Holidaying in an isolated farmhouse, Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside is shot by an unseen assailant and paralysed from the waist down. Fearing enforced retirement, he uses his personal brand of diplomacy to secure a new job as Special Consultant to the Commissioner of Police, an old friend who finds it hard to say no. Accompanied by his team, the ever-faithful Ed Brown, society-girl-turned-cop Eve Whitfield and reformed juvenile offender Mark Sanger, he sets out to find the gunman who has changed his life.
A substantial sum of money is stolen from a race-track, whilst Ironside and his team are present, and the Chief is determined to crack the case. The only clue is a car, crashed by the inside man, but if it has a secret to tell it is not going to give it up easily.
Lonely old women are being strangled, and Chief Ironside believes that there is more to it than just a serial killer at work. Setting Eve up as a potential victim requires a little ingenuity, but it might just prove to be worth the effort.
A notorious gangster is preparing to turn State's evidence when he is murdered, but Ironside pretends that the man is still alive, and ready to talk, in order to catch the killer and nail a major criminal.
When TV personality Francesca Kirby starts to receive death threats, her old friend Robert T. Ironside is soon on the case. When the threats become attempts on her life, he begins to delve deeper. Will he like what he finds?
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.
Two killers break out of their cell in the precinct and hold Ironside and Eve Whitfield hostage, forcing the Chief to come up with a fool-proof plan for their escape. As always Ironside has a trick or two of his own up his sleeve.
An apparently accidental death occurs, but Ed risks his shield on the certainty that it was murder. When Ironside gets on the case a murky tale of murdered ex-servicemen and an old robbery is soon uncovered.
Ironside is having problems keeping a group of local kids on the straight and narrow, and enlists the help of football star Bat Masterson, an old friend of Mark's. Bat's brother Joe, however, is a rather less savoury character, and Bat has to choose which side he is on.
A recently blinded woman is witness to a murder, and not knowing that she couldn't see him the murderer attempts to silence her. Ironside is on hand to protect her, and also to help her to come to terms with her new way of life.
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.
A woman who wrote a cheering letter to Ironside when he was recovering from being shot, dies in an apparent suicide. Convinced that it was murder Ironside investigates, and uncovers the sad truth. (NB - As part of the incidental music, this episode heavily features the original song From The Day You're Born, which was reused later in the season, in episode Something For Nothing, where it was sung by guest star James Farentino).
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.
A friend of the Chief's turns out to have been living under an assumed identity for the last nineteen years, and is wanted in New York for murder. The mayor is determined to have him extradited back to NY for execution, but Ironside is equally determined to save him, especially when it becomes clear that he is innocent.
Ed falls for a woman that he meets one night in Las Vegas. She promptly disappears in mysterious circumstances, and Ed and the rest of the team try to find out what has happened. Needless to say, nothing is as it first appeared; and the truth, when it eventually unfolds, proves to be tragic.
A visiting Soviet athlete vanishes during a practice run, and Ironside is placed on the case. It soon turns out that the 'trustworthy Soviet hero' is anything but, and that the athlete is working for American Intelligence. Has he simply disappeared, however, or has he been found out?
A local businessman sets up an organised 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.
An old friend of Mark's is a suspect in a murder investigation, but Mark refuses to accept that the man may be bad. Ironside tries to convince him otherwise, but in the process risks breaking his own friendship with Mark.
When Ed and two colleagues arrest a violent man they don't take his threats seriously, but when the other two officers are murdered, Ed is convinced that he knows who the killer is. Suspended from duty he sets himself up as the next victim, determined to prove that his suspicions are correct.
A cop goes bad and shoots a fellow officer, then offers to give himself up to Chief Ironside. Instead, he takes the Chief and Mark hostage, and plans to kill them as soon as his escape is certain. Ironside has to convince the man's wife that her husband is no longer the man she married.
A psychiatrist friend of Ironside's is murdered, and the only clues are his collection of artworks. Is one of the artists the murderer? And if so, which one?
During a night on the town, Eve Whitfield kills an armed robber who tries to shoot her. When he turns out to be a boy just turned seventeen, she doubts her abilities as a police officer, particularly when half of the town seems convinced that he was a model teenager. It soon turns out that this is far from the truth.
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.)
A friend of Ironside's turns out to be an amnesiac victim without a past. The need to discover who she really is comes to the forefront when somebody tries to kill her, and it becomes clear that the Chief's hopes for a long term relationship might not be possible with this particular girl.
Lecturing on a law course at a local college, the Chief finds that one of the students is planning to prove that the perfect crime can be committed. The person responsible appears to be particularly cold and calculating, and the Chief finds that he is facing true genius.
A baby is found abandoned in the Chief's van, following an explosion at an airport. The Chief suspects that the child's mother was the intended victim of the attack, and plans to make her come forward, using the baby as bait.
Ed is charged with police brutality following a raid on a hippie drug den. As always, of course, things are far from being as they seem, and the trail leads to a group of apparently model students at a local private school.
Mark's date is found murdered in Golden Gate Park, and he is determined to catch the man responsible, with or without Ironside's help. When he decides to take the law into his own hands, however, he finds himself under arrest for the murder of the chief suspect.
A decorated Vietnam war hero is found guilty of murder, but the Chief, amongst others, does not believe that he is guilty. Whilst he is trying to find out the truth, somebody else is killing off the witnesses, and the Chief himself may be next on the list.
