The Worst Episodes of Wycliffe
Every episode of Wycliffe ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Wycliffe!
Wycliffe is a British television series, based on W. J. Burley's novels about Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe. It was produced by HTV and broadcast on the ITV Network, following a pilot episode on 7 August 1993, between 24 July 1994 and 5 July 1998. The series was filmed in Cornwall, with a production office in Truro. Music for the series was composed by Nigel Hess and was awarded the Royal Television Society award for the best television theme. Wycliffe is played by Jack Shepherd, assisted by DI Doug Kersey and DI Lucy Lane. Each episode deals with a murder investigation. In the early series, the stories are adapted from Burley's books and are in classic whodunit style, often with quirky characters and plot elements. In later seasons, the tone becomes more naturalistic and there is more emphasis on internal politics within the police.
Lowest Rated Episodes Summary
The worst episode of "Wycliffe" is "The Scapegoat", rated 6.8/10 from 104 user votes. It was directed by Martyn Friend and written by Russell Lewis. "The Scapegoat" aired on 8/7/1994 and is rated 0.1 point(s) lower than the second lowest rated, "The Tangled Web".
6.8/10 104 votes#1 - The Scapegoat
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 8/7/1994
A Cornish undertaker suddenly disappears. The missing man's body is found, washed up on the rocks, and a murder inquiry begins. A link is suspected between the undertaker's death and a strange local summer ritual, and the mystery ends with a figure strapped to a burning wheel plunging over the cliffs.
Director: Martyn Friend
Writer: Russell Lewis
6.9/10 92 votes#2 - The Tangled Web
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 8/14/1994
Wycliffe is brought in when an elderly bedridden woman is found dead, her body locked in a freezer, and a pregnant teenager, Hilda Clemo, from a bizarre family vanishes from her Cornish village. As fears for her safety grow, Wycliffe questions the family, whose feuding uncovers some dark secrets. Wycliffe has to unpick the tangled web of intrigue and greed.
Director: Ferdinand Fairfax
Writer: Andrew Holden
- 6.9/10 96 votes
#3 - The Last Rites
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 8/21/1994
When the Reverend Jordan arrives at the village church, he discovers the partially clothed body of Jessica Dobell, the church cleaner, spreadeagled below the cross. A satanic cult is thought to be behind the gruesome death, but Wycliffe believes responsibility lies elsewhere. There is an air of violent hatred in the village, not all of it directed towards the dead woman.
Director: A.J. Quinn
Writer: Rob Heyland
- 6.9/10 61 votes
#4 - Time Out
Season 5 Episode 2 - Aired 5/24/1998
A prostitute tells Kersey that a customer has killed one of her colleagues.
Director: Alan Wareing
Writer: Peter J. Hammond
7.0/10 134 votes#5 - The Four Jacks
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 7/24/1994
A young female archaeology student is found naked in bed with gunshot wounds, and lies in a critical condition in hospital. As surgeons try to save her life, Wycliffe digs into the life of a famous novelist, who claims his life is at risk. Then a man is shot dead while walking his dog on the beach, and Wycliffe is under pressure to act quickly if he is to prevent another murder.
Director: Ferdinand Fairfax
Writer: Edward Canfor-Dumas
- 7.0/10 112 votes
#6 - The Dead Flautist
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 7/30/1994
When the body of an amateur flautist, Tony Miller, shot by his own gun, is found on the secluded estate of Lord & Lady Bottrell, it is assumed that he killed himself. But Wycliffe senses there is more to the case than first meets the eye. As he unravels the dead man's last days, another mystery is revealed - the disappearance of a maid from the Bottrell household. Family feuds and illicit relationships are uncovered - and then another body is found.
Director: Martyn Friend
Writer: Steve Trafford
- 7.0/10 82 votes
#7 - Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 7/16/1995
When a farmer goes missing, leaving his sheep and house unattended, the local police call in Wycliffe. Discoveries of arson and bloodstains lead the team into a farming community struggling to survive.
Director: Steve Goldie
Writer: Julian Jones
- 7.1/10 67 votes
#8 - To Sup with the Devil
Season 4 Episode 7 - Aired 8/10/1997
When a local pub landlord is bludgeoned to death, Wycliffe can find few people with a good word to say about him. A police informant points the finger at the victims' former wife and her new husband, but when DI Lane mishandles the situation, Wycliffe and Kersey are forced to stage a dramatic rescue.
Director: Graeme Harper
Writer: Carolyn Sally Jones
- 7.1/10 58 votes
#9 - On Offer
Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 5/17/1998
In a police nursing home, Wycliffe ponders the future after the attempt on his life. Meanwhile, Kersey investigates a salmon poacher's suspicious death. Acting DCI Lane is tempted to move on and up.
