Episode
Ironside: Backfire
Overview
Mark investigates an old case as part of his coursework research, and uncovers an apparent miscarriage of justice which implicates Ed in a fit up. The pair investigate the case to try to work out what really happened, and discover that the truth is not necessarily what it appears to be.
Details
- Series
- Ironside
- Season
- Season 4
- Episode
- Episode 11
- Air date
- 1970-12-03
- Runtime
- 60 min
Episode context
Backfire is Episode 11 in Season 4 of Ironside. It aired on 1970-12-03. The runtime is 60 min.
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Episode 10: The Man on the Inside
When a drug pusher is arrested following a spate of botched drug raids he fingers Ironside as a gang informer. Ed is press-ganged onto a team set up to investigate the Chief, which leads to conflict with Eve. Meanwhile Ironside himself seems to be taking the investigation very calmly, which leads to concern all round.
Episode 12: The Laying on of Hands
Pablo Esteban, a young Mexican boy, is brought to San Francisco by some businessmen who claim that he can heal people just by touching them. Placed on the case to find out whether it is for real, the Chief develops a close friendship with the boy, and has to help him when he finds out that it is all just a money-making scam.
More episodes from this season
Episode 9: Too Many Victims
A policeman's daughter crashes her car after taking cannabis, and her father sets out to catch the man who sold her the stuff. When it becomes apparent that he has framed the man responsible, the task falls to Ironside to decide whether to charge a known pusher or an old and trusted cop who has clearly gone off the rails.
Episode 13: This Could Blow Your Mind
Ironside attends a hospital for psychological evaluation, and whilst he is tying knots in his psychiatrist's theories, it transpires that a crook is trying to use the situation to find out the whereabouts of a police informer. With Mark and Eve on holiday, however, there is just Ed to help the Chief, and a whole city to search through for clues.
Episode 8: Check, Mate: and Murder (2)
Ed goes undercover at the docks to try to identify and capture the murderer, whilst the rest of the team continue investigating the case. Finally, with a terrorist plot to defuse, a parade to protect, and Ed masquerading as the arrested murderer, Ironside has plenty to work on; but still has enough time to spend with his old girlfriend.
Episode 14: Blackout
The power station for a four mile square area of town is destroyed in an explosion, and when a similar attack takes out the auxiliary generator at Police Headquarters, Ironside realises that somebody somewhere is trying to cover their tracks. The question is, who - and what is their goal?
Episode 7: Check, Mate: and Murder (1)
In Canada for a conference, Ironside and the team get caught up in a spate of bombings, courtesy of Quebec separatists; one of them the son of an old girlfriend of the Chief's. When one of the bombings proves fatal, Ironside suspects that there is more going on than just terrorism; and he soon links the killing to a famous stolen chess set.
Episode 15: The Quincunx
A successful folk trio comprising two brothers and a sister tour San Francisco, and Eve's suspicions are roused when the girl, an old school friend, disappears without a word. When the body of another young woman turns up, brutally murdered, the Chief knows that there is a connection somewhere; but which, if either, of the brothers killed the girl? The clue to their sister's whereabouts might just be in their music.
Episode 6: The Lonely Way to Go
The accountant for the Police Pension Fund confesses to the murder of his secretary, but all of the evidence suggests that he could not possibly be guilty, instead pointing to another culprit and a man merely suffering from alcohol-induced hallucinations. As always, however, the Chief does not go along merely with what is 'obvious'.
Episode 16: From Hrûska, with Love
The Chief and his team are detailed to escort a spy to Mexico, in order to make an exchange with the Russians for an American scientist. When Ironside and the spy are kidnapped by a Mexican political group, Ed has to keep the Russians at bay long enough to get the pair back, so that the exchange can be made.
Episode 5: Noel's Gonna Fly
An ageing accountant, weighed down by the responsibilities of his life, decides to break free from the grindstone and try for something different. On the way he comes close to going off the rails, and the Chief makes it his personal crusade to ensure that nothing goes too wrong.
Episode 17: The Target
An ex-con determined to go straight is roped into a scam to steal dynamite, after his son is kidnapped. The Chief manages to get the boy back, but by then a bomb has already been planted, and there may be no time to stop it before it blows up. The Chief not only has to find the bomb, he also has to work out how to defuse it.