A notorious jewel thief named Justin arrives in town at the same time as a shipment of famous jewels arrives for display in a local museum. Ironside must keep the thief guessing about the method of shipment so that the jewels will remain safe; but he is up against a mastermind and there is still an inside man who has to be unmasked.
Ironside is the only witness to a murder, but has to go into hospital for exploratory surgery immediately after the events that he witnessed. The murderer is determined that he should not leave hospital alive, and as the Chief deals with the possibility of maybe one day being able to walk again, his presence in the hospital helps various other citizens right wrongs in their lives. Meanwhile Ed, Eve and Mark deal with their own worries and fears for the Chief as the murder attempts escalate.
A policeman friend of Ironside and the team is the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Is he really guilty, though, or is the evidence just a little too damning?
A black rights activist is arrested for murder, and San Francisco's Black community threatens to take to the streets in protest. Commissioner Randall asks the Chief to investigate the case in an attempt to prove Phillip's innocence; but certain citizens do not appear to want to co-operate.
A friend of the Chief's invites him to stay and then promptly disappears, leaving Ironside to figure out what has happened to him, whilst also running the gauntlet in a town determined to cover up a secret.
An obnoxious talk show host known as ""The Peoples' Voice"" begins to receive death threats, and the Chief is assigned to protect him. Firstly he must overcome his own feelings of dislike for the man, but are those feelings entirely misplaced? Events escalate when the host's wife is killed by a car bomb apparently meant for her husband.
The Chief is alerted to the murder of a down-and-out by an ex-cop now living on the streets. The trail soon leads to a long line of false cheques, and an extremely unstable man.
A friend of the Chief's is an obvious suspect in the murder of her husband, but the Chief believes that the evidence against her is too obvious. He soon proves her innocence, but is she really the victim of a frame-up, or is it all rather more complicated than that?
When Eve is injured during a shooting, the rest of the team recall their early encounters with her, and the Chief wonders if he was right ever to have encouraged her to join the force. Meanwhile, Ed worries over whether he wants to arrest Eve's attacker, or just kill the man outright.
A rich man is murdered, and his man-servant is the prime suspect, until a talkative Mynah bird appears which may just have the solution to the whole case on the tip of his tongue.
A young pool hustler is coerced into a contract with a crooked promoter when his brother amasses large gambling debts. The Chief steps in, but can he get through to the brothers in time?
A old woman is murdered, and the only witness appears to be a large, grumpy Alsatian. The Chief enlists his help in a search for the murderer, and uncovers a story of con-jobs and blackmail suggesting that the old woman was far from being just a helpless victim
A painting turns up, apparently painted by an old friend of the Chief's who is presumed dead after confessing to a murder. The Chief believes that he is still alive, and innocent, and sets out to find not only his friend, but also a murderer.
Eve's niece is arrested for possession and use of marijuana, and the Chief investigates her school and friends in a bid to clear her. It soon becomes obvious that she is guilty as charged, but how many others are involved, and just whose fault is it?
Victoria Ironside, the Chief's aunt, is a member of the Tuesday Afternoon Bridge Club. When a fellow member disappears, Aunt Victoria turns to the Chief for help, but what he uncovers turns out to be a very strange and sorry tale.
Mark's old boxing coach, an alcoholic, is found at the scene of a serious assault, and nobody seems prepared to entertain the theory that he might just be innocent. Mark battles to prove that he has been falsely accused, assisted by the rest of the team, and in the process wins the affections of his law school teacher.
A fortune teller predicts various confusing prophecies for the members of Ironside's team, which begin to come true with remarkable accuracy. Faced with a missing Da Vinci painting, a kidnapped Ed Brown, and a prediction of his own death, the Chief has to find out who is responsible, before the visiting French ambassador becomes too upset at the loss of his country's much loved art treasure.
An old friend of Mark's calls him to ask for a meeting, but she is kidnapped before he can reach her. It soon transpires that her disappearance is tied to that of movie star Gloria James, who appears to have died or been murdered. The Chief naturally digs further, and finds a tale of heartache and sorrow which leads to the front door of a local mobster.
Following a series of robberies amongst San Francisco's richest inhabitants, Eve Whitfield falls in love with one of the victims, only to discover that he is the Chief's prime suspect. Whilst the rest of the team worry about how to catch the thief, however, Eve is wondering if it may be time to quit the force to get married.
Ed and an old friend uncover a drug running operation whilst having a night on the town, and after becoming implicated in the affair they are suspended. Ed risks extreme wrath from above in order to continue his investigations, whilst the evidence against his friend continues to grow.
An old friend of the Chief's, recently widowed, is hearing strange voices and receiving threatening 'phone calls. She is afraid that she is going mad, but the Chief is determined to prove that this is just what somebody wants her to think.
An ex-policeman murders his wife, and sets up a complicated false trail and apparently flawless alibi in order to cover his tracks. The Chief has to find a way to crack the man's seemingly perfect defence, in order to prove that he is guilty.
A famous baseball player who is an old friend of Ed's begins to receive nuisance mail, which soon turns into something far more sinister. Fearing for his family, he refuses Ed's offers of assistance, and tries to handle the situation alone. Ed has to persuade him to change his mind, before events get out of hand.
A young woman is found dead in a park, and it soon transpires that she died as a result of an illegal abortion. Greatly affected, Eve disguises herself as a pregnant woman, and tries to discover who the back-street abortionist is.