Director: Jack Shepherd
Writer: Arthur McKenzie
- 7.2/10 96 votes
#10 - The Pea-Green Boat
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 8/28/1994
When a fishing-boat owner, Harry Tremaine, is killed in the explosion of his fishing boat, suspicion falls on the man's son, who stands to inherit everything, but Wycliffe remains unconvinced. There's also a local developer who wants to build a marina on the quayside Tremaine owned; Tremaine's partner has been having an affair with his wife; and there is a mysterious recipient of £500 in cash from Tremaine on the first day of every month.
Director: A.J. Quinn
Writer: Steve Trafford
- 7.2/10 83 votes
#11 - The Trojan Horse
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 6/25/1995
Alex Keir is distraught when his wife Alison goes missing, but Wycliffe is sceptical of his grief, until a ransome note is found. The case of apparent kidnapping then takes a dramatic turn when Mrs Keir is found dead and smelling of alcohol at the wheel of a crashed car.
Director: Patrick Lau
Writer: Steve Trafford
7.2/10 72 votes#12 - Total Loss
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 7/14/1996
When a fishing boat goes down taking one of the crew with it , Kersey and Lane discover a fishing community that is struggling to survive under the strain of legislation, as well as a new competitive edge to their working relationship.
Director: David Innes Edwards
Writer: Isabelle Grey
7.2/10 72 votes#13 - Faith
Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 7/28/1996
The discovery of a baby's body leads the team to a bizarre pagan sect.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.2/10 69 votes
#14 - Strangers Home
Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 6/29/1997
Tragic events unfold after a wedding with a bizarre guest list: the bride and groom, who have only known each other for three weeks, advertised for guests to attend the ceremony in Penzance. Next day, one of the couple is found stabbed to death in their luxurious honeymoon hotel.
Director: Alan Wareing
Writer: Peter J. Hammond
- 7.2/10 68 votes
#15 - Close to Home
Season 4 Episode 2 - Aired 7/6/1997
A petty criminal turns into a killer. A man is stabbed to death in a pub car park by a stranger. As Wycliffe investigates, the victim turns out not to be the upstanding businessman he seemed to be.
Director: David Innes Edwards
Writer: Isabelle Grey
- 7.2/10 62 votes
#16 - Feeding the Rat
Season 5 Episode 4 - Aired 7/6/1998
A climber dies after a cliff fall and a witness claims that his climbing partner is responsible.
Director: Alan Wareing
Writer: Isabelle Grey
- 7.3/10 81 votes
#17 - Lost Contact
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 7/9/1995
When a man's virtually unidentifiable body is washed ashore, Wycliffe is baffled when two separate women claim it is that of their missing husbands.
Director: Patrick Lau
Writer: Isabelle Grey
- 7.3/10 80 votes
#18 - Happy Families
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 7/23/1995
Through her family and friends, Wycliffe tries to discover if it was suicide or murder when a schoolgirl is found dead in a science laboratory after a school disco.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.3/10 60 votes
#19 - Old Crimes, New Times
Season 4 Episode 8 - Aired 8/17/1997
Pursued by the press, under the spotlight of an internal investigation, and lacking support from his superiors, Wyclife's problems multiply when an old case resurfaces, and DCC Stevens seems out to prove Wycliffe is no longer up to the job.
Director: Graeme Harper
Writer: Arthur McKenzie
- 7.4/10 83 votes
#20 - Charades
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 7/2/1995
Wycliffe and his team investigate the death of a man found blasted by a shotgun at a Cornish holiday home. They discover evidence of ill-feeling between the dead man and his brother-in-law.
Director: Martyn Friend
Writer: Jonathan Rich
- 7.5/10 88 votes
#21 - All for Love
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 6/18/1995
A hunt for John Bonetti, an escaped prisoner from HMP Bodmin, takes a dramatic twist after the discovery of a body. Wycliffe and his team race against time to recapture him.
Director: Martyn Friend
Writer: Steve Trafford
7.5/10 79 votes#22 - Dead on Arrival
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 6/9/1996
An abandoned lorry with five corpses at the ferry terminal and a man on the run bring Wycliffe's silver wedding anniversary celebration, which their children have laid on as a surprise, to an abrupt halt.
Director: Michael Owen Morris
Writer: Steve Trafford
7.5/10 83 votes#23 - Number of the Beast
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 6/16/1996
When unexplained killings rock the Bodmin community, locals become convinced that the "beast" is back.
Director: Michael Owen Morris
Writer: Jonathan Rich
7.5/10 70 votes#24 - Last Judgement
Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 8/4/1996
When a magistrate known to Wycliffe is found hanged, everything pints to suicide. But Wycliffe's instincts tell him otherwise.
Director: John Glenister
Writer: N/A
- 7.6/10 79 votes
#25 - Breaking Point
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 8/6/1995
Surfer Anne Carter is found in a deep coma when she is washed ashore. The assumption that she is a victim of afreak accident have to be revised when Wycliffe and his team investigate, and uncover a host of sinister facts and conspiracies. Their task is hindered by an obvious leak to the press, which puts DI Lane in a precarious position.
Director: Michael Owen Morris
Writer: Steve Trafford