Columbo "Ashes To Ashes" marked Patrick McGoohan's fourth - and final - appearance as a killer on the show. Columbo is a loveable, blue-collar cop with an uncanny knack for solving crimes. While he may appear somewhat shambolic with his dirty raincoat or rambling train of thought, this is just a tactic used to lure suspects into a false sense of security. Peter Falk (The Princess Bride) actually inherited the role, which was first played by actor Bert Freed, though Freed and Falk's versions bear little resemblance to one another.
Columbo is considered one of TV's best detectives and the series was unique in its structure. Instead of being a typical whodunit where the Lieutenant would investigate a list of suspects, the first act would first set up the killer and their motives. Then Columbo would be introduced and the show would become a battle of minds as the modern-day Sherlock Holmes pieced together the clues to catch the killer out. While some episodes would deviate from formula like Columbo's "No Time To Die," this remained the typical structure.
The late Patrick McGoohan is best remembered for cult 1960s series The Prisoner and his villainous turn in Braveheart, but he was also a semi-regular bad guy on Columbo. His first appearance came with the 1974 episode "By Dawn's Early Light," followed by "Identity Crisis" and 1990's "Agenda For Murder." He played different characters in each of his appearances, with Columbo "Ashes To Ashes" marking his final turn.
In Columbo "Ashes To Ashes," Patrick McGoohan - who also directed - plays funeral director Eric Prince, who murders a gossip columnist named Verity, played by The Golden Girls' Rue McClanahan). Verity was going to expose some of Prince's shady tactics when it came to running his business, so he murders her and goes to elaborate means to make it appear she was abducted. Of course, one of the great pleasures of Patrick McGoohan appearing in Columbo is watching him and Peter Falk verbally spar and McGoohan's direction in this episode is typically assured.
Without spoiling it, how Columbo figures out Prince's guilt in "Ashes To Ashes" - which involved a complex amount of cremation - is particularly satisfying. This episode also marked Patrick McGoohan's final onscreen acting appearance, though he did return to Columbo one final time as director of "Murder With Too Many Notes," which cast Billy Connolly as the killer. "Ashes To Ashes" isn't quite a classic episode of Columbo, but it's a solid thriller regardless.