A local college is plagued by false bomb alerts, and the editor of the campus paper is convinced that leftist militants are responsible. However, when the fourth bomb proves to be real, and a member of the bomb squad is killed, the Chief begins to look in another direction.
Mark's aunt Ruby is cheated out of her life savings by a pair of conmen, and the team set out to capture those responsible. Ed and Eve go under cover as a rich couple, but the investigation is threatened when Ed's cover is blown by a woman he once arrested.
Barbara Jones, the amnesiac victim with whom the Chief once fell in love (season one episode Barbara Who), calls Ironside in when her daughter is kidnapped. Not only is it a difficult case, but the Chief has an over eager Sheriff, a jealous husband and his own feelings to contend with, as he attempts to find the girl before it is too late.
As the team passes through a small town, Ed is kidnapped by an escaped convict. When it transpires that the real criminals are the local law officers, the pair go on the run together, and Ironside must get to Ed before he is killed by the Sheriff and his men.
Lured to a prison with a promise of information, the Chief and Mark are taken hostage by three convicts desperate to escape. Together they plot to undermine the escape attempt by turning the situation to their own advantage.
When Mark is shot, everybody assumes that the hitman was aiming for Ironside. It soon transpires, however, that Mark was the intended victim. With no apparent motive, and no clues as to who hired the assassin, can the team find the people responsible before they find out that Mark is still alive?
Ironside and Mark travel to France to handle the security for an American delegation at a conference with the Chinese, but somebody is determined to stop the talks from going ahead. Meanwhile, Mark falls in love with one of the Chinese delegates.
When a lowlife bookie is found severely beaten, five witnesses identify Ed as his attacker. Unable to provide an alibi, Ed finds himself having to prove his own innocence; and when the victim dies and Ed is arrested on a murder charge, the team have to find out who the real killer is.
Mark encounters a group of freedom fighters at his local college, who appear to have more attitude than sense. When it turns out that they also have a roomful of stolen automatic weapons, the Chief has to decide whether or not they represent a threat to the security of San Francisco.
Several girls connected to the same computer dating agency are attacked, and when it transpires that they all fit the same rough profile, Eve sets herself up as a potential next victim, in order to catch the man responsible.
Taking an important witness from Hawaii to San Francisco by plane, Ironside discovers that a fellow passenger is a hitman. He has to find out who is trying to kill his witness before the plane lands; but there may be more than one person trying to claim the reward for an open contract.
A Torah is stolen from a local Synagogue, presided over by an old friend of the Chief's. Ironside personally takes on the case, determined to find out if the theft was an act of vandalism, as the evidence would seem to point out, or if it is really the work of thieves looking for some quick money.
An old friend of the Chief's tries to commit suicide, after local gossip and the media both blame her for the murder of her husband. Ironside is determined to find out the truth about the death, even if it means proving that his friend really is guilty.
A member of Mark's basketball team becomes involved with a gang stealing to order. Mark is determined to get to the boy before the police do, to persuade him to give himself up, but the boy's employer has other ideas.
A fruit seller is threatened by a protection racket, who obtain false photographs of her lawyer son in an attempt to coerce her into letting them invest in her business on the docks. The racket has not reckoned on the tenacity of Dora and her son, however; or on her good friend Chief Ironside.
Driving home from a visit to his cousin, Mark picks up a hitch hiker, who turns out to be a thief looking for a scapegoat. The pair become friends, however, which causes problems when her accomplice turns up, anxious to carry out the original plan.
A young boxer from San Francisco's Samoan community is anxious to break free from the old traditions of his people, which he feels are holding him back. He finds the process a lot more distressing than he had imagined, however; and his own life, and those of the people he spars with, are put at risk.
Ed falls in love with an actress, accidentally caught up in a robbery case. Although the affair is mutual, Vivian Page is a pacifist, and unable to accept Ed's career in the force. Both have to decide what means the most to them, and in the end, separate; whilst the cameras pull back, and curtains fall across the screen, as though it had all been just a movie...!
When he arrives in Fiji to spend his holiday with an old friend, the Chief is suspicious about news that his friend has gone to visit him in San Francisco. After sending for Mark and Ed to join him, Ironside himself promptly disappears, leaving the boys to put the pieces together themselves.
Eve is present when an old friend of hers is kidnapped, and is taken along by the abductors. Anxious to get her back, the Chief investigates the husband of the intended victim, and discovers that all of the evidence points to his guilt. As always, however, the Chief is not prepared to go along with what seems obvious.
Ironside becomes trapped in his office on his own, when a man comes looking for revenge. With Mark at school and Ed dragged to the opera by Eve, the Chief has to improvise a series of defences, whilst his team gradually come to realise that something is very wrong.
An ex-thief on parole is suspected of a jewel robbery, but the Chief, who has supported him since his release, is sure that he is innocent. Of all those with the means to commit the crime however, it seems that only this man and his young cousin are likely suspects. The fate of an entire rehabilitation programme may hang on Ironside's ability to prove his friend innocent.
A thirteen year old boy is the only witness to his mother's murder, but finds it hard to co-operate with the Chief, knowing that it was Ironside who put his father in prison. Allowing Marty Jessup a temporary pass is the only way for the Chief to solve the murder and to lessen his conscience at the same time.
The team is assigned to watch over a Crown Prince on a one night stay in San Francisco. With Eve accompanying him on an unscheduled tour, and Ed following along behind, it seems that he is safe from harm; or is he?
