Mar 1982 - May 1988
6.8
Click the chart for info!
Mary Beth Lacey and Chris Cagney are teamed up as NYPD police detectives. Their opposing personalities (one is tough and the other sensitive) mesh to make this one of the great crime-fighting duos of all time.
S6 Ep21
9.0
30th Mar 1987
Charlie's drinking finally catches up with him and he goes to the Great Bar in the Sky. Chris and brother Brian send him off with a wake at Flannery's. But Chris can't handle it, and winds up dead drunk in her apartment. Only Lacey can save her and get her to AA.
S6 Ep22
8.8
30th Mar 1987
In the B plot, Lacey rescues a child from a burning car and then has to return the child to the proper mother.
S5 Ep15
8.4
27th Jan 1986
Handicapped people are being robbed, and a wheelchair activist wants the NYPD to do something about it. Cagney goes undercover by appearing as a handicapped individual in a wheelchair and falls for the activist.
S4 Ep16
8.4
11th Feb 1985
A two parter where Mary Beth discovers that she has a lump in her breast, but she refuses to talk about it or do anything about it. Chris finds out when Harvey gets worried and sneaks out to tell her. Chris finally convinces Mary Beth to see a doctor and then to get a second opinion. Meanwhile the detectives must find a missing child. Cagney thinks the kid ran away because the mother was unfit. The mother thinks that they would look harder for a white child. Finally he turns up in an underground passage and Chris goes in after him. Mary Beth goes in for her surgery, but Chris can't be there because she is taking the sergeant's exam. But she gets back in time to learn that the operation is a success
S6 Ep4
8.4
27th Oct 1986
(Also given to me as ""Incest."") A girl says that their father is molesting the younger daughter, who is too young to testify. How does she know? Because she was molested herself. Cagney and Lacey get the children away from their parents, but have to split up the girls to do so.
S4 Ep1
8.4
15th Oct 1984
A little girl appears to have been molested by her babysitter, but the girl's father doesn't want her to testify, not because he's a bad guy, but because he doesn't want her to face a trial
S4 Ep2
8.3
22nd Oct 1984
Mary Beth is taken hostage by a very dangerous man.
S6 Ep18
8.3
9th Mar 1987
A deaf girl is suspected of murder. Could someone with such a severe handicap commit a crime like that? Also, a drunken David Keeler appears on Cagney's door step begging her forgiveness. She hadn't seen him since ""the Cost of Living"" although he left numerous messages on her answering machine.
S5 Ep24
8.2
26th May 1986
A labor leader is killed. Once again, the victim seems to have led a blameless life, yet someone wanted him dead. In the B plot, Cagney's niece (who we met in #78) comes for a visit.
S5 Ep2
8.2
7th Oct 1985
Cagney and Lacey have no trouble with a case, thanks to their star witness. Alas, he's an illegal alien, who can only stay in the country until the trial ends. When the baddy takes a plea bargain, the witness and family are going to be deported
S6 Ep20
8.1
23rd Mar 1987
This time it's Lacey's turn to get shot. She isn't hurt as badly as Cagney was, but the trauma sends them to the police psychiatrist. Lacey is saved from certain death by her bullet-proof vest.
S6 Ep1
8.1
29th Sep 1986
Detective Newman is just walking down the street, celebrating a successful collar, when he is shot down. A cop killed is always taken very seriously.
S5 Ep22
8.1
12th May 1986
A thief gets more than he expected, when the goods include plutonium. He needs to be caught quickly, so that his radiation sickness can be treated
S3 Ep2
8.1
26th Mar 1984
The uniforms are on strike, and the detectives must wear uniforms and go back on the street, all the while solving the case of the ""Don Juan Strangler."" This is the first episode in which Cagney plays poker.
S6 Ep9
8.1
8th Dec 1986
When someone who Petrie held a grudge against is killed, Marcus is the suspect. In the B plot, Chris dates a reporter and discovers that he has a hidden agenda.
S6 Ep6
8.1
10th Nov 1986
An assistant D.A. has devoted his entire career to prosecuting child pornography. When he turns up dead, Cagney (who would have liked to have gotten to know him better) thinks one of those scuzzy pornographers had killed him.
S5 Ep1
8.1
30th Sep 1985
A teenager has run away from her wealthy home, preferring prostitution to Princeton. Cagney and Lacey need her to testify against her pimp
S7 Ep22
8.0
16th May 1988
A bank is missing some money - not much, only $100,000. The baddy offers a plea bargain - she knows who stole $100 million. Now that's worth sending Cagney and Lacey to upstate New York to hunt down the bank president. But when they find him, they discover that the real bank president is gone, and that this is an FBI agent. Our heroines narrowly escape a shootout and get offered a promotion to Major Case Squad as the series ends
S3 Ep5
8.0
30th Apr 1984
When an abandoned infant is turned in, C&L go to work on a baby-broker scheme. The baby is deaf, and Mary Beth wants to take it home for child #3. (This was shown before Tyne Daly's pregnancy.) In the B plot, Cagney is dating a glamorous playwright, but he doesn't think much of her career.
