Laura Holt, a licensed private detective, opens a detective agency but finds that potential clients refuse to hire a woman, however qualified. To solve the problem, Laura invents a fictitious male superior whom she names Remington Steele. Through a series of events that unfold in the first episode, "License to Steele," a former thief and con man, whose real name is never revealed, assumes the identity of Remington Steele. Behind the scenes, Laura remains firmly in charge.
The best episode of "Remington Steele" season 1 is "License to Steele", rated 8/10 from 343 user votes. It was directed by Robert Butler and written by Michael Gleason. "License to Steele" aired on 10/1/1982 and is rated 0.8 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "Tempered Steele".
"License to Steele" is the premiere episode of the television series Remington Steele. This episode introduces and sets all the central elements of the series; the truth about Laura's fictional boss, the mysterious character posing as Steele, the romantic tension, Steele's love of old movies, et cetera.
Director: Robert Butler
Writer: Michael Gleason
Laura tackles a case of industrial espionage in a family-owned business while Steele enlists an old pal to help him install a burglar alarm.
Director: Robert Butler
Writer: Michael Gleason
A video game genius disappears just before a merger, with $5 million and the plans for his company's latest video game.
Director: Jeff Bleckner
Writer: N/A
Laura and Steele spend the weekend trying to keep a CIA researcher alive and on time for his wedding.
Director: Robert Butler
Writer: Glenn Gordon Caron
A woman from Steele's past asks him to help her steal a valuable painting that Laura has already agreed to protect.
Director: Leo Penn
Writer: N/A
A loser asks the agency to help him, but his alibi witness is found dead in Steele's apartment and his lawyer seems more interested in Laura than in the case.
Director: Robert Butler
Writer: Michael Gleason
Laura and Steele investigate the murder of an author whose steamy novels badly mirror her own married life.
Director: Stan Lathan
Writer: Glenn Gordon Caron
A lesson in detective work for Steele escalates a jaywalking accident into an encounter with Japanese gangsters.
Director: Thomas Carter
Writer: N/A
Steele investigates a murder when Laura's former colleagues gather for a reunion and old grievances begin to re-emerge.
Director: Burt Brinckerhoff
Writer: Joel Steiger
A client commits suicide in the office so Steele and Laura attend a house party on an island owned by a wealthy publisher in his place in an attempt to find out why.
Director: Sidney Hayers
Writer: Michael Gleason
Steele comes to the aid of an aging B-movie queen whose daughter is trying to commit her and who someone is apparently trying to kill.
Director: Seymour Robbie
Writer: Peter Lefcourt
Steele gets involved with the murder of a naturalist when he serves on a committee to save the bald eagle.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
Laura and Steele go undercover at a sleep-disorders clinic to investigate the disappearance of morphine and a doctor.
Director: Seymour Robbie
Writer: N/A
Steele and Laura pose as a battling couple while they investigate murder attempts against an aggressive divorce lawyer.
Director: Robert Butler
Writer: Glenn Gordon Caron
Laura and Steele wind up working for opposite sides of a jewelry theft when the frightened thief looks for help when someone else beats him to the jewel.
Director: Sidney Hayers
Writer: Glenn Gordon Caron
Murphy's college homecoming is marred by a murder that awakens memories of a bombing on campus ten years before.
Director: Don Weis
Writer: N/A
Laura searches for a vanished artist whose works have suddenly appreciated in value, for both her husband and the owner of an art gallery.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
Laura and Steele investigate the increasingly dangerous pranks someone is pulling on the news team of a local television station.
Director: Burt Brinckerhoff
Writer: Michael Gleason
Laura's former flame asks her help when he discovers a corpse in the trunk of his car, a corpse that keeps returning as they check out a winery he's involved with.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
A prospector's journal stolen during a party leads Laura and Steele on a wild gold hunt through the desert.
Director: Burt Brinckerhoff
Writer: N/A
Steele's mentor, Daniel Chalmers, comes to California to ask for Steele's help in dealing with a vindictive crook.
Director: Seymour Robbie
Writer: Michael Gleason
Steele stops a distraught young man from killing himself then must find a missing girl and a ""borrowed"" $50,000 to keep him from trying again.
Director: Don Weis
Writer: N/A