A dog belonging to a rich friend of the Commissioner's goes missing, and Ironside is assigned to the case. Somewhat scornful of the task, he details Ed and Eve to investigate instead; but is soon lured back when, helped by Mark, they uncover a racket stealing dogs for ransom.
After killing Ed Brown's fiancée seven years previously, Tom Dayton, a sociopath with a hatred of female authority figures, is released on parole. Ed is certain that Dayton is still dangerous, but the authorities do not share his concerns.
The Chief begins to receive strange phone calls, warning him of a murder to be committed somewhere in San Francisco, apparently in the interests of justice. With very little to go on and virtually nothing to help him identify his mysterious caller, Ironside eventually traces the case back to a policeman, thrown out of the force fifteen years earlier.
A sniper working for the criminal underworld seeks refuge in the anti-Vietnam protest movement, and with a number of draft-dodgers relying on his silence, the only man who can help the Chief is unwilling to follow proper channels.
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.
A judge decides to begin a series of lectures about a case that he tried eight years previously, the result of which was that a man was executed. Immediately he starts to receive death threats; but with no clues to help, the Chief may not be able to find the would-be murderer - who may, it appears, have committed the murder in the original case as well.
An ageing accountant, weighed down by the responsibilities of his life, decides to break free from the grindstone and try for something different. On the way he comes close to going off the rails, and the Chief makes it his personal crusade to ensure that nothing goes too wrong.
The accountant for the Police Pension Fund confesses to the murder of his secretary, but all of the evidence suggests that he could not possibly be guilty, instead pointing to another culprit and a man merely suffering from alcohol-induced hallucinations. As always, however, the Chief does not go along merely with what is 'obvious'.
In Canada for a conference, Ironside and the team get caught up in a spate of bombings, courtesy of Quebec separatists; one of them the son of an old girlfriend of the Chief's. When one of the bombings proves fatal, Ironside suspects that there is more going on than just terrorism; and he soon links the killing to a famous stolen chess set.
Ed goes undercover at the docks to try to identify and capture the murderer, whilst the rest of the team continue investigating the case. Finally, with a terrorist plot to defuse, a parade to protect, and Ed masquerading as the arrested murderer, Ironside has plenty to work on; but still has enough time to spend with his old girlfriend.
A policeman's daughter crashes her car after taking cannabis, and her father sets out to catch the man who sold her the stuff. When it becomes apparent that he has framed the man responsible, the task falls to Ironside to decide whether to charge a known pusher or an old and trusted cop who has clearly gone off the rails.
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.
Mark investigates an old case as part of his coursework research, and uncovers an apparent miscarriage of justice which implicates Ed in a fit up. The pair investigate the case to try to work out what really happened, and discover that the truth is not necessarily what it appears to be.
Pablo Esteban, a young Mexican boy, is brought to San Francisco by some businessmen who claim that he can heal people just by touching them. Placed on the case to find out whether it is for real, the Chief develops a close friendship with the boy, and has to help him when he finds out that it is all just a money-making scam.
Ironside attends a hospital for psychological evaluation, and whilst he is tying knots in his psychiatrist's theories, it transpires that a crook is trying to use the situation to find out the whereabouts of a police informer. With Mark and Eve on holiday, however, there is just Ed to help the Chief, and a whole city to search through for clues.
The power station for a four mile square area of town is destroyed in an explosion, and when a similar attack takes out the auxiliary generator at Police Headquarters, Ironside realises that somebody somewhere is trying to cover their tracks. The question is, who - and what is their goal?
A successful folk trio comprising two brothers and a sister tour San Francisco, and Eve's suspicions are roused when the girl, an old school friend, disappears without a word. When the body of another young woman turns up, brutally murdered, the Chief knows that there is a connection somewhere; but which, if either, of the brothers killed the girl? The clue to their sister's whereabouts might just be in their music.
The Chief and his team are detailed to escort a spy to Mexico, in order to make an exchange with the Russians for an American scientist. When Ironside and the spy are kidnapped by a Mexican political group, Ed has to keep the Russians at bay long enough to get the pair back, so that the exchange can be made.
An ex-con determined to go straight is roped into a scam to steal dynamite, after his son is kidnapped. The Chief manages to get the boy back, but by then a bomb has already been planted, and there may be no time to stop it before it blows up. The Chief not only has to find the bomb, he also has to work out how to defuse it.
Outside odds horses are starting to win at the local track, and Ironside is soon on the case. He discovers that somebody is trying to fix the races, but his prime suspect is Eve's one-time fiancé, and a jockey who may be the unwitting key to it all.
Ed and Eve travel to Mexico to assist in the interrogation of a former suspect in a murder case, who has been arrested for a similar offence across the border. The local police are determined to convict him, but Ed and Eve are equally certain that he is innocent; and when he is helped to escape from police custody, suspicion falls on them.
The team is at a theatre to watch the rehearsals of a play Ironside has some money invested in, when one of the actors is found dead. Two attempted murders soon follow, and the Chief has his work cut out for him trying both to find the guilty party and to save the play.
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.
An old Armenian, the uncle of a friend of Eve's, appears to be hiding some secret that has his niece deeply worried. It soon transpires that his two nephews are involved in the manufacture of narcotics, drugs which are then being sold to children. But the fact that their uncle is keeping quiet about it suggests that he too has something to hide.
Driving to the garage whilst tired, Mark knocks down an old lady, with whom he develops a close relationship. It soon seems, however, that his guilt over the affair is going to lead to some revelations about his new friend that he might rather not hear.