S2 Ep10
7.9
27th Dec 1982
C&L are assigned to work for Sgt. Dory McKenna on a murder investigation. The baddy is a slumlord who is trying to get rid of his tenants so he can make a co-op out of his building. The kicker is that Dory is using cocaine. After he snorts up at Mary Beth's and doesn't show up as backup, Chris threatens to turn him in unless he gets help for his addiction.
S2 Ep21
7.9
2nd May 1983
The "A" story is that a con man is doing very well, but when he's arrested as he's fleeing, there's nothing of value in his suitcase. The "B" story is that one of the cops working with them, who Mary Beth has known since academy days, is beating his wife.
S7 Ep2
7.9
28th Sep 1987
Corassa's gun is used to kill a black kid who just happens to be in a white section of town. The black community alleges coverup. This is based on a real-life incident.
S6 Ep19
7.9
16th Mar 1987
Lacey participates in a protest march against nuclear weapons. She gets arrested and thrown to the tender mercies of Detective Dupnick.
S6 Ep10
7.9
15th Dec 1986
In a sequel to episode #69, Sara Jones goes on trial. She wants Cagney to back up her story, but Cagney won't do it.
S5 Ep16
7.9
10th Feb 1986
This is sometimes referred to as Cagney & Lacey's ""Lucy and Ethel"" episode for its comedic touches. At last, Lacey has baby Alice. (It did seem like the longest pregnancy on record, didn't it?) Cagney has to drive her to the hospital in the obligatory get-me-to-the-hospital-on-time scene. Chris has another problem - Charlie has a girlfriend, Donna.
S7 Ep9
7.9
5th Jan 1988
Brad Potter seems like the perfect date - tall, handsome, successful. But he's really a date rapist. Cagney must explain to the guys at the precinct why she didn't draw her gun, and of course, the baddy says yes, it happened, but she consented
S5 Ep21
7.9
5th May 1986
Cagney and Lacey get a sweetheart trip - to Los Angeles to bring back a bail jumper
S6 Ep13
7.8
26th Jan 1987
The detectives go after a corrupt judge. but he has an ""in"" - he's an old friend of Charlie Cagney's. Cagney also has to do the performance reviews, and smoke flies when she doesn't give Lacey top ranking.
S6 Ep11
7.8
12th Jan 1987
In a sequel to episode #75, Mansfield goes on trial. He's done something clever - he's hired David Keeler to defend him. David explains how principled he is. Chris tells him to go to hell.
S7 Ep3
7.8
5th Oct 1987
Petrie gets his promotion to sergeant and leaves the show (Carl Lumbly wanted out). Lacy interferes in a neighborhood dispute and her enraged neighbors call for a Civilian Review Board. David Keeler (back in Chris' good graces) comes to the rescue
S6 Ep8
7.8
1st Dec 1986
A college sorority initiate falls off a building. The detectives suspect a hazing prank gone sour, but the sorority sisters won't talk.
S6 Ep7
7.8
24th Nov 1986
The 14th precinct has to help support the annual New York City marathon. One of the (white) runners is from South Africa, and is facing death threats if she runs. Cagney and Lacey are assigned to talk her out of running but if they can't, then they must protect her.
S6 Ep2
7.8
6th Oct 1986
An Islamic girl from a very devout family wants to be more American. No arranged marriage for her; she'd rather go to Malibu.When she turns up dead, Cagney and Lacey must face her angry family. They're also being considered for a very select task force that Cagney sees as her path to sta
S4 Ep15
7.8
4th Feb 1985
Cagney is a witness to a stabbing. The bad guy has the charming habit of erasing people he doesn't like, such as witnesses, and he goes after her
S4 Ep14
7.8
28th Jan 1985
C&L think it's wonderful to be assigned to a hot case under the hot Captain Hennessey. it seems that his interest in Chris is more personal than professional. Finally, Chris announces that she will file departmental charges against him for sexual harassment.
S7 Ep1
7.7
21st Sep 1987
Cagney and Lacey have another star witness who needs special treatment. This one is a schizophrenic, although not too bad if he takes his medication. But, of course, he doesn't.
S5 Ep19
7.7
10th Mar 1986
An actress in a play has died, and it appears to be suicide. However, when the ladies start digging around, they discover that everybody in the play hates everybody else - plenty of reason for murder. We learn that Cagney tried acting in college.
