The Man from U.N.C.L.E. backdrop
Action & Adventure•Comedy•Sci-Fi & Fantasy

The Best Episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Every episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.!

Binge this in 2h 0m•Peaking at 8.7/10

Agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin work for a secret intelligence service working under the auspices of the U.N. Their immediate superior is Mr. Waverly. Together they operate out of a secret base beneath the streets

Airs on
NBC
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons4

All1234

Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Click to reveal
    The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 1 Episode 18 - The Mad, Mad, Tea Party Affair
    8.7/10(276 votes)

    #1 - The Mad, Mad, Tea Party Affair

    S1:E18

    Prior to an important conference at U.N.C.L.E. headquarters, a bizarre series of events occurs revolving around a strange man Mr. Hemmingway (Richard Haydn) who keeps appearing and disappearing at will in the building. Solo and Illya learn that he has been placed there by Waverly to test the security system, but THRUSH also has an inside agent, Riley (Peter Haskell), who plants an exploding false tabletop on the conference table at the direction of Dr. Egret (Lee Meriwether). Solo has only a few minutes, before the conference is to begin, to try and find out who the infiltrator is.

    Director:Seymour Robbie
    Writer:Dick Nelson

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  2. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 1 Episode 9 - The Project Strigas Affair
    8.5/10(376 votes)

    #2 - The Project Strigas Affair

    S1:E9

    Solo and Illya devise a clever scheme to discredit a Balkan intelligence chief (Werner Klemperer) with a bogus secret gas. With the help of a bankrupt exterminator (William Shatner) and his wife, Illya poses as a fellow countryman and exploits the paranoia of the chief and his bumbling assistant (Leonard Nimoy).

    Director:Joseph Sargent
    Writer:Henry Misrock

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  3. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 1 Episode 15 - The Deadly Decoy Affair
    8.4/10(259 votes)

    #3 - The Deadly Decoy Affair

    S1:E15

    U.N.C.L.E. must transport captured THRUSH official Egon Stryker (Ralph Taeger) from New York to Washington with THRUSH rescuing him. While Waverly takes a decoy along one route, Solo and Illya take the real Stryker. Or is it ? But in a mixup, Fran Parsons (Joanna Moore),a secretary on her lunch hour, gets handcuffed to Stryker and has to go along.

    Director:Alvin Ganzer
    Writer:Albert Aley

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  4. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 1 Episode 25 - The Never-Never Affair
    8.4/10(263 votes)

    #4 - The Never-Never Affair

    S1:E25

    U.N.C.L.E. Portuguese translator Mandy Stevenson (Barbara Feldon) hungers for more excitement, so Solo sends her on a fake mission to get Waverly's tobacco not realizing she has taken an important microfilm that THRUSH is after. Solo, Illya and THRUSH pursue her through the streets of Manhattan, and eventually she and Solo are captured by the THRUSH leader, Victor Gervais (Cesar Romero), and Solo has to use his skills as a marksman to escape.

    Director:Joseph Sargent
    Writer:Dean Hargrove

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  5. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 1 Episode 10 - The Finny Foot Affair
    8.2/10(290 votes)

    #5 - The Finny Foot Affair

    S1:E10

    Solo gets an unwelcome young companion (Kurt Russell), a ten year old who wants Solo to marry his widowed mother, in his efforts to find the source of a deadly chemical that killed an entire Scottish village. In a race to find the source with General Yokura (Leonard Strong), Solo eventually uses a ring on the finger of a statue to pinpoint a cave where the deadly chemical has leaked from, but has to use his wits to escape when he is trapped there by Yokura and his men.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Jack Turley, Jay Simms

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  6. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 2 Episode 4 - The Foxes and Hounds Affair
    8.1/10(165 votes)

    #6 - The Foxes and Hounds Affair

    S2:E4

    U.N.C.L.E. and Thrush agents compete to gain possession of a mind-reading device created by a magician who has been murdered by Thrush.

