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The Best Episodes of Ironside

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

The Best Episodes of Ironside

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...

Seasons8

  1. Background image for Gentle Oaks
    8.7/10(76 votes)

    #1 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for Contract: Kill Ironside
    8.5/10(63 votes)

    #2 - 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.

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    Director:Don Weis
    Writer:Unknown
  3. Background image for Walls Are Waiting
    8.4/10(73 votes)

    #3 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for Down Two Roads
    8.4/10(63 votes)

    #4 - 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?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for The Best Laid Plans
    8.4/10(56 votes)

    #5 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for What's New with Mark?
    8.4/10(56 votes)

    #6 - 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.

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    Writer:Unknown
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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Ironside

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  8. Background image for The Riddle in Room Six
    8.3/10(59 votes)

    #7 - 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.

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    Director:John Florea
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for Murder by One
    8.3/10(62 votes)

    #8 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for A Taste of Ashes
    8.3/10(54 votes)

    #9 - 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?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for Riddle at 24,000
    8.3/10(62 votes)

    #10 - 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.

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    Director:Don Weis
    Writer:Lane Slate
  12. Background image for The Monster of Comus Towers
    8.2/10(106 votes)

    #11 - 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.

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    Director:Don Weis
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for Something for Nothing
    8.2/10(107 votes)

    #12 - 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.)

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  14. Background image for The Man on the Inside
    8.2/10(60 votes)

    #13 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for Unreasonable Facsimile
    8.2/10(56 votes)

    #14 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Murder
    8.2/10(82 votes)

    #15 - 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.

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  17. Background image for Close to the Heart
    8.2/10(46 votes)

    #16 - Close to the Heart

    S7:E20

    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.

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  18. Background image for The Taker
    8.1/10(111 votes)

    #17 - The Taker

    S1:E6

    A policeman known to Ironside for some years is shot dead whilst on an investigation. The evidence points to him being crooked, but the Chief is determined to prove otherwise.

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    Director:Don Weis
  19. Background image for A Very Cool Hot Car
    8.1/10(111 votes)

    #18 - A Very Cool Hot Car

    S1:E13

    Cars are being stolen in worryingly high numbers, and with the numbers recovered falling dramatically, the signs point to a crooked cop somewhere in the department. Mark is convinced that the cop in question is innocent, but nobody else seems very sure.

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    Director:Unknown
  20. Background image for Force of Arms
    8.1/10(89 votes)

    #19 - Force of Arms

    S1:E17

    A local businessman sets up an organized vigilante force to try to clean up San Francisco. When a key member is murdered, it becomes clear that the "Second Force" has got severely out of hand.

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  21. Background image for The Happy Dreams of Hollow Men
    8.1/10(76 votes)

    #20 - 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.

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    Director:Don Weis
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for And Then There Was One
    8.1/10(53 votes)

    #21 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for Five Days in the Death of Sergeant Brown (I)
    8.1/10(77 votes)

    #22 - Five Days in the Death of Sergeant Brown (I)

    S6:E1

    The star witness to a major case, Ed is shot and seriously injured by a mystery assailant. Threatened with paralysis he conducts his own struggle from within his hospital bed, whilst the Chief tries to find out who is still trying to kill his prize pupil. Meanwhile Ed's best chance of recovery is an untested experimental operation performed by a surgeon whose integrity is very likely about to be put to the test. The crossover continues on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors S04E01 Five Days in the Death of Sgt. Brown (II).

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for The Countdown
    8.1/10(56 votes)

    #23 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for Amy Prentiss: AKA The Chief
    8.1/10(57 votes)

    #24 - Amy Prentiss: AKA The Chief

    S7:E23

    The promotion of a new Chief of Police leaves an opening for a new Chief of Detectives, and the front runner for the job is Lieutenant Amy Prentiss. Much of the force is opposed to her appointment, but she is determined to prove them wrong. With Ironside and his team alone in supporting her, she has to make her mark in a difficult case beset with problems, whilst at the same time convincing her male dominated staff to accept her as their new leader.

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    Director:Boris Sagal
    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for Fall of an Angel
    8.1/10(53 votes)

    #25 - Fall of an Angel

    S8:E13

    A retired assassin kills the son of a mob chief, and tries to escape town after anonymously leaving his own young son in the care of Chief Ironside. The Chief soon puts two and two together, and figures out who the boy is; but he still has to find the father, before a major league gangster out for revenge can get to him first.

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    Director:Daniel Haller
    Writer:Unknown

Best Episodes Summary

"Gentle Oaks" is the best rated episode of "Ironside". It scored 8.7/10 based on 76 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 11/25/1971. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "Contract: Kill Ironside".