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The Best Episodes of Waking the Dead

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

Binge this in 3h 50m•Peaking at 8.8/10

A detective team apply new techniques to old crimes as they solve cold cases.

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BBC One
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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Waking the Dead Season 9 Episode 10 - Waterloo (2)
    8.8/10(169 votes)

    S9:E10

    Time is running out for Boyd as he fights for justice against a powerful adversary.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Waking the Dead Season 9 Episode 9 - Waterloo (1)
    8.6/10(157 votes)

    S9:E9

    Boyd investigates the disappearance of 16 homeless boys from Waterloo Bridge in the 1980s.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Waking the Dead Season 6 Episode 12 - Yahrzeit (2)
    8.5/10(184 votes)

    S6:E12

    As Ben goes missing, Boyd and his team try to force the truth out of a confused David. Boyd grows increasingly close to Sarah, and Stella travels to Poland to investigate the true story.

    Director:Tim Fywell
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Waking the Dead Season 9 Episode 2 - Harbinger (2)
    8.4/10(147 votes)

    S9:E2

    Boyd is convinced that the missing Donald is not a murderer, and pushes his team to try to make sense of all the vague connections in the case and eventually confront the unfathomable evil lurking within the heart of this sad, unfortunate family.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Ed Whitmore

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  5. Waking the Dead Season 4 Episode 6 - Fugue States (2)
    8.3/10(187 votes)

    S4:E6

    After shooting an unarmed man in the raid on the nursery, Mel is suspended from the case pending an inquiry. Grace and Boyd, meanwhile, have more questions for Roper—but the doctor's in no position to answer them.

    Director:Ben Bolt
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Waking the Dead Season 5 Episode 8 - Straw Dog (2)
    8.3/10(155 votes)

    S5:E8

    Someone possibly copying the past crimes begins harassing Grace about her testimony against Tony Greene. If she doesn't admit that she was wrong about him, the assailant promises to murder the victim he/she is holding hostage.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Waking the Dead

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  7. Waking the Dead Season 5 Episode 12 - Cold Fusion (2)
    8.3/10(169 votes)

    S5:E12

    As DNA evidence from an old case of Spencer's (while he was working for the Atomic Energy Constabulary) is re-examined it appears that the wrong man was sent to jail. Someone tries to coverup the new evidence, causing all eyes to turn to Spencer.

    Director:Richard Standeven
    Writer:Ed Whitmore

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  8. Waking the Dead Season 6 Episode 11 - Yahrzeit (1)
    8.3/10(203 votes)

    S6:E11

    Boyd receives an anonymous package in the post – a Nazi ceremonial dagger. Attached to it is a Cold Case number, linking it to the unsolved murder of a young girl in May 1945. It seems that Mel had been working on the case before her death, what does this mean for the Cold Case Team?

    Director:Tim Fywell
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Waking the Dead Season 5 Episode 7 - Straw Dog (1)
    8.2/10(187 votes)

    S5:E7

    Grace is haunted by an old case that she assisted on at the beginning of her career when she is asked to give evidence at the assailant's appeal hearing.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Waking the Dead Season 5 Episode 11 - Cold Fusion (1)
    8.2/10(170 votes)

    S5:E11

    As DNA evidence from an old case of Spencer's (while he was working for the Atomic Energy Constabulary) is re-examined it appears that the wrong man was sent to jail. Someone tries to coverup the new evidence, causing all eyes to turn to Spencer.

    Director:Richard Standeven
    Writer:Ed Whitmore

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  11. Waking the Dead Season 1 Episode 8 - Every Breath You Take (2)
    8.1/10(217 votes)

    S1:E8

    Grace is not convinced that the stalker who confessed to the murder is truly guilty. But who really killed the police officer? Was it possibly the stalker, her ex-husband, or the married father of her unborn baby?

    Director:Gary Love
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Waking the Dead Season 4 Episode 2 - In Sight of the Lord (2)
    8.1/10(232 votes)

    S4:E2

    Is the Second World War the linking factor? The team must find the next possible victim but no-one knows where he is.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Waking the Dead Season 4 Episode 5 - Fugue States (1)
    8.1/10(200 votes)

    S4:E5

    Two five-year-old twins are taken from their home in Notting Hill Carnival and a nationwide search is launched, but they are not found. Thirteen years later, one of the twins, Jason, is admitted to hospital after a traffic accident. The hunt now begins to establish where his sister, Cindy might be and if she is still alive.