    Director:Alf Kjellin
    Writer:Peter Allan Fields

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 WORST Episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

    READ
  7. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 2 Episode 26 - The Project Deephole Affair
    8.0/10(107 votes)

    #7 - The Project Deephole Affair

    S2:E26

    THRUSH agent Elom tries to kidnap a geologist who has developed an earthquake activating machine, but mistakes debt-ridden salesman Buzz Conway for the scientist. Solo and Illya let THRUSH go on thinking Conway is the scientist, while Elom lets his attraction for THRUSH agent Narcissus Darling interfere with his judgment. Conway is captured, and Solo and Illya must rescue him and find the machine.

    Director:Alex March
    Writer:Dean Hargrove

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  8. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 1 Episode 12 - The Dove Affair
    7.9/10(274 votes)

    #8 - The Dove Affair

    S1:E12

    When a minor European leader is assassinated, Solo steals a medallion from his body containing a microdot listing the THRUSH agents in the country, but must elude the secret police and outwit intelligence agent Satine (Ricardo Montalban), who also wants the medal. Teacher and tour guide Sara Taub (June Lockhart) and her high school students are used by Solo to try and sneak the medal over the border.

    Director:John Peyser
    Writer:Robert Towne

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  9. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 2 Episode 29 - The Minus-X Affair
    7.9/10(104 votes)

    #9 - The Minus-X Affair

    S2:E29

    Solo and Illya try to protect Professor Lillian Stemmler from THRUSH after she invents a drug called Plus X, which heightens all the human senses. Unbeknownst to them, she is a THRUSH agent herself who at first cooperates willingly, then has second thoughts. But THRUSH agent Rollo kidnaps her daughter Leslie and forces her to cooperate. The drug is given to three THRUSH agents who will attack a U.S. government plutonium plant using their superior senses, while at the same time the guards will be given a dose of Minus X, which dulls the senses.

    Director:Barry Shear
    Writer:Peter Allan Fields

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  10. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 3 Episode 12 - The Concrete Overcoat Affair (2)
    7.9/10(99 votes)

    #10 - The Concrete Overcoat Affair (2)

    S3:E12

    While in Italy investigating a THRUSH plan to divert the Gulf Stream with heavy water, Solo finds himself eluding THRUSH guards, and ends up hiding under the bed of Pia Monteri. Solo escapes a shotgun wedding, the family feels Pia's honor has been compromised, and the girl's American uncles retired Prohibition-era gangsters ""Fingers"" Stilletto, Enzo ""Pretty"" Stilletto, and Federico ""Feet"" Stilletto are called. At the island headquarters of Louis Strago, Illya is tortured by Strago's sadistic female assistant, Miss Diketon. Solo joins forces with the Stilletto brothers to try and rescue him.

    Director:Joseph Sargent
    Writer:Peter Allan Fields

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  11. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 1 Episode 27 - The Gazebo in the Maze Affair
    7.8/10(244 votes)

    #11 - The Gazebo in the Maze Affair

    S1:E27

    Squire G. Emory Partridge (George Sanders) kidnaps Illya and lures Solo to his manor in order to kill them off in his dungeon torture chamber in revenge for a past encounter. But Peggy Durance (Bonnie Franklin) helps them escape, with the unintended aid of Partridge's bumbling wife Edith (Jeanette Nolan).

    Director:Alf Kjellin
    Writers:Dean Hargrove, Antony Ellis

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  12. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 2 Episode 13 - The Adriatic Express Affair
    7.8/10(123 votes)

    #12 - The Adriatic Express Affair

    S2:E13

    Solo and Illya board the Adriatic Express train on New Year's Eve to intercept Madame Nemirovitch, a THRUSH agent who is carrying a chemical that is capable of stopping the reproductive process. Eva, a young girl who delivers a message to Madame Nemirovitch as the train leaves, is caught on board. Throughout the evening, the THRUSH agent and Solo and Illya engage in a battle of wits as the train speeds along its route.

    Director:Seymour Robbie
    Writer:Robert Hill

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  13. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 2 Episode 19 - The Waverly Ring Affair
    7.8/10(117 votes)

    #13 - The Waverly Ring Affair

    S2:E19

    When secret ""File 40"" documents turn up outside headquarters, Waverly assigns Solo and Illya to find out if George Donnell is a double agent. Carla Drosten is too anxious to accuse Donnell and Solo must use special ""Waverly rings"" to try and expose the real double agent.

