The sixty third episode of Columbo was titled Strange Bedfellows and was the first episode of the show’s final season. Columbo enlists unconventional assistance to pin down a double murderer. In this podcast Gerry and Iain look at a killer with no flair for disguises.
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George Wendt, of Cheers fame, features as fratricidal killer Graham McVeigh. Having inherited half a horse training farm, McVeigh finds his life complicated by the presences of his gambling addict brother Teddy (Jeff Yagher). He concocts a complex scheme, convincing Teddy he will fix a race to pay off Bruno Romano (Jay Acovone), but dopes the horse causing it to come up short. He then seeks to frame Romano for Teddy’s death and sets up a self-defence alibi for his own killing of Romano.
Columbo isn’t the only characters keen to see justice served, however. Mob godfather Vincenzo Fortelli (Rod Steiger) was fond of Romano and has his mind set on taking revenge for that murder. Bruno’s partner, Lorraine Buchinsky (Linda Gehringer), provides an alibi for the time of Teddy’s death, while Sgt Phil Brindle (Bruce Kirby) assists the investigation.
Vincent McEveety found himself in the director’s chair once again, while the story was written by Peter S. Fischer, using his Lawrence Vail pseudonym.
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Strange Bedfellows was released in 1995. It is 86 minutes long and originally aired on the ABC network. This episode is not available on Netflix, but can be found on the Season 10 or complete collection DVD box sets from Universal (all remaining episodes are considered ‘Season 10’ in the DVD collection).
