A list of recaps for the detective drama Columbo. Note: In the United States, the revival episodes produced by ABC did not have specific season attached to them and were released on DVD in two parts as "The Columbo Mystery Movie Collection". In the UK, however, they were aired as Seasons 8, 9, and 10. This page lists the revival episodes based on how they were aired in the UK, simply because it's easier to organize them that way.
The sub-pages below may contain some unmarked spoilers, proceed with care.
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Pilot Episodes
- Prescription: Murder (1968)
- Ransom for a Dead Man (1971)
Season 1
- Murder by the Book (Starring Jack Cassidy, directed by Steven Spielberg)
- Death Lends a Hand (The first episode featuring Robert Culp as a guest star) (also starring Ray Milland)
- Dead Weight (starring Eddie Albert, Suzanne Pleshette)
- Suitable for Framing (starring Ross Martin, who once was a camp counselor at a camp Peter Falk attended. Also with a guest appearance by Don Ameche)
- Lady in Waiting (Guest starring Susan Clark, Richard Anderson, and Leslie Nielsen)
- Short Fuse (Guest starring Roddy McDowall, Ida Lupino, and Anne Francis)
- Blueprint for Murder (Directed by Peter Falk)
Season 2
- Etude in Black (Guest starring John Cassavetes, Blythe Danner, Myrna Loy, and Pat Morita in a cameo)
- The Greenhouse Jungle (Guest starring Ray Milland in his second appearance)
- The Most Crucial Game (the second episode featuring Robert Culp)
- Dagger of the Mind (Columbo goes to London, guest starring Richard Basehart, Honor Blackman, Bernard Fox and Wilfrid Hyde-White.
Do not confuse with with the Star Trek: The Original Series episode of the same title.) - Requiem for a Falling Star (Guest starring Anne Baxter)
- A Stitch in Crime (Guest starring Leonard Nimoy as a particularly reprehensible murderer, and Anne Francis as the victim)
- The Most Dangerous Match (Guest starring Laurence Harvey)
- Double Shock (Guest starring Martin Landau in a dual role, as well as Julie Newmar. )
Season 3
- Lovely But Lethal (Guest starring Vera Miles, Martin Sheen, and Vincent Price)
- Any Old Port in a Storm (Guest starring Donald Pleasence and Julie Harris)
- Candidate for Crime (Guest starring Jackie Cooper)
- Double Exposure (the third episode with Robert Culp as a guest star)
- Publish or Perish (Jack Cassidy's second appearance as a killer)
- Mind Over Mayhem (Guest starring Jose Ferrer, Lew Ayres, Jessica Walter, and Robby the Robot)
- Swan Song (Guest starring Johnny Cash and Ida Lupino)
- A Friend in Deed (Directed by Ben Gazzara, featuring Columbo taking on the Deputy Police Commissioner)
Season 4
- An Exercise in Fatality (Guest starring Robert Conrad)
- Negative Reaction (Guest starring Dick Van Dyke)
- By Dawn's Early Light (the first appearance of Patrick McGoohan as a guest star)
- Troubled Waters (the second episode directed by Ben Gazzara, guest starring Robert Vaughn)
- Playback (one of Peter Falk's personal favorite episodes)
- A Deadly State of Mind (Guest starring George Hamilton as a particularly sleazy psychiatrist and Lesley Ann Warren as the patient he takes advantage of)
Season 5
- Forgotten Lady (Guest starring Janet Leigh)
- A Case of Immunity (Guest starring Héctor Elizondo and Sal Mineo)
- Identity Crisis (Directed by Patrick McGoohan and guest starring McGoohan and Leslie Nielsen)
- A Matter of Honor (Guest starring Ricardo Montalbán)
- Now You See Him... (Jack Cassidy's final appearance as a guest star)
- Last Salute to the Commodore (the second episode directed by Patrick McGoohan, and a rare episode structured as a classic whodunit. Guest Starring Robert Vaughn, Wilfrid Hyde-White, and Diane Baker)
Season 6
- Fade Into Murder (Guest starring William Shatner in a role clearly modeled after Peter Falk; Shatner's Star Trek co-star Walter Koenig pops up in one scene.)
- Old Fashioned Murder
- The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case (guest starring Theodore Bikel, with a brief appearance by a young Jamie Lee Curtis)
Season 7
- Try and Catch Me (Guest starring Ruth Gordon)
- Murder Under Glass (Directed by Jonathan Demme and guest starring Louis Jourdan and Mako)
- Make Me a Perfect Murder
- How to Dial a Murder (Guest starring Nicol Williamson and Kim Cattrall)
- The Conspirators (Guest staring Clive Revill, Jeanette Nolan, and L.Q. Jones. The final episode of the original NBC run).
Season 8
- Columbo Goes to the Guillotine (Guest starring Anthony Andrews; First episode made after the series was Uncancelled and went on a Channel Hop to ABC)
- Murder, Smoke, and Shadows (Guest starring Fisher Stevens as a thinly-disguised, murderous Expy of Steven Spielberg)
- Sex and the Married Detective (Guest starring Lindsay Crouse)
- Grand Deceptions (Guest starring Robert Foxworth and Michael McManus)
Season 9
- Murder, a Self-Portrait
- Columbo Cries Wolf
- Agenda for Murder (The third episode directed by Patrick McGoohan, and the third to feature him as the murderer. Also guest starring Stanley Kamel and Arthur Hill)
- Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo (guest starring Helen Shaver, Ian McShane, and Edward Winter)
- Uneasy Lies The Crown (Guest starring James Read and Marshall Teague, with Nancy Walker and Dick Sergant appearing as themselves. The episode's story was previously produced as an episode of McMillan & Wife before being re-repurposed for Columbo)
- Murder in Malibu
Season 10 + Specials
- Columbo Goes to College (Guest starring Stephen Caffrey, and Gary Hershberger, with Robert Culp in a supporting role as opposed to playing the killer)
- Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health (George Hamilton's second appearance as the murderer)
- Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star (Guest starring Dabney Coleman)
- Death Hits the Jackpot (Guest starring Rip Torn)
- No Time to Die (Based on the 87th Precinct novel So Long As You Both Shall Live)
- A Bird in the Hand... (The second episode to follow the classic whodunit)
- It's All in the Game (Guest starring Faye Dunaway. The only episode written by Peter Falk)
- Butterfly in Shades of Grey (William Shatner's second appearance as the murderer)
- Undercover (Based on the 87th Precinct novel Jigsaw)
- Strange Bedfellows (Guest starring George Wendt)
- A Trace of Murder
- Ashes to Ashes (The fourth episode directed by Patrick McGoohan, and the fourth and final to feature him as the murderer)
- Murder With Too Many Notes (The fifth and final episode directed by Patrick McGoohan. Guest starring Billy Connolly)
- Columbo Likes the Nightlife (Guest starring Matthew Rhys)
