Ironside backdrop
Crime•Drama•Mystery

The Best Episodes of Ironside

Every episode of Ironside ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Ironside!

Binge this in 8d 5h•Peaking at 8.7/10

When an assassin's bullet confines him to a wheelchair for life ending his career as Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside becomes a consultant to the police department. Detective Sergeant Ed Brown and policewoman Eve

Airs on
NBC
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons8

All12345678

Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Click to reveal
    Ironside Season 3 Episode 20 - One Hour to Kill
    8.7/10(84 votes)

    #1 - One Hour to Kill

    S3:E20

    Ironside becomes trapped in his office on his own, when a man comes looking for revenge. With Mark at school and Ed dragged to the opera by Eve, the Chief has to improvise a series of defences, whilst his team gradually come to realise that something is very wrong.

    Director:Richard Benedict
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  2. Ironside Season 5 Episode 12 - Gentle Oaks
    8.7/10(81 votes)

    #2 - Gentle Oaks

    S5:E12

    A string of deaths at a convalescence home leads the Chief to go undercover as a patient, whose two children (Fran Belding and Ed) hint that they wish he were "no longer their problem". It soon appears that violence and murder are considered due care by certain members of the staff.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  3. Ironside Season 5 Episode 2 - Contract: Kill Ironside
    8.6/10(67 votes)

    #3 - Contract: Kill Ironside

    S5:E2

    Due to give evidence, the Chief discovers that there is a contract out on his life, and that the chosen killer is a highly dedicated man. Whilst the authorities see only the lethal killer, however, it seems that everybody has another side to their personality.

    Director:Don Weis
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  4. Ironside Season 2 Episode 16 - Rundown on a Bum Rap
    8.5/10(107 votes)

    #4 - Rundown on a Bum Rap

    S2:E16

    Mark's old boxing coach, an alcoholic, is found at the scene of a serious assault, and nobody seems prepared to entertain the theory that he might just be innocent. Mark battles to prove that he has been falsely accused, assisted by the rest of the team, and in the process wins the affections of his law school teacher.

    Director:Allen Reisner
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  5. Ironside Season 4 Episode 26 - Walls Are Waiting
    8.5/10(77 votes)

    #5 - Walls Are Waiting

    S4:E26

    A parole officer famed for his hard line against drug pushers begins to fear for his life after a shooting. The line of suspects, however, as well as including one of his current clients, also seems to include that client's lawyer, and even the parole officer himself.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  6. Ironside Season 6 Episode 4 - Down Two Roads
    8.5/10(68 votes)

    #6 - Down Two Roads

    S6:E4

    Mark's graduation from law school coincides with the arrest of a caretaker that he has befriended. Believing the man innocent, he finds the weight of the law stacked against him, and quickly becomes disillusioned with his new career. Should he turn his back on law altogether, though, or should he just find another way to devote himself to justice?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 WORST Episodes of Ironside

    READ
  7. Ironside Season 6 Episode 22 - The Best Laid Plans
    8.5/10(59 votes)

    #7 - The Best Laid Plans

    S6:E22

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  8. Ironside Season 7 Episode 18 - A Taste of Ashes
    8.5/10(60 votes)

    #8 - A Taste of Ashes

    S7:E18

    A girl thought to have died years previously turns up at the home of her mother just as her brother is found murdered. Clearly somebody is trying to kill the family off, but is it connected to the girl, and is she really who she says she is?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  9. Ironside Season 8 Episode 3 - What's New with Mark?
    8.5/10(58 votes)

    #9 - What's New with Mark?

    S8:E3

    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.

    Director:Charles S. Dubin
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  10. Ironside Season 3 Episode 22 - Little Jerry Jessup
    8.4/10(67 votes)

    #10 - Little Jerry Jessup

    S3:E22

    A thirteen year old boy is the only witness to his mother's murder, but finds it hard to co-operate with the Chief, knowing that it was Ironside who put his father in prison. Allowing Marty Jessup a temporary pass is the only way for the Chief to solve the murder and to lessen his conscience at the same time.

    Director:Don Weis
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  11. Ironside Season 4 Episode 21 - The Riddle in Room Six
    8.4/10(63 votes)

    #11 - The Riddle in Room Six

    S4:E21

    A court case is put in jeopardy when it seems that the jury is irrevocably hung over its verdict; until the Chief realises that one member must surely be on the take. He has a race against time to unmask the guilty party, however, before the judge must dismiss the jury and let the defendant walk free.

    Director:John Florea
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  12. Ironside Season 7 Episode 22 - Riddle at 24,000
    8.4/10(65 votes)

    #12 - Riddle at 24,000

    S7:E22

    A man dies of a heart attack whilst flying his plane, but the town medical examiner, a charmingly eccentric Cuban doctor, is convinced that there was foul play. By chance Ironside and Ed are on their way to visit and soon become involved in his investigations; but between pregnant ducks and volatile banana cocktails they have their work cut out as never before.

    Director:Don Weis
    Writer:Lane Slate

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  13. Ironside Season 1 Episode 23 - Something for Nothing
    8.3/10(113 votes)

    #13 - Something for Nothing

    S1:E23

    A compulsive (and unlucky) gambler is in debt to a local mobster for $32,000. Ironside wants to put the mobster away, but only can if the gambler is prepared to turn state's evidence. The Chief has to persuade him to turn against the man who is offering him a way out of debt. (NB - The second episode to feature original song From The Day You're Born.)