A gang of violent anarchists springs a protestor from prison and, when he is recaptured, try to force the police into releasing him again by kidnapping the son of a prominent lawyer. The boy, however, is in on the scheme, until he begins to realise just how far his new friends are prepared to go.
An old woman whose handbag has been snatched asks Ironside to take her case. Moved by his friendship with her late husband, he agrees, and finds a lonely old woman reaching out for somebody to share her long days.
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.
A police chief who is confined to a wheelchair and a former cop who is now a priest team up to discover who has been committing a series of murders of local priests. (Note: This was a crossover episode for the short lived series "Sarge" starring George Kennedy)
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, it seems that everybody has another side to their personality.
A phoney cab driver is taking men to so-called parties, where they are drugged and robbed; but when one of the victims winds up dead, the Chief takes on the case. When he and his team try to follow the cab driver, however, they find that the gang are rather more dangerous than they had first appeared.
After the murder of Police Captain Belding, his daughter, a rookie cop, is anxious to prove that the allegations of corruption against him were false. She hampers the Chief's investigations and generally gets in the way, but he takes a shine to her, and has her drafted onto the team.
A prisoner is denied parole for no clear reason, and the Chief's investigations lead him to a woman who seems to have supernatural powers. With his team clearly taken in by the apparently inexplicable events going on, Ironside has his work cut out trying to find a rational explanation.
A policeman is shot and killed by an assailant. The evidence points to the murderer being a local thief, currently enjoying a reign of terror in San Francisco, but soon the investigations lead elsewhere.
Chief Ironside's sponsored "daughter" arrives from Korea, intending to marry a fellow Korean now living in San Francisco. Before he can be fully happy about the marriage, the Chief wants to know a little more about her fiancè; and soon finds out that the young man is in trouble.
An actor/producer is murdered during a series of comic improvisations, and all of the actors present at the time seem to be suspects. Given a number of aliases and false leads, the Chief embarks on the trail of the killer.
Fran Belding's cousin Bobby commits suicide, and a note left behind seems to suggest that he could not live without her love. A series of other notes then follow, suggesting either that he is still alive, or that somebody is trying to make her suffer for apparently having sent him to his death.
On a day out with Mark, Ed finds a body in the park, but when Homicide arrives it has gone. Teased by his rival, Homicide Sergeant Larry Mullen, Ed is anxious to prove that there really was a body, but the Chief would rather have him working on a kidnapping case with the FBI. It soon appears, however, that the two cases may in fact be the same one.
Ed is shot during a raid on a jewellery store, and his life is saved by a stranger who vanishes as soon as the authorities arrive on the scene. When it later transpires that the stranger is a soldier gone AWOL following the murder of a colleague, Ed is determined to prove him innocent of all charges.
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.
A policeman is killed, and his murderer is subsequently shot by the dead man's partner; and when it transpires that both officers were at the Police Academy with Ed, Ironside becomes involved. When he begins investigating, the Chief discovers that the second death was no murder, but a set up.
Ed discovers that Bernie Simmonds, a man sought on assault charges, was in his high school class. Whilst pursuing the investigation, he meets with Ann Garfield, his first love; now widowed with two small children. Love, it seems, is set to blossom twice; unless Ann knows more about Bernie than she is letting on.
The son of an old friend, fearing that his father's life is in danger, asks the Chief to go to Tokyo. Once there Ironside finds his old friend wheelchair-bound as a result of an accident, and begins to work on his own theory about who might have hired a hitman to kill such a respected old man.
The Chief is sure that a man just released from prison is responsible for the murder of a policeman, but as determined as he is to prove it, the man in question is equally determined that it will never be proved. With this in mind he persuades a woman of dubious reputation to become close to Ironside, so that she can assassinate him.
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.
A Mob numbers racket suffers a series of robberies, but is understandably unwilling to report the thefts. The Chief, feeling that he knows who might be the guilty party, sets out not only to stop the robberies, but also to get to the thief before the Mob metes out their own form of justice.
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.
A string of murders is committed, and in each case the victim has a numbered disk in their possession. After number four is found dead, it transpires that the Commissioner is the owner of disk number six; and the Chief disguises himself as number five - an irascible artist to whom he bears a striking resemblance - in order to keep him alive.
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.
The son of a judge involved in a fraud case is framed for the murder of a young actress, in the hope that this will force a lighter sentence in the fraud trial. The Chief sets out to ensure that justice can be done, whilst at the same time protecting an innocent young man from ruining a career he has not yet had a chance to embark upon.
A violin tutor at a conservatory in San Francisco is murdered, and the suspects include an eclectic mix of talented musicians. The only clue possessed by the Chief is a message sent by the dead man to one of his students, hidden in a collection of pieces of classical music.
Alone in the office, Fran Belding is attacked by an escaped convict, and helped by a mystery man who refuses to tell her his name. The next morning he is reported missing by his wife, and his disappearance seems to be connected to the case of a major drug dealer whose very existence has always been suspect.
The 1971 TV Movie that brought together IRONSIDE with the new television series SARGE which was produced by Raymond Burr's company Harbour Productions. - A police chief who is confined to a wheelchair and a former cop who is now a priest team up to discover who has been committing a series of murders of local priests.
Interview on the set with Eliizabeth Baur (1972)
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.
