killer, working once more alongside former colleague Kate Miskin, now an acting DCI.

    Director:Roger Goldby
    Writer:Helen Edmundson

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  13. Dalgliesh Season 1 Episode 6 - A Taste for Death (2)
    7.7/10(561 votes)

    #13 - A Taste for Death (2)

    S1:E6

    After the attack on Father Barnes while Halliwell was in custody, Dalgliesh brings Swayne and Lampart in for questioning. He discovers Lampart is having an affair with Lady Barbara, who reveals she is pregnant and thinks she will inherit everything. However, Lady Lavinia reveals that Sir Paul secretly changed his will at the last minute.

    Director:Lisa Clarke
    Writer:Helen Edmundson

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  14. Dalgliesh Season 2 Episode 2 - Death of an Expert Witness (2)
    7.7/10(445 votes)

    #14 - Death of an Expert Witness (2)

    S2:E2

    After another body is discovered, Dalgliesh and Miskin untangle a web of infidelities in this rural community, unearthing a killer with secrets to hide and tracks to cover.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Dalgliesh Season 2 Episode 4 - A Certain Justice (2)
    7.8/10(454 votes)

    #15 - A Certain Justice (2)

    S2:E4

    As Dalgliesh's team sort out the complicated motives surrounding the victim's murder, they are running out of time to save her daughter from her dangerous fiancee.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Dalgliesh Season 2 Episode 5 - The Murder Room (1)
    7.8/10(423 votes)

    #16 - The Murder Room (1)

    S2:E5

    Marcus and Caroline Dupayne struggle to convince their brother, Neville, to renew the lease on their family's museum. When Neville's car is torched on the museum grounds and he perishes inside, all who work there are suspects - including his siblings.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Dalgliesh Season 2 Episode 3 - A Certain Justice (1)
    8.0/10(497 votes)

    #17 - A Certain Justice (1)

    S2:E3

    Dalgliesh, Kate Miskin, and new D.S. Daniel Tarrant investigate the murder of an abrasive female defence barrister who successfully defended a shady young man on murder charges, only for him to begin dating her daughter.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Dalgliesh Season 2 Episode 6 - The Murder Room (2)
    8.0/10(439 votes)

    #18 - The Murder Room (2)

    S2:E6

    The grisly discovery in the trunk provides a new line of inquiry that leads to a hidden room, ties to intelligence agents, and a scandalous society at the heart of the museum. The team race to crack the case as the killer prepares to strike again.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Devices and Desires (2)" is the worst rated episode of "Dalgliesh". It scored 7.4/10 based on 251 votes. Directed by Roger Goldby and written by Helen Edmundson, it aired on 12/20/2024. This episode scored 0.1 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Shroud for a Nightingale (1)".