Episodes: 198 (60-90 minutes)
Seasons: Eight
TV show dates: September 14, 1967 — January 16, 1975
Series status: Cancelled
Performers include: Raymond Burr, Don Galloway, Don Mitchell, Barbara Anderson, Elizabeth Baur, Gene Lyons, and Johnny Seven.
TV show description:
After 20 years of police service, San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside (Raymond Burr) was forced to retire because a sniper’s bullet paralyzed him from the waist down, confining him to a wheelchair.
He later gets himself appointed (in a clever way) a “special department consultant” by his good friend, Police Commissioner Dennis Randall (Gene Lyons).
He requests that Detective Sargent Ed Brown (Don Galloway) and young socialite-turned-plainclothes officer Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson) be assigned to him.
Ironside also recruits angst-filled African-American ex-con Mark Sanger (Don Mitchell) to be his personal assistant and bodyguard. Sanger eventually becomes a police officer and graduates from law school.
Midway through the series, Officer Fran Belding (Elizabeth Baur) takes Eve’s place (when Anderson left the series).
Ironside operates out of an attic floor room at the SFPD headquarters and makes use of a specially modified and equipped Ford police truck. This is later replaced by a modified day van.
The story of Ironside began with a two-hour TV movie, Ironside, which aired March 28, 1967.
Episode #198 — “The Rolling Y”
Ironside and the Chief travel to a farming community. They’re hoping to help Porter Yarborough (William Katt), a recent parolee who’s been charged with cattle-rustling. Porter is the son of a rancher named Clint Yarborough (John Larch). In addition to clearing Porter of the charge, Ironside also tries to mend the rift between the crusty father and his artistic son.
First aired: N/A (the final three episodes were not aired on NBC).
The Return of Ironside reunion movie
Ironside has recently retired and is looking forward to running his vineyard with his wife, Katherine (Dana Wynter). His retirement is cut short however when his old friend, Ed Brown (who’s now working for the Denver police department), asks him to fill the vacancy left by the untimely death of that city’s Chief.
Ironside agrees to fill the post, but only temporarily. The situation is further complicated when Suzanne Dwyer, the daughter of his former colleague Eve Whitfield, becomes the prime suspect in the murder of her boyfriend, Mike Quinn.
Suzanne suspected that he was having an affair, followed him and found Mike with another police woman named Judy. She flees and, the next morning, Judy and Mike are found murdered.
Though Ironside refuses to believe that Suzanne is guilty, the evidence points to her. Ironside’s other old friends — Mark Sanger and Fran Belding — come to Denver to help.
It begins to look like the murders of Mike Quinn and the previous Chief may be connected and that someone in the department may be the guilty party.
First aired: May 4, 1993.
What do you think? Do you like the Ironside TV series? Do you have any favorite episodes or memories?
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