While in Los Angeles to testify for a trial against gangster Frank Harmon, Ed is shot and falls off the balcony of his hotel room. He is then taken to the Craig Institute where he undergoes emergency surgery. Although the bullet wounds were non-life threatening, Ed suffers a broken back in the fall and some damage to his spine. The scarring leaves him paralyzed and only an experimental surgical procedure is the only option to regaining his mobility. Also, even though all the evidence points to Harmon, Ironside has doubts that he was the person responsible for the attempted hit. Also, the chief begins having flashbacks to the night he was shot and paralyzed. Written by Brian Washington
A man with an uncanny ability to tame vicious guard dogs commits a series of robberies in San Francisco. The Chief has a plan to stop him, but it calls for a dog of his own and a willingness to put himself right in the line of fire.
After a murder is committed in a San Francisco park, the Chief takes part in a live TV broadcast in the hope of provoking such a panic in his prime suspect that the man will make a mistake, or lead Ed to some hard evidence.
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?
The Chief receives a series of films showing the murders of young women, and his investigation is assisted by a filmmaker currently wooing Fran Belding. This man becomes the Chief's prime suspect, much to Fran's distress; but trouble looms larger when Fran herself is marked as the next victim.
A man dies in what appears to be an accident, but his estranged daughter is convinced that the story is not nearly so simple. A complex Japanese puzzle appears to be the only clue to the truth and the Chief struggles to solve it alone. Meanwhile the daughter of the murdered man has problems of her own; but these can only be solved by Ed's special touch.
Ed goes to LA to fetch a prisoner, but when confronted by a pair of hostile beat cops after a mugging, he loses his cool and ends up in the County Jail. Caught up in a blatantly unfair system, he begins to doubt his own integrity as a representative of a law that is clearly failing so many people; and refuses to allow the Chief to bail him out.
Meeting with a man imprisoned for manslaughter seven years previously, the Chief begins to doubt the evidence which he himself once collected. Faced with extreme opposition from members of the DA's office, including the DA himself, Ironside sets out to review the case; and hopefully to prove a man innocent.
The Chief continues his to try to reopen the case, struggling to convince a young mother to come forward and admit to her part in events that she would rather try to forget. Meanwhile he comes ever closer to the truth, as somebody tries to ensure that he never finishes his investigations.
This was originally broadcast as a feature length movie (like this), and eventually rebroadcast as a 2-parter (6x08 and 6x09)
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.
A series of cleverly orchestrated crimes in a section of San Francisco leads the Chief to the conclusion that a pair of bored society beaux have turned the city into a giant chessboard, and are playing a game with the citizens as their chess pieces.
The Chief meets a man whose daughter has been murdered, and who is unable to rest until the killer is found. Moved by the old man's predicament as a victim lost in the system, Ironside decides that, since one of his statistics now has a face, he will do all that he can to see justice done.
When the team gets word of a kidnap plot, Ed goes undercover as the wheel man; but he soon finds himself battling with a fellow gang member who wants the victim dead, and is happy to kill Ed too if he gets in the way. Meanwhile the Chief struggles to gain the trust of the victim's mother, a film star whose head is being kept firmly in the clouds by her manager.
Whilst in London at a conference with the Chief, Ed witnesses an assassination, and promptly becomes the killer's next target. Meanwhile he and Ironside have to work with the local forces to find the assassin, but find themselves hampered by the Superintendent on the case, an old friend of the Chief's who seems to have a hidden agenda.
The Chief receives a worrying phone call from Ted Ollinger, an old friend, and he sends Ed to investigate. In the tiny town of Grant Bay Ed can find no sign of his former colleague; but he soon discovers that the locals are determined to hide something from him and that at least one of them will stop at nothing to keep him from the truth.
Whilst the Chief and Ed are at a party, the host is shot at by an unseen assailant, and Ironside wastes no time in settling himself down with the rest of the guests to try to work out who the would-be killer might be. The truth, he is sure, is in the garden somewhere; and all that he and Ed have to do is to find it before their opponent strikes again.
After agreeing to housesit for a friend, Fran Belding begins to receive suspicious telephone calls, which soon become rather more sinister. When a girl is murdered close by and the calls take a more personal turn, the Chief becomes worried, and sets out to trap whoever is responsible.
When her fiancé is accused of murder, a young woman comes to Ironside for help; but when it transpires that the fiancé in question is an old Naval acquaintance of the Chief's, a man with whom he did not get along, the assistance is both offered and accepted somewhat grudgingly. It soon becomes clear, however, that the prejudice which exists in the couple's home town is in serious danger of destroying an innocent man's life.
An old friend of Ed's goes missing after promising to take him on a fishing trip, and it soon becomes clear that he has become involved in a Mob killing. Ed is determined to prove his friend's innocence, but the evidence soon mounts up; and Ed finds himself having to argue against even the Chief in order to show that his friend is not a killer.
A celebrated feminist writer is shot at in the street, and Fran is assigned to protect her. The Chief does what he can to help from behind the scenes, whilst Ed does what he can too; by promptly falling in love with the victim's granddaughter. There are many possible culprits - but which is the right one?
A major art display comes to San Francisco, just as an old adversary of the Chief's is released from jail. Anthony Justin is determined to get his revenge on Ironside by beating him in a test of skill, but it soon transpires that his target is not the vast collection of paintings, but the owner - Elizabeth Van Deering, a fun-loving young woman with whom Ed has fallen head over heels in love.