    Directors:Andy Hay, Ben Bolt
    Writers:Stephen Davis, Ed Whitmore

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  14. Waking the Dead Season 4 Episode 12 - Shadowplay (2)
    8.1/10(196 votes)

    S4:E12

    Boyd and the team continue to investigate the arson case and the other two other possible crime connections to 'The Shepherd'. Will the team discover this person's true identity or will it all turn out to be a part of the imagination of a mentally ill woman?

    Director:Andy Hay
    Writer:Ed Whitmore

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  15. Waking the Dead Season 5 Episode 10 - Undertow (2)
    8.1/10(155 votes)

    S5:E10

    A criminal is about to be released, the team is sure he is a serial killer. They enter in a race against the clock to prove their suspicions and prevent his upcoming release.

    Director:David Thacker
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Waking the Dead Season 7 Episode 8 - Skin (2)
    8.1/10(146 votes)

    S7:E8

    When they do some digging into the man's past, they discover the deceased was not who he claimed to be, but in fact he had a hidden agenda of his own.

    Director:Edward Bennett
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Waking the Dead Season 7 Episode 12 - Pieta (2)
    8.1/10(152 votes)

    S7:E12

    Boyd vows to track down the ring of war criminals, all of whom are now living and working in the UK

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Waking the Dead Season 8 Episode 7 - Endgame (1)
    8.1/10(168 votes)

    S8:E7

    An old adversary of Boyd's asks him to investigate two deaths at her psychiatric hospital.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Waking the Dead Season 8 Episode 8 - Endgame (2)
    8.1/10(167 votes)

    S8:E8

    Boyd and his team uncover the awful truth behind the walls of the psychiatric hospital.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Waking the Dead Season 9 Episode 1 - Harbinger (1)
    8.1/10(153 votes)

    S9:E1

    Boyd has to break in a new team member of equal rank, Detective Superintendent Sarah Cavendish, a high-flyer recently grounded by a hushed-up failed operation.After the empty and abandoned car of banker Donald Rees is discovered threee years after he went missing, Boyd decides to take on the case in an effort help the man's family find some closure with their lives.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Ed Whitmore

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  21. Waking the Dead Season 9 Episode 3 - Care (1)
    8.1/10(146 votes)

    S9:E3

    After a woman is discovered stabbed in the eyes and incinerated in her car she is identified as Claire Somers, a neglected child who was taken into care, then later kidnapped in 1986 at the age of seven. Robert Fenchurch had his eyes stabbed out on the night Claire was kidnapped as her abductor fled the scene. The team soon find out that Claire had snatched 15-year-old Abigail Harding, who was found locked in a hotel room.

    Director:Edward Bennett
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Waking the Dead Season 9 Episode 4 - Care (2)
    8.0/10(140 votes)

    S9:E4

    The investigation into Claire Somers' death has seemingly unleashed a predator straight from the darkest childhood nightmare. But are they looking for a monstrous child-stealer, or misguided saviours?

    Director:Edward Bennett
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Waking the Dead Season 1 Episode 7 - Every Breath You Take (1)
    7.9/10(242 votes)

    S1:E7

    When the corpse of a well-known police woman who went missing a year earlier is found floating in the Thames, Boyd and his team of investigators try to track down who murdered her and her unborn child.

    Director:Gary Love
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Waking the Dead Season 2 Episode 3 - Deathwatch (1)
    7.9/10(203 votes)

    S2:E3

    Boyd and the team take on the task of infiltrating the dark underworld of London's gangland crime families when Harry Newman makes a deathbed confession to 12 "unauthorised killings". Dr Grace Foley is intrigued by this strange expression but Boyd and the rest of the team are tempted to dismiss it as the meanderings of a dying man. Until, that is, forensic psychologist Frankie Wharton discovers that Newman did not die of natural causes, but has been murdered. They soon realise there's a lot more to Newman than they imagined. Added to all that, there's a link to a famous fifties trial in which a gangster was hanged for killing two policemen.

    Director:Maurice Phillips
    Writer:Stephen Davis

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  25. Waking the Dead Season 2 Episode 4 - Deathwatch (2)
    7.9/10(194 votes)

    S2:E4

    The postliminary inquiries into Harry Newman's past and the identities of the possible twelve murder victims uncover a connection to the infamous trial and execution of a well known gangster.

    Director:Maurice Phillips
    Writer:Stephen Davis

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Best Episodes Summary

"Waterloo (2)" is the best rated episode of "Waking the Dead". It scored 8.8/10 based on 169 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 4/11/2011. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "Waterloo (1)".