How to Dial a Murder strikes me as being one of my faves of the later years due to the interesting set up with the dogs but I found myself fascinated by the character of Dr Mason.

I was intrigued by his ideas about power and words -so much so that I intend to use a similar idea in a college class I will teach next week.

I thought Mason was a sinister character and that moment when he is getting ready to silence Kim Catrall's character was very creepy. As for his mistakes then sheer arrogance and overestimating his own abilities.

Not sure what others thought of Mason but the scene where he sits with Columbo in front of a roaring fire with a glass of red and playing the word game - perfect Columbo!

I always enjoyed the word-association game scene too. Yes it is very much a "Columbo" scene, a battle of wits you could say, Columbo all but telling the murderer "I have you!!"

One of my favourite episodes.

One thing that has always puzzled me is why have the Kim Cattral character?

She seems to serve no purpose to the plot apart from making Mason look a bit dodgy. I've always wondered if her role was cut down or that she was simply a bit of eye candy for viewers to enjoy.

She reminds me a bit of 'whatshisname' who is staying with Joe Devlin in The Conspirators. The point of the character is vague - are they implying Devlin is a homosexual, or was part of his role cut rendering him an unexplained presence.