An apparently impossible robbery occurs in the safety deposit vault at a bank, and Ironside begins to unravel the details of the crime. There is only one apparent suspect, and the Chief is certain that he is not guilty; but as he investigates further, his own life may well be in danger.
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.
Ed and the Chief are on their way out of the city for a fishing trip, when they get mixed up in a fatal shooting at a motel-cum-poker hall run by a sleazy professional gambler. Interested at first only in solving the murder, Ironside soon becomes involved in a young couple's struggle to win back their money and escape before it is too late.
Vintage Interview with Raymond Burr
Vintage Interview with Dan Galloway
A small boy witnesses a crime, but proves to be an awkward witness due to a mental condition that doctors cannot explain. An attempt is made on his life whilst he is under the Chief's sole care, and in order to capture those responsible, the story is put out that the boy is dead, and that the Chief has retired through a sense of guilt. Putting it about that he has new evidence, he sits back to wait for somebody to make an attempt on his life, whilst spurning the efforts of his friends to help him. It looks as though his attempts to make it look as though he is turning to drunkenness and depression might just be costing him his life.
A sleazy magazine prints stories against the SFPD, and Ironside in particular, using the tale of a vanished actor as an example of the department's uselessness. When those involved with the story start receiving parcel bombs, it becomes clear that somebody does not want the disappearance investigated; and the Chief is all the more determined to uncover the truth.
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.
The Chief meets Alexandra, an old girlfriend with whom he is still very much in love. When he finds that the feeling is mutual he hopes to be able to settle down with her, even though he knows that she is an incorrigible thief, and that she is after the ancient Chinese statue he has been detailed to protect.
A lawyer turns up at Ironside's door late at night, badly bruised and unable to remember what has happened to him. All that he can recall is that a man who needs rescuing is trapped in a sinking boat; but he cannot remember where the boat is, or who the man might be. The Chief begins a race against time to find the victim before it is too late.
A scientist disappears, sparking fears at the research centre where he works that he might have defected. Suspicious at the nature of the evidence and concerned for a wife clearly devoted to her missing husband, the Chief investigates further, and finds that another of the scientists at the centre is developing some very dangerous technology indeed.
The Commissioner's niece makes a bet that she can sleep for one night in the master bedroom of a haunted house, then disappears without trace. The team decide to stay the night as well, but the Chief also vanishes. He finds himself alone, surrounded by ghostly figures, sinister statues and whispered messages, whilst Ed, Mark and Fran try to find out where he has gone.
Fran Belding's Mexican cleaning lady turns out to be an illegal immigrant, brought into the country against her will by an employment agency who are little more than slave traders. The team tries to help her, but she may be too scared to accept their help before it is too late.
A small boy witnesses a crime, but proves to be an awkward witness due to a mental condition that doctors cannot explain. An attempt is made on his life whilst he is under the Chief's sole care, and in order to capture those responsible, the story is put out that the boy is dead, and that the Chief has retired through a sense of guilt. Putting it about that he has new evidence, he sits back to wait for somebody to make an attempt on his life, whilst spurning the efforts of his friends to help him. It looks as though his attempts to make it look as though he is turning to drunkenness and depression might just be costing him his life.
While Fran, Mark and Ed are at a night club, a psychic sees details of a recent fire. When the Chief becomes interested, he visits the psychic to try to see more, and discovers that he has been pursuing an arsonist for some time, unable to convince the police that his visions are for real.
A returning Vietnam vet sees his supposedly dead father at the airport, and initiates a search for him against the Commissioner's wishes. The father, a one time member of the SFPD, turns out to be in hiding from a crime family eager to kill him for his part in their downfall, and the last thing that he wants is to be found.
A violent gang kills two men during a robbery, and the Chief enlists the help of a regular informant in order to capture those responsible. The informant, Baxter, is a happy-go-lucky gambler with a wife and child, who has been keeping his duel identity a secret for years. This time, however, it looks as though his secret is going to become known to everybody.
A friend of Mark's is being unfairly shaken down by a crooked loan shark with crippling interest demands. Worried for his friend Mark goes undercover, despite objections from the Chief, and sets himself up as a potential customer in the hope of digging the head of the operation out of the woodwork.
A packet of heroin goes missing, implicating Carl Reece and his partner Don Boyden in a possible cover-up. When Boyden is killed in a freak car accident, the evidence begins to point firmly at Reece, and Ironside and the team must prove his innocence before the DA decides to press charges.
A robbery goes wrong and one of the thieves is killed, whilst another, an unlikely sort to be taking part in a robbery, is arrested. The third thief manages to escape with the money, but when the young daughter of the arrested gang member is kidnapped, the ransom being the unrecovered money from the heist, the team faces a race against time to capture the missing man.
The work of a quartet of musicians is being pirated, and whilst Ed and Fran are investigating, a member of the group is murdered in front of them. Their investigations lead them into the backgrounds of all those involved at the recording studios where the three survivors work, but all of the possible suspects appear to be friends with the group, and therefore unlikely candidates.
An elder in the Chinese community is murdered, and a young man is held to be responsible. The Chief calls in his friends in the community to help him find the young man in question, whom he believes has been framed in order to cause a rift between young and old in China Town.
The Chief attends his high school reunion, only to find two of his old classmates recently murdered, and somebody apparently after his own neck. With Ed and Fran to help him, he searches for some clues, which soon prove to be leading him back to the accidental death of another old friend in 1940.
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?
A philosophy student commits suicide, and her death leads to strong criticism of her college professor. When it seems that the life of the professor himself may now be in danger, Ed brings in the team to try to protect his old friend.