    Director:Robert Butler
    Writer:Anthony Terpiloff

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  14. Ironside Season 2 Episode 9 - Reprise
    8.3/10(85 votes)

    #14 - Reprise

    S2:E9

    When Eve is injured during a shooting, the rest of the team recall their early encounters with her, and the Chief wonders if he was right ever to have encouraged her to join the force. Meanwhile, Ed worries over whether he wants to arrest Eve's attacker, or just kill the man outright.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  15. Ironside Season 4 Episode 3 - The Happy Dreams of Hollow Men
    8.3/10(81 votes)

    #15 - The Happy Dreams of Hollow Men

    S4:E3

    The Chief travels into the mountains to spend the weekend with an old friend, only to be snowed in following a bad blizzard. Trapped in a small cabin, Ironside discovers that his friend is now an addict, violent and unpredictable without the fix he cannot get.

    Director:Don Weis
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  16. Ironside Season 4 Episode 10 - The Man on the Inside
    8.3/10(62 votes)

    #16 - The Man on the Inside

    S4:E10

    When a drug pusher is arrested following a spate of botched drug raids he fingers Ironside as a gang informer. Ed is press-ganged onto a team set up to investigate the Chief, which leads to conflict with Eve. Meanwhile Ironside himself seems to be taking the investigation very calmly, which leads to concern all round.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  17. Ironside Season 5 Episode 17 - Unreasonable Facsimile
    8.3/10(59 votes)

    #17 - Unreasonable Facsimile

    S5:E17

    A string of bank robberies are being committed, all with the exact hallmarks of a certain thief recently released from prison. Having a liking for the ex-con, however, the Chief wishes to believe in his innocence, and sets out to prove that it may be a copycat who is responsible for the raids.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  18. Ironside Season 6 Episode 9 - The Countdown
    8.3/10(59 votes)

    #18 - The Countdown

    S6:E9

    A scientist is given a irremovable belt containing explosives, and the man responsible demands the release of three men from prison in return for the key to the device. The Chief sets out to find and trap the man before time runs out and the bomb explodes, taking an innocent person with it.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  19. Ironside Season 7 Episode 2 - Murder by One
    8.3/10(64 votes)

    #19 - Murder by One

    S7:E2

    The teenage son of a friend of Fran's appears to commit suicide, however the evidence seems to point in a number of different directions. Did he kill himself, or was it a murder made to look like suicide? Or, alternatively, was a suicide made to look like it could have been murder? The Chief has to unravel the story, but he has little real evidence to help him along.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  20. Ironside Season 1 Episode 11 - The Monster of Comus Towers
    8.2/10(111 votes)

    #20 - The Monster of Comus Towers

    S1:E11

    An ingenious art theft takes place at Comus Towers Art Museum, and a guard is murdered in the process. Chief Ironside takes the case, but another death is to follow; this time the proprietor of the museum, who is an old friend of the Chief's.

    Director:Don Weis
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  21. Ironside Season 2 Episode 2 - Split Second to an Epitaph
    8.2/10(97 votes)

    #21 - Split Second to an Epitaph

    S2:E2

    Ironside is the only witness to a murder, but has to go into hospital for exploratory surgery immediately after the events that he witnessed. The murderer is determined that he should not leave hospital alive, and as the Chief deals with the possibility of maybe one day being able to walk again, his presence in the hospital helps various other citizens right wrongs in their lives. Meanwhile Ed, Eve and Mark deal with their own worries and fears for the Chief as the murder attempts escalate.

    Director:Leonard Horn
    Writer:Don Mankiewicz

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  22. Ironside Season 2 Episode 3 - The Sacrifice
    8.2/10(91 votes)

    #22 - The Sacrifice

    S2:E3

    A policeman friend of Ironside and the team is the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Is he really guilty, though, or is the evidence just a little too damning?

    Director:Abner Biberman
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  23. Ironside Season 3 Episode 14 - Dora
    8.2/10(71 votes)

    #23 - Dora

    S3:E14

    A fruit seller is threatened by a protection racket, who obtain false photographs of her lawyer son in an attempt to coerce her into letting them invest in her business on the docks. The racket has not reckoned on the tenacity of Dora and her son, however; or on her good friend Chief Ironside.

    Director:John Florea
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  24. Ironside Season 5 Episode 19 - And Then There Was One
    8.2/10(56 votes)

    #24 - And Then There Was One

    S5:E19

    A military-issue fragmentation grenade is used in an attack on two Vietnam veterans, one of whom - a friend of Mark's - is killed. When it transpires that another of the pair's old unit has come under similar attack, the Chief sets out to trap the killer, using Ed in a cunning disguise as bait.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  25. Ironside Season 5 Episode 21 - Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Murder
    8.2/10(85 votes)

    #25 - Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Murder

    S5:E21

    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.

    Director:Christian I. Nyby II
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

Best Episodes Summary

"One Hour to Kill" is the best rated episode of "Ironside". It scored 8.7/10 based on 84 votes. Directed by Richard Benedict and written by Unknown, it aired on 2/26/1970. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Gentle Oaks".