S3 Ep7
6.7
14th May 1984
The crime story is a sequel to #16 (slumlord trying to get rid of tenants.) The witness has died, since the defense strategy is to stall, so C&L have to find new witnesses.
S2 Ep3
6.7
8th Nov 1982
A group of baddies is preying on wealthy patrons of beauty shops. They get into these shops by pretending to be policemen. C&L get to head up the task force, and Cagney befriends one of the victims
S2 Ep7
6.9
6th Dec 1982
A farmer from Vermont comes in looking for his wife, who has disappeared in New York City. Seems that she has ""married"" several men, and is collecting money from all of them.
S2 Ep18
7.0
14th Mar 1983
When C&L screw up a backup assignment, Isbecki is taken hostage. The situation gets worse when Petri kills a child. As the child is black, public relations thinks they can solve the problem by putting Petri's picture in the paper, so everyone can see he's also black
S2 Ep22
7.0
9th May 1983
To find out who's selling drugs to high school students, C&L use a teenage informer. But the youth is not to be trusted, and the detectives wind up with eggs on their face when it turns out that he's selling drugs himself.
S3 Ep1
7.0
19th Mar 1984
A wealthy Westchester housewife is found dead in the city. Since Cagney comes from a well- off family in Westchester, we get to learn a little bit about her background. The ""B"" story is that Samuels' son David gets arrested for car theft, and relations between the two are very strained
S1 Ep3
7.1
8th Apr 1982
An illegal immigrant is murdered, and the trail leads to a large racket in modern-day slave trading.
S1 Ep4
7.1
15th Apr 1982
Hispanic gang member is killed.
S2 Ep9
7.1
20th Dec 1982
A Christmas episode, lighter than usual. The ""villain"" is a nebbish who steals from parking meters. When he gets arrested, he makes off with a squad car, which so enrages Samuels that nobody gets to leave early on Christmas Eve. The villain is played by character actor David Masur The ""B"" story is that Petri's Lauren daughter is born. We first meet Dory McKenna as Chris' boyfriend.
S2 Ep16
7.1
21st Feb 1983
It's a rape case, but the victim knew her assailant, which makes it date rape. Cagney and Harvey think the woman asked for it; Lacey is more supportive. The ""B"" story is that the guys in the precinct are playing practical jokes such as fixing Isbecki up with a female impersonator and Samuels with a prostitute. Cagney thinks it's funny and points out that it's a great step forward for them to be included in this
S2 Ep20
7.1
28th Mar 1983
To celebrate Petri's promotion to detective first grade, the gang goes out to celebrate. Alas, they get robbed (including their guns and shields), and have to restore face. LaGuardia is so upset that he threatens to quit.
S1 Ep2
7.1
1st Apr 1982
The first appearance of Dick O'Neill as Charlie Cagney. The case occurs in Chinatown, where Charlie just happened to work, so he helps out. This is the episode where Lacey shoots and kills a fleeing perp.
S2 Ep1
7.1
25th Oct 1982
One of the uniforms accidentally kills a civilian, mistaking him for a perp. C&L both see it, but they have very different recollections of the event. Marquette and Samuels pressure Lacey to agree with Cagney, but you know how stubborn she is. The bad guy is a crewman on a foreign ship, and it ends with a chase on the ship.
S2 Ep15
7.1
14th Feb 1983
a bag lady, is murdered. Only Cagney cares what happened, and strives to find the woman's real name. The ""B"" plot is very funny: our heroines are assigned to do recruiting, and wind up trying to do a commercial for the NYPD. Of course, they get replaced by ""real"" actresses.
S2 Ep4
7.1
15th Nov 1982
A construction worker falls to his death, and everyone thinks it's an accident, including Isbecki, who lets the ladies take over the case. You see, Harvey knew the fellow, and he thinks there's something funny. It turns out that the victim was on the take, and Harvey and Mary Beth go out to the construction site to inspect first hand.
S2 Ep5
7.1
22nd Nov 1982
A group of unrelated stranglings has the NYPD very worried. Turns out all the women work for telephone erotic hotlines. There's a very funny scene where C&L go to investigate and the hotline manager thinks they're looking for work.
S6 Ep16
7.1
16th Feb 1987
Story by Sandy Sprung and Marcy Vosburgh. Samuels is getting the Distinguished Service Award at a banquet. All Cagney and Lacey have to do is plan the banquet, coordinate the entertainment, get the balloons, and make cannoli. Very funny, especially the cannoli scene.
