Columbo
1 9 7 1 - 1 9 8 8 (USA)
45 x 90 minute episodes
Few characters have clicked with the audience as well as
Lieutenant Columbo who first appeared as one of the rotating stars
on The NBC Mystery Movie.
Bing Crosby had been first choice to play Lt. Columbo but he
turned it down as it would have eaten into his golf time!
The role
then went to the excellent Peter Falk who first played the
character he modelled on Petrovitch, the detective in Dostoevsky's
Crime and Punishment, in the television movie Prescription:
Murder in 1968.
Falk made television history by earning the record fee of
$320,000 for each of four 90-minute episodes.
Columbo was one of the shrewdest officers on the Los Angeles
police force, despite the appearance of his rumpled trench coat
and his beat up 1960 Peugeot 403.
Slowly and methodically he
pieced together the most minute clues leading to the identity of
the killer. And Columbo (almost) always got his man.
At the beginning of each Columbo episode the audience
witnessed a clever murder and saw the ingenious measures the
murderer took to prevent detection by the police. Then into the
case came Lt. Columbo who was excessively polite to everyone, went
out of his way not to offend any of the suspects, and seemed like
a hopeless choice to solve any crime. But all that was
superficial, designed to lull the murderer into a false sense of
security.
 You could always tell when the scruffy cigar-chewing homicide
detective was about to move in for the kill with the villain.
Walking away, he would stop and turn, raise his palm to his
forehead and mutter "just one more thing" . . . Wham!
The villain was busted!
Some interesting facts about Lieutenant Columbo:
- He never carries a gun (and only fires one in one single
episode)
- He goes bowling when he's depressed
- He has a Bassett Hound called "Dog"
- Although he's with the LAPD he was born and grew up in New
York City
- His first name is never stated (but has been reported to
be either Philip or Frank)
In Britain, the series was aired on ITV during the 70s and 80s.
In 1988 the BBC repeated the series in a peak Saturday-night slot.
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