This was shown on Channel Five in the UK this Monday past and once again I thoroughly enjoyed it (think that's the third time I've seen it).

The final clue is perhaps not as satisfying as it could be, but two aspects lift the episode tremendously and both are Patrick McGoohan.

He's a terrific adversary for the good Lieutenant, and surely this must be the best *directed* instalment of the series' second phase? Practically every scene is a gem and I hardly noticed the 90m pass.

I can watch these later stories again and again but IMO they pall in comparison with the seventies run for two main reasons: (1) Second-rate 'guest murderers', and (2) bland TVM direction. Not here though -- 'Agenda for Murder' is the tops.

(Although 'It's All in the Game' is good too!).

Top notch ABC episodes do include "Agenda For Murder." They also include "Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo," "Columbo Goes to College," and "Butterfly in Shades of Grey."

I agree. Agenda For Murder is in my opinion the best of the later episodes. Patrick Mcgoohan is excellent as always, and his interaction with Columbo is up to the quality of many of the seventies episodes. This is one of the things which often let down the newer episodes, along with poor guest stars, and limited screen time for Peter Falk. If you look at the best of the later years (Agenda, Butterfly, Caution Murder Can Be..., It's All in The Game, etc') they are mostly the ones with better actors guesting, and therefore interacting with Falk well. Falk also has more screen time in these episodes than many other newer ones; he has about three scenes in A Bird in the Hand, for example. The best ones also tend to be done more seriously. The original episodes always had funny moments but the later ones take it too far , in my opinion.