| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
|
Villain |
|
|
Accomplice |
Joan Hudson |
|
Victim |
Carol Fleming |
|
Series Order Number |
1 |
A highly successful psychiatrist and the beautiful patient he is in love with kill his wife and have it appear to be a robbery that resulted in murder...but Police Lieutenant Columbo has his doubts.
Overview[]
Prescription: Murder is the first ever episode of Columbo. It first aired on February 20, 1968 and was directed by Richard Irving. The episode stars Peter Falk in his first appearance as Lieutenant Columbo and Gene Barry as the series' first murderer, Dr. Ray Fleming. Adapted from a stage play of the same name by Richard Levinson and William Link, the 94-minute-long thriller was
Summary[]
In Prescription: Murder, Dr. Ray Fleming, a psychiatrist, murders his wife and persuades his mistress, an actress who is one of his patients, to support his alibi by impersonating her.
Appearances[]
- Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo
- Gene Barry as Ray Fleming
- Katherine Justice as Joan Hudson
- William Windom as Burt Gordon
- Nina Foch as Carol Fleming
Other Characters can be found listed here.
Trivia[]
- Prescription: Murder was originally only intended to be a once-off TV-movie-of-the-week. However, due to its popularity, NBC ordered an additional test pilot, 1971's Ransom for a Dead Man, which also proved popular enough to warrant the creation of a Columbo TV series. This series began officially with Murder by the Book later that same year.
- Despite being the first episode of the popular series, and Peter Falk's debute as Columbo taking place in Prescription: Murder, Columbo had been played by other actors and first for an unrelated show.
- The first appearance of Columbo was and episode of The Chevy Mystery Show, played by Bert Freed in 1960.
- The Pilot "Prescription: Murder" was adapted from a 1962 stage show by the same name. The role of Columbo was played by Thomas Mitchell; his final role before passing away.
- One of the framed photos in Ray Fleming's office appears in the later episode Suitable for Framing, one of several painting stolen by Ross Martin.
- Columbo does not apear for the first 32 minutes of the episode, a third of the way into the episode's length.
- Dave Grusin created the opening title music for the initial pilot, and the opening credits are played over a series of Rorschach tests images. This opening however only plays for the first pilot, and no other episodes use an opening credit slideshow, instead apply opening credits over early scenes.
| Columbo Pilots |
|---|
| Pilot 1 Prescription: Murder Pilot 2 Ransom for a Dead Man |
| Season 1 |
|---|
| E1 Murder by the Book E2 Death Lends a Hand E3 Dead Weight E4 Suitable for Framing E5 Lady in Waiting E6 Short Fuse E7 Blueprint for Murder |
| Season 2 |
|---|
| E1 Étude in Black E2 The Greenhouse Jungle E3 The Most Crucial Game E4 Dagger of the Mind E5 Requiem for a Falling Star E6 A Stitch in Crime E7 The Most Dangerous Match E8 Double Shock |
| Season 3 |
|---|
| E1 Lovely But Lethal E2 Any Old Port in a Storm E3 Candidate for Crime E4 Double Exposure E5 Publish or Perish E6 Mind Over Mayhem E7 Swan Song E8 A Friend in Deed |
| Season 4 |
|---|
| E1 An Exercise in Fatality E2 Negative Reaction E3 By Dawn's Early Light E4 Troubled Waters E5 Playback E6 A Deadly State of Mind |
| Season 5 |
|---|
| E1 Forgotten Lady E2 A Case of Immunity E3 Identity Crisis E4 A Matter of Honor E5 Now You See Him E6 Last Salute to the Commodore |
| Season 6 |
|---|
| E1 Fade In to Murder E2 Old Fashioned Murder E3 The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case |
| Season 7 |
|---|
| E1 Try and Catch Me E2 Murder Under Glass E3 Make Me a Perfect Murder E4 How to Dial a Murder E5 The Conspirators |
| Season 8 |
|---|
| E1 Columbo Goes to the Guillotine E2 Murder, Smoke and Shadows E3 Sex and the Married Detective E4 Grand Deceptions |
| Season 9 |
|---|
| E1 Murder, A Self Portrait E2 Columbo Cries Wolf E3 Agenda for Murder E4 Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo E5 Uneasy Lies the Crown E6 Murder in Malibu |