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.
Ed gets grounded in Reno whilst transporting a murder suspect back to San Francisco, and knowing gunmen to be on his tail he hides out in an abandoned bar to await assistance from the Chief. As he soon discovers, however, there are other dangers besides hit men for him to worry about, before he can meet up with his colleagues and deliver his prisoner to jail.
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.
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.
Interview with Dan Galloway (Part 2)
A woman is killed in a locked room, and her daughter Susan confesses to the murder after apparently becoming possessed by the spirit of her long-dead younger brother. The Chief enlists a psychic to help him in his investigations, but the clues that she offers him seem to confuse more than they assist.
The Chief links his case with a psychiatrist, who turns out to be a psychopath with a passion for brainwashing. Before he can get his evidence together, however, Fran is taken as the next victim of the doctor's peculiar brand of therapy, and is programmed to kill Ironside. Meanwhile Susan has to face past guilt over the death of her brother before she can be safe from herself.
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.
A woman reluctantly turns to Ironside for protection after she witnesses the murder of her father, a man who was set to testify in the trial of a drug kingpin.
When somebody takes pot shots at Fran's hot-headed cop boyfriend, he soon comes under suspicion for a handful of assaults and two murders. All the trouble seems to be linked back to a case he investigated with his one-time partner, now turned private eye; but is it a case of cop-turned-bad, or is it something else?
When Ed returns from a holiday he finds the Chief missing, and a series of obscure clues pointing to the suggestion that he has been kidnapped. In truth Ironside has been waylaid by an old enemy, a mobster seeking his help to solve a murder, but a gang war is brewing and the Chief needs his team to find him in time to stop it erupting unchecked.
A series of murders appear to be connected to an old friend of the Chief's, an ageing woman from San Francisco's old rich set; and when the murders are linked to her debutante's ball and she appears to be exhibiting signs of deteriorating mental health, the odds look stacked against her. As always, though, the Chief looks elsewhere to find the truth.
The Chief's god-daughter witnesses a murder whilst performing in a street-side harlequin show. On the run from the murderer, she and her boyfriend remain one jump ahead of Ironside's team; but there is an added dimension to the case which the Chief cannot at first hope to guess at, and a further reason for his god-daughter's desperate flight.
A convict awaiting parole hears that his son has been shot dead following a clash with a rival teenage gang. Although eager for vengeance he has another son to think about, and the Chief is determined to keep them both on the straight and narrow, whilst at the same time finding out who really killed the boy.
After the killing of one of his men, gangland boss Lew Parker puts out a contract on Ironside, which the undercover Ed is forced to pick up. Unable to contact the rest of the team Ed has to go along with the preparations for a heist, but when his cover is blown and he winds up a prisoner, the Chief and co must find the missing links before it is too late.
Peter Justin, a gentleman jewel thief and old adversary of the Chief's, returns from a five year stretch in San Quentin and is soon back to his old life. When a protégé frames him for a robbery and murder charge the Chief has to prove him innocent, despite his knowledge that another recent robbery is most definitely the work of Justin alone.
A friend of Ed's becomes the target of an assassin, but cannot shed any light on the reasons for the attempt on his life. When Ed discovers that his friend is a priest, prevented from speaking by the bounds of confession, he and the Chief attempt to discover the truth; which soon leads them to three unexplained murders amongst the city's drug dealers.
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.
A British police inspector visits San Francisco for a conference, and whilst there assists his old friend Chief Ironside with an awkward investigation. It soon appears, however, that he knows more about the case than he should do, and that his involvement may have something to do with his deteriorating state of health.
Ed befriends the daughter of the judge presiding over his latest case, only for the girl to come to him in fear for her father's life. It seems she is overreacting to a series of accidents, but events soon suggest her suspicions may be correct; especially after it turns out that her father's new wife has old Underworld connections she thought she had left behind.
A young man befriended by the Chief is framed for a series of cattle rustlings near to the ranch owned by his father. Ironside and Ed head out for the ranch to try to prove him innocent, whilst at the same time helping him to convince his father that his artistry is an acceptable career.
The husband of an old flame of the Chief's is killed by his secret lover in an accident in the park, and the lover is advised into silence by a lawyer. When a homeless man is arrested for the crime, Ironside becomes convinced of his innocence, but the truth is not what his old love wants to hear.
Mark and Ed go undercover as gangsters at a big meeting designed to unite the small time hoods of California's underworld under one leader. With the help of Ironside, himself posing as a businessman staying at the same hotel, the pair set out to trap the would-be crime kingpin, by helping him to dig his own grave and destroy any chance of gangland unity.
Chief Ironside has just retired and is looking forward to running his vineyard with his wife. But his retirement is interrupted when his old friend and colleague Ed Brown, who is now working for the Denver police department comes to him and asks him to fill in the vacancy left by the untimely death of the Chief. Ironside does so but with condition that it will only be temporary. But things are further complicated when Suzanne Dwyer the daughter of his old friend and colleague, Eve Whitfield is the prime suspect in the murder of her boyfriend, Mike Quinn, whom she suspected was seeing someone else. Though Ironside refuses to believe that Suzanne is guilty; the evidence is all against her. So, Ironside's other old friends, Mark Sanger and Fran Belding come to Denver to help. It also seems that this whole matter could be connected with previous Chief's (death) murder, and also seems that someone in the department is responsible.