    Director:John Brahm
    Writer:Jerry McNeely

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  14. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 1 Episode 20 - The Bow-Wow Affair
    7.7/10(204 votes)

    #14 - The Bow-Wow Affair

    S1:E20

    Waverly's cousin is killed by his own dog when he refuses to sell his stock to a gypsy named Delgrovia (Paul Lambert), so Illya investigates and, with the help of Ursula (Susan Oliver) and dog expert Guido Panzini (Pat Harrington Jr.), traces two of the dogs to Delgrovia's estate, where he and Ursula are soon cornered by a pack of deadly Doberman pinschers.

    Director:Sherman Marks
    Writer:Alan Caillou

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  15. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 1 Episode 23 - The Brain-Killer Affair
    7.7/10(278 votes)

    #15 - The Brain-Killer Affair

    S1:E23

    Waverly is poisoned, and taken to a hospital where he is subjected to the rays of a brain-altering machine by THRUSH agent Dr, Dabree (Elsa Lanchester) designed to make him ineffective without killing him. While investigating others who have suffered the same fate, Solo finds Cecille Bergstrom (Yvonne Craig) and together they try to unravel the mystery and save Waverly.

    Director:James Goldstone
    Writer:Archie L. Tegland

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  16. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 2 Episode 12 - The Children's Day Affair
    7.7/10(121 votes)

    #16 - The Children's Day Affair

    S2:E12

    A top-level U.N.C.L.E. conference is to be held in Switzerland, but a nearby boys' school is actually a THRUSH front run by Mother Fear and Dennis Jenks that is training its students to be assassins. Solo is captured by the boys, and, when he refuses to reveal the conference location, is forced to operate the controls of two electric trains so they do not collide with each carrying a vial of deadly nerve gas. Illya and Anna Paola, a social worker who resent children, are also captured. The escape, and arrive at the conference just as the boy's choir is ready to kill Waverly and the others with THRUSH rifles from under their robes.

    Director:Sherman Marks
    Writer:Dean Hargrove

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  17. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 3 Episode 3 - The Galatea Affair
    7.7/10(101 votes)

    #17 - The Galatea Affair

    S3:E3

    In spoof of ""My Fair Lady,"" Solo is recuperating from a fall into a Venice canal, Illya teams with Mark Slate to uncover Baroness Bibi de Chasseur, a THRUSH money courier who has contact with the treasurer of THRUSH. They recruit a barroom entertainer, Rosy Shlagenheimer, an exact double, to impersonate her. The switch is made, but in the confusion the Baroness makes another switch and poses as Rosy, then finds herself falling in love with Slate.

    Director:E. Darrell Hallenbeck
    Writer:Jackson Gillis

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  18. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 4 Episode 8 - The Deadly Quest Affair
    7.7/10(93 votes)

    #18 - The Deadly Quest Affair

    S4:E8

    Illya recuperating in the hospital, is kidnapped by an old enemy, Viktor Karmak (Darrin McGavin), to lure Solo into a trap. Solo follows a clue to a twelve block condemned area of Manhattan, and finds modern artist Sheila Van Tillson (Marlyn Mason). Karmak appears and announces that Solo has until dawn to find Illya before a deadly gas kills him, while Karmak and his pet jaguar will try to hunt Solo down at the same time.

    Director:Alf Kjellin
    Writer:Robert E. Thompson

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  19. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 4 Episode 13 - The Maze Affair
    7.7/10(85 votes)

    #19 - The Maze Affair

    S4:E13

    Oliver Barnes (Lawrence Mantaigne), a THRUSH agent, unsuccessfully tries to destroy a package. Solo and Illya suspect a connection between this and a new ""molecutronic gun"" developed by Dr. Fabray (William Marshall). Solo runs into Abbe Nelton (Anna Capri). Fabray turns out to be a THRUSH collaborator. The entire scheme was a plan to get Illya to take the ""gun"" actually a bomb, into U.N.C.L.E. headquarters in Trojan Horse fashion.

