The following is an episode list for the crime fiction television series Columbo. After two pilot episodes, the show originally aired on NBC from 1971 to 1978 as one of the rotating programs of The NBC Mystery Movie. Columbo then aired less frequently on ABC beginning in 1989. The last installment was broadcast in 2003.
Because the Columbo episodes from 1989 to 2003 aired infrequently, different DVD sets have been released around the world. In Region 2 and 4, all episodes have now been released as 10 seasons, with the 10th season covering the last 14 shows from "Columbo Goes to College" (1990) to the most recent "Columbo Likes the Nightlife" (2003). However, in France, and The Netherlands (also Region 2) the DVDs were released as 12 seasons. And in Region 1, all episodes from season 8 are grouped differently; all the episodes that are originally aired on ABC were released as the COLUMBO: The Mystery Movie Collections. For the sake of clarity, all episodes in this article are arranged as they appear in the UK release.
Before Peter Falk was cast in the role of Columbo, Bert Freed played the character in "Enough Rope", a 1960 episode of The Chevy Mystery Show, a TV anthology series. In 1962, that episode became a stage play titled "Prescription: Murder" (starring Thomas Mitchell as Columbo). The play was adapted as a made-for-TV movie in 1968, with Falk debuting in the role. In this pilot episode, Columbo—rather than making the rumpled presentation that would later become the character's trademark—is less shabbily dressed, wearing suits, shorter hair, and heavier stage makeup. He carries a raincoat, which would become a staple, during some scenes. He also appears somewhat more aggressive when confronting suspects.
Here is a list of the actors who starred as murderers in more than one episode:
Patrick McGoohan starred in four episodes as the murderer: By Dawn's Early Light (Emmy Award) (1974), Identity Crisis (1975), Agenda for Murder (Emmy Award) (1990), and Ashes to Ashes (1998).
Jack Cassidy starred in three episodes as the murderer: Murder by the Book (1971), Publish or Perish (1974), and Now You See Him... (1976).
Robert Culp starred in three episodes as the murderer: Death Lends a Hand (1971), The Most Crucial Game (1972), and Double Exposure (1973). Also appeared in one episode as the father of the murderer: Columbo Goes to College (1990).
George Hamilton starred in two episodes as the murderer: A Deadly State of Mind (1975) and Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health (1991).
William Shatner starred in two episodes as the murderer: Fade in to Murder (1976) and Butterfly in Shades of Grey (1994).
Robert Vaughn starred in one episode as the murderer: "Troubled Waters" (1975) but is believed to be the murderer in "Last Salute to the Commodore" (1976) until his character also gets killed.
Ray Milland starred in only one episode as the murderer, The Greenhouse Jungle (1972), but he also starred in another episode as the husband of a victim, not the murderer, Death Lends a Hand (1971).
Dabney Coleman starred in one episode as the murderer, "Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star" (1991) but had previously been a police sergeant in "Double Shock" (1973)
Patrick O'Neal starred in one episode as the murderer "Blueprint for Murder" (1972) and appeared in "Make Me a Perfect Murder" (1978) as the boss of both the murderer and the victim.
Pilot episodes
Prescription Murder: Gene Barry (1968)
Ransom for a Dead Man: Lee Grant (1971)
Season 1 (1971–1972)
Murder by the Book: Jack Cassidy
Death Lends a Hand: Robert Culp
Dead Weight: Eddie Albert
Suitable for Framing: Ross Martin
Lady in Waiting: Susan Clark
Short Fuse: Roddy McDowall
Blueprint for Murder: Patrick O'Neal
Season 2 (1972–1973)
Étude in Black: John Cassavetes
The Greenhouse Jungle: Ray Milland
The Most Crucial Game: Robert Culp
Dagger of the Mind: Richard Basehart and Honor Blackman
Requiem for a Falling Star: Anne Baxter
A Stitch in Crime: Leonard Nimoy
The Most Dangerous Match: Laurence Harvey
Double Shock: Martin Landau
Season 3 (1973–1974)
Lovely But Lethal: Vera Miles
Any Old Port in a Storm: Donald Pleasence
Candidate for Crime: Jackie Cooper
Double Exposure: Robert Culp
Publish or Perish: Jack Cassidy
Mind Over Mayhem: José Ferrer
Swan Song: Johnny Cash
A Friend in Deed: Richard Kiley and Michael McGuire
Season 4 (1974–1975)
An Exercise in Fatality: Robert Conrad
Negative Reaction: Dick Van Dyke
By Dawn's Early Light: Patrick McGoohan
Troubled Waters: Robert Vaughn
Playback: Oskar Werner
A Deadly State of Mind: George Hamilton
Season 5 (1975–1976)
Forgotten Lady: Janet Leigh
A Case of Immunity: Hector Elizondo
Identity Crisis: Patrick McGoohan
A Matter of Honor: Ricardo Montalban
Now You See Him...: Jack Cassidy
Last Salute to the Commodore: Fred Draper
Season 6 (1976–1977)
Fade in to Murder: William Shatner
Old Fashioned Murder: Joyce Van Patten
The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case: Theodore Bikel
Season 7 (1977–1978)
Try and Catch Me: Ruth Gordon
Murder Under Glass: Louis Jourdan
Make Me a Perfect Murder: Trish Van Devere
How to Dial a Murder: Nicol Williamson
The Conspirators: Clive Revill
Season 8 (1989)
Columbo Goes to the Guillotine: Anthony Andrews
Murder, Smoke, and Shadows: Fisher Stevens
Sex and the Married Detective: Lindsay Crouse
Grand Deceptions: Robert Foxworth
Season 9 (1989–1990)
Murder: A Self Portrait: Patrick Bauchau
Columbo Cries Wolf: Ian Buchanan
Agenda for Murder: Patrick McGoohan
Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo: Helen Shaver
Uneasy Lies the Crown: James Read
Murder in Malibu: Andrew Stevens
Season 10 and specials (1990–2003)
Columbo Goes to College: Stephen Caffrey and Gary Hershberger (1990)
Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health: George Hamilton (1991)
Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star: Dabney Coleman (1991)
Death Hits the Jackpot: Rip Torn (1991)
No Time to Die: (This is the only episode where no one is murdered. Daniel McDonald plays the villain.) (1992)
A Bird in the Hand...: Tyne Daly and Greg Evigan (1992)
It's All in the Game: Faye Dunaway and Claudia Christian (1993)
Butterfly in Shades of Grey: William Shatner (1994)
Undercover: Ed Begley Jr. (1994)
Strange Bedfellows: George Wendt (1995)
A Trace of Murder - 25th Anniversary Movie: David Rasche (1997)
Ashes to Ashes: Patrick McGoohan (1998)
Murder With Too Many Notes: Billy Connolly (2001)
Columbo Likes the Nightlife: Jennifer Sky and Matthew Rhys (2003)