S4 Ep12
7.2
7th Jan 1985
A company is getting ahead in business by some well-placed fires. The small firms can choose between burning and blackmail
S5 Ep11
7.2
23rd Dec 1985
A Christmas episode, where Cagney is teamed with Newman to solve a dispute over who has rights to a song. Since Chris just had a fight with David, maybe Newman will be a romantic prospect? See Cagney dressed up as a Santa with big elf shoes on
S7 Ep6
7.2
9th Nov 1987
A valuable music video has been stolen, and there's some suspicious white powder about. In the meantime, Cagney's niece Bridget again visits, trying to carve out a career as a New York actress
S1 Ep1
7.2
25th Mar 1982
The detectives again go undercover as prostitutes
S2 Ep11
7.2
10th Jan 1983
A gang of thieves have an intriguing modus operandi. They wait until a family is at a funeral and then break in and steal everything. One of the victims is a crippled girl.
S2 Ep12
7.3
17th Jan 1983
Albert Grand is the most famous jewel thief in the world. He has even written a book about his career. Can the elegant dog lover who stops a petty crime really be the great thief?
S2 Ep13
7.3
24th Jan 1983
A new detective has been assigned to the 14th. Lacey thinks it's nice to have another woman; Cagney thinks she's incompetent
S6 Ep3
7.3
20th Oct 1986
Lacey and Isbecki are trapped in an elevator. Of course it's the hottest day of the year, and Victor is claustrophobic. The episode also features character actor Stanley Kamel as Det. Solomon
S3 Ep6
7.3
7th May 1984
Cagney gets show by a bad guy early in the episode. Not to worry, she solves the case from her hospital bed. She has to, because Mary Beth gets stuck with a real dweeb as a replacement. In a role reversal, Mary Beth is the ""hot dog"" and the guy is only interested in getting home on time
S7 Ep4
7.3
19th Oct 1987
There's an older woman who acts strange, burns incense, and claims to be a witch. Is she? Or is she merely lonely and poor and standing in the way of higher real estate prices?
S2 Ep17
7.3
7th Mar 1983
The ""A"" story is that Cagney goes undercover as a nun to investigate the theft of drugs from a hospital. The ""B"" story is that she goes alone because Lacey has gone off AWOL. After her vacation is canceled at the last minute, she just says, ""the hell with it"" and disappears
S5 Ep23
7.3
25th May 1986
A labor leader is killed. Once again, the victim seems to have led a blameless life, yet someone wanted him dead.
S6 Ep12
7.3
19th Jan 1987
A toy company is dumping toxic wastes, and a gungho environmentalist is willing to do whatever it takes to get Cagney and Lacey to investigate.
S7 Ep7
7.3
16th Nov 1987
A game show is supposedly crooked. Once again, undercover work, this time as game show contestants (dressed up like fruits).
S7 Ep8
7.3
23rd Nov 1987
Cagney gets her dream - a chance to work with the Major Task Force. But one of those so-polished officers is really a traitor. Will they find the traitor, or will the glamour get to Cagney?
S7 Ep11
7.3
19th Jan 1988
When Samuels takes some time off, Chris expects to be put in charge. But a high-tech, none-""street"" officer, Lt. Thornton, gets the job. The crime case deals with construction kickbacks, so Harvey volunteers to help out by wearing a wire
S7 Ep13
7.3
9th Feb 1988
David finally pops the question to Chris. she's consistent - she says no, even though Mary Beth likes him much better than she did Dory.
S7 Ep18
7.3
29th Mar 1988
Thornton shots a fellow officer in an operation that went bad. That's what happens when you put someone with no practical experience in charge
S7 Ep20
7.3
2nd May 1988
A Wall Street tycoon is burgled, and he has a lot of clout with the higher-ups. Harvey Jr. comes home for a visit, and nobody mentions the previous episode. (Rosenzweig usually does a much better job of continuity.)
S6 Ep15
7.4
9th Feb 1987
The detectives go undercover at Alcoholics Anonymous to find out who's holding up AA meetings. At a session for co-dependents they meet Donna, Charlie's girlfriend, who's figured out that Charlie's an alcoholic.
S1 Ep1
7.2
25th Mar 1982
The detectives again go undercover as prostitutes
S1 Ep2
7.1
1st Apr 1982
The first appearance of Dick O'Neill as Charlie Cagney. The case occurs in Chinatown, where Charlie just happened to work, so he helps out. This is the episode where Lacey shoots and kills a fleeing perp.
S1 Ep3
7.1
8th Apr 1982
An illegal immigrant is murdered, and the trail leads to a large racket in modern-day slave trading.
S1 Ep4
7.1
15th Apr 1982
Hispanic gang member is killed.
S1 Ep6
7.6
29th Apr 1982
C&L are assigned to protect a feminist, only not a Gloria Steinem type, but a Phyllis Schlafy type. This episode was very controversial, and several stations refused to run it.