    Director:John Brahm
    Writer:Leonard Stadd

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  20. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 1 Episode 29 - The Odd Man Affair
    7.6/10(226 votes)

    #20 - The Odd Man Affair

    S1:E29

    Retired U.N.C.L.E. agent Albert Sully (Martin Balsam) is brought back to impersonate a crime syndicate leader, and insists on leaving Solo and Illya behind and running the operation himself. He reunites with wartime fellow agent and old flame Bryn Watson (Barbara Shelly) and tracks down a secret crime conference, with the exasperated Solo and Illya trying to keep him from being killed in the process.

    Director:Joseph Sargent
    Writer:Dick Nelson

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  21. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 2 Episode 20 - The Bridge of Lions Affair (1)
    7.6/10(115 votes)

    #21 - The Bridge of Lions Affair (1)

    S2:E20

    Illya investigates the mysterious disappearance of cats in Soho, and he and Solo discover that a salon run by Madame De Sala is a front for her plan to develop a rejuvenation process, which De Sala plans to use on the now elderly target of her romantic desires, Sir Norman Swickert. Assisted by Joanna Sweet, a nurse, they end up in the bottom of a wine press. Meanwhile, THRUSH agent Jordin plots to obtain the process for THRUSH.

    Director:E. Darrell Hallenbeck
    Writer:Howard Rodman

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  22. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 4 Episode 1 - The Summit-Five Affair
    7.6/10(89 votes)

    #22 - The Summit-Five Affair

    S4:E1

    Visiting Berlin headquarters in preparation for a high level U.N.C.L.E. conference, ""Summit Five,"" Solo finds agent Heinz Newman (Don Chastin) mysteriously murdered. Illya goes to Berlin, as does Harry Beldon (Albert Dekker), one of Waverly's counterparts in Section 1. Beldon suspects that either Solo or Gerald Struthers (Lloyd Bochner) committed the murder, while Illya suspects Beldon's secretary Helga Deniken (Suzanne Cramer), but Beldon himself turns out to be the traitor, and he plans to kill Waverly at the conference.

    Director:Sutton Roley
    Writer:Robert E. Thompson

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  23. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 1 Episode 7 - The Giuoco Piano Affair
    7.5/10(280 votes)

    #23 - The Giuoco Piano Affair

    S1:E7

    The conuation of "The Quadripartite Affair". Gervaise Ravel (Anne Francis) returns and Solo and Illya again enlist Marion Raven (Jill Ireland) to help them pursue her through the Andes, where the treachery of police lieutenant Manuera (James Frawley) impedes their efforts to capture Ravel.

    Director:Richard Donner
    Writer:Alan Caillou

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  24. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 1 Episode 28 - The Girls of Nazarone Affair
    7.5/10(178 votes)

    #24 - The Girls of Nazarone Affair

    S1:E28

    Solo and Illya travel to the Riveria, where they search for a serum that supposedly provides great strength and even brings the dead back to life. There they meet Madame Streigau (Marian Moses), who is actually Dr. Egret of THRUSH, as well as Lucia Nazarone (Danica d'Hondt) and her bevy of beautiful blonde helpers. With the help of teacher Lavina Brown (Kipp Hamilton), they trick Mazarone into thinking they have the serum also, and become the targets of her "superwomen".

    Director:Alvin Ganzer
    Writer:Peter Allan Fields

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  25. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Season 2 Episode 6 - The Re-Collector's Affair
    7.5/10(132 votes)

    #25 - The Re-Collector's Affair

    S2:E6

    The 'Re-collectors' claim to be trying to locate works of art stolen by the Nazi's but all is not as it appears.

    Director:Alvin Ganzer
    Writer:Alan Caillou

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

Best Episodes Summary

"The Mad, Mad, Tea Party Affair" is the best rated episode of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.". It scored 8.7/10 based on 276 votes. Directed by Seymour Robbie and written by Dick Nelson, it aired on 2/1/1965. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Project Strigas Affair".