When an assassin's bullet confines him to a wheelchair for life ending his career as Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside becomes a consultant to the police department. Detective Sergeant Ed Brown and policewoman Eve Whitfield join with him to crack varied and fascinating cases. Ex-con Mark Sanger is employed by the chief as home help but eventually becomes a fully fledged member of the team also. Officer Whitfield leaves after 4 years service, and is replaced by Officer Fran Belding.
When an assassin's bullet confines him to a wheelchair for life ending his career as Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside becomes a consultant to the police department. Detective Sergeant Ed Brown and policewoman Eve Whitfield join with him to crack varied and fascinating cases. Ex-con Mark Sanger is employed by the chief as home help but eventually becomes a fully fledged member of the team also. Officer Whitfield leaves after 4 years service, and is replaced by Officer Fran Belding.
Season 1 episodes
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While on vacation, Chief of Detectives Robert Ironside of the San Francisco police force is shot by an unknown assailant and paralyzed from the waist down. Fearing he will be forced to retire he convinces the powers that be to to make him a Special Consultant to the Commisioner of Police, who is an old friend. With his team, consisting of police detective Ed Brown, police woman Eve Whitfield, and reformed Juvenile offender Mark Sanger. he tries to find the gunman who put him in a wheelchair.
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.
Episode credits
Directed by Michael CaffeyWritten by Don MankiewiczGuest stars George Chandler, Madlyn Rhue, James Gregory, Kent McCord, Kathleen Freeman, Ken Lynch, Larry J. Blake, Alma Platt
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.
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Directed by Leo PennGuest stars Edward Andrews, John Rubinstein, Bert Freed, John Larch, Robert Ellenstein, Henry Beckman, Barbara Barrie
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.
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Directed by Don WeisWritten by Don Mankiewicz, Don Brinkley, Don MankiewiczGuest stars Jack Lord, Ben Wright, Byron Morrow, Stuart Nisbet, Susanne Cramer, Gene Lyons, Simon Scott, Frank Gerstle
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?
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Directed by William A. GrahamGuest stars Susanne Benton, Quincy Jones, Lee Grant, Farley Granger, Richard Anderson, Ray Ballard, Dick Cherney, Ted Gehring
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.
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Directed by Don WeisWritten by Winston MillerGuest stars William Schallert, Virgil Frye, Robert Alda, Ed Haskett, Peter Mark Richman, Jan Shepard, Cyril Delevanti, Lee Miller
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.
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Directed by Charles S. DubinGuest stars Norman Fell, Robert Karnes, Don Stroud
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.
Episode credits
Directed by Charles S. DubinGuest stars Bert Freed, Gene Nelson, Gene LeBell, Lenore Kingston, Al Bain, Jack Kelly, Antoinette Bower, Bruce Lee
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.
Episode credits
Directed by Don WeisGuest stars Don Marshall, Ivan Dixon, Maidie Norman
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.
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Directed by Charles S. DubinWritten by Robert Van ScoykGuest stars Bill Fletcher, Lauren Gilbert, Mike Farrell, Lee Miller
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.
Episode credits
Directed by Don WeisGuest stars David Hartman, Kevin Hagen, Michael Forest, Renzo Cesana
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).
Episode credits
Directed by Anton LeaderGuest stars Michael Constantine, Guy Stockwell, Marcia Strassman, Barbara Rhoades, George Furth, Cliff Potts, Arthur Adams, Johnny Silver
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.
Episode credits
Written by Luther DavisGuest stars Michael Fox, Jay C. Flippen, Bernie Hamilton, Pamela Dunlap, Peter Helm, Alice Frost
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.
Episode credits
Directed by Don WeisWritten by Paul MasonGuest stars John Zaremba, John Hoyt, Harrison Ford, Victor Jory, Bartlett Robinson, Barry Cahill, Walter Coy, Lee Miller
Ed falls for a girl he meets after hearing her playing the piano in a bar in Las Vegas. While they are out together Ed is knocked unconscious and the girl disappears. Ed, Ironside and the team try to figure out the mysterious circumstances behind her disappearance.
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Directed by Ralph SenenskyWritten by True Boardman, Dean RiesnerGuest stars Mort Mills, Susan Saint James, Oscar Beregi Jr., Joan Staley, Donnelly Rhodes, Steve Carlson, Craig Heubing, Laurie Mitchell
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?
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Directed by Don WeisWritten by Ben Roberts, Ivan GoffGuest stars Ingrid Pitt, Gene Lyons, Ed Asner, Steve Ihnat, John van Dreelen, Ollie O'Toole, Lee Miller, Paul Bradley
A local businessman sets up an organized 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.
Episode credits
Directed by Anton LeaderWritten by Warren Duff, Ivan GoffGuest stars Gene Raymond, Diane Brewster, Harold J. Stone, Linden Chiles, George Murdock, Cliff Norton, William Lucking
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.
Episode credits
Directed by Charles S. DubinWritten by Sy SalkowitzGuest stars Francine York, Jack Kruschen, Gene Lyons, Mel Scott, Ena Hartman, Jim Creech, Victor Bozeman, Will J. White
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.
Episode credits
Directed by Anton LeaderGuest stars Parley Baer, Pernell Roberts, Ruta Lee, Anne Whitfield, Bing Russell, Olive Sturgess, Robert Karnes, Hal Needham
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.
Episode credits
Directed by Charles S. DubinGuest stars William Fawcett, Kathie Browne, Charles Brewer
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?
Episode credits
Directed by Anton LeaderWritten by John McGreeveyGuest stars Noah Keen, Nicholas Colasanto, Coleen Gray, Tom Simcox, Sue Ane Langdon
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.
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Directed by Charles S. DubinWritten by Evan HunterGuest stars Jeanette Nolan, Lorraine Gary, Walter Burke
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.)
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Directed by Robert ButlerWritten by Anthony TerpiloffGuest stars Leonard Stone, Paul Mantee, James Farentino, Vincent Gardenia, Susan Saint James
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.
Episode credits
Directed by James SheldonGuest stars Johnny Seven, Alan Baxter, Mark Roberts, Albert Popwell, Philip Carey, Vera Miles, Marion Ross, Kiel Martin
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.
Episode credits
Directed by Charles S. DubinGuest stars Shelly Novack, Pete Duel, David Lewis
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.
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Directed by James SheldonWritten by Bill S. BallingerGuest stars Jon Lormer, Paul Carr, Nancy Malone, Jeanne Cooper
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.
Episode credits
Directed by Anton LeaderGuest stars Allan Hunt, Cliff Osmond, William Windom, Monica Lewis, Judith Brown, Jerry Davis
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.
Episode credits
Guest stars Dwayne Hickman, David Carradine, Burr DeBenning, Parley Baer, Carol Booth, Ray Ballard
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.
Episode credits
Directed by Ralph SenenskyWritten by Robert PiroshGuest stars Gary Collins, Ron Hayes, Gavin MacLeod, Joe Turkel, Ned Romero
