Radio Times

• Episode 1/20 Beauty and the Beast

  When a university accepts funding for environmental research from a major oil company, Shirley withdraws a donation she had promised - and finds herself being sued. Alan takes the case but is shaken to discover opposing counsel is his old flame Lorraine Weller. Denny's equally unsettled when he discovers his arch nemesis Carl Sack will be defending him on the charge of soliciting a prostitute. Meanwhile, Jerry assists Katie on her first case, a grisly murder.

  RT Choice (Ruth Margolis, 31 January 2008)

  You know how much we drool and fawn over this series usually. So it feels like I'm slapping down an adored elderly uncle when I say that I didn't think this series four opener was up to much. There are funny Denny moments but it's all very auto-pilot and uninspired. A blip, we hope.

• Episode 2/20 The Innocent Man

  Katie proceeds with her defence of murder suspect Joseph Washington, but gets into trouble when she makes a rash decision in court. Can an inspiring closing speech by her co-counsel Jerry save the case? With his former lover Lorraine Weller (Saffron Burrows) now at the firm, Alan is struggling - he still finds her irresistible, and so does Denny. Alan has other things on his mind too, as Judge Gloria Weldon awaits his decision about fathering her baby.

  RT Choice Jack Seale, 7 February 2008)

  This fourth series isn't quite purring yet. The opener tried to cram too much in; this episode is a bit sparse.

• Episode 3/20 The Chicken and the Leg

  Alan and Lorraine represent a 15-year-old girl who blames her high school's sex education policy for the fact that she has contracted HIV. Katie and Jerry take the case of a woman who believes her husband's therapy sessions led to his suicide. Denny, meanwhile, is so convinced that Carl Sack will lose his cockfighting case that he lays an extremely large wager on it.

  RT Choice Ruth Margolis, 14 February 2008)

  Sex shops should sell DVDs of Alan Shore's closing speeches. The one he delivers [in this episode] is particularly erotically charged.

• Episode 4/20 Do Tell

  Katie and new firm associate Whitney Rome represent a ten-year-old matador in a custody battle. Denny is shocked when an old soldier friend Fitz reveals he's gay, but Shirley agrees to take the case - a lawsuit against the US army for threatening to discharge Fitz following the revelation. Alan's lust for a certain someone drives him so crazy it gives him schizophasia - an uncontrollable impulse to spout gibberish.

• Episode 5/20 Hope and Gory

  A woman comes to see Alan. Her daughter's killer was acquitted on grounds of temporary insanity; now she wants to kill him in revenge - and she wants Alan's advice on how to appear insane herself… Katie and Jerry defend a man falsely accused of rape, and in the process attempt to overturn Megan's Law, which makes information on sex offenders public. Meanwhile, Lorraine attempts to cure Alan of his tendency to talk gibberish whenever she's around.

• Episode 6/20 The Object of My Affection

  When Alan and Whitney defend a woman accused of murdering her daughter's killer, the result is a debate about biblical justice between a rabbi and a priest. Jerry tries to help out a female objectophile. She has a romantic obsession with a box, which was inadvertently moved by her building management, and she wants it back. Denny attracts a massive lawsuit, not to mention the wrath of the senior partners, after he fires a female associate for being fat.

• Episode 7/20 Attack of the Xenophobes

  An ex-police officer is charged with murder, but when it emerges that the prosecution's case rests on an MRI scan that "proves" he's racist, the all-female defence team show their fangs. Meanwhile, Alan defends Denny against the charge of unfairly firing a fat employee, Jerry struggles to prepare for his first kiss with fellow Asperger's sufferer Leigh, and Alan considers having a real, adult relationship with Lorraine.

• Episode 8/20 Oral Contracts

  A bout of constipation in the courthouse toilets leads to a stupefied Denny being arrested on charges of solicitation - and subjected to outrageous gay slurs. Shirley goes up against Bethany in defence of a "shock jock" radio DJ who was fired for insulting the elderly on air. And Katie becomes suspicious of Lorraine - what dark secret could she be harbouring?

• Episode 9/20 No Brains Left Behind

  Will Carl stay in Boston or not? While he hesitates, Lorraine finally reveals the truth about her past. But the big surprise is Shirley's: she has an unexpected visitor. Meanwhile, Alan teams up with Denny for the kind of case only their firm would take: they're planning to sue America's National Guard because they didn't come to help a business that was being flooded out.

• Episode 10/20 Green Christmas

  Surely Denny wouldn't stretch a point in the interests of making a case, would he? GreenPeople believed him when he said Crane, Poole & Schmidt was truly an environmentally friendly company - and now they've found out it might not be greener than green, they're planning to sue for every cent they ever paid the firm.

• Episode 11/20 Mad about You

  There's a time to go it alone - and the firm is closing its eyes, crossing its fingers and maybe saying a few quiet prayers that this is one of them. For Denny has taken on a hugely important, high-profile murder case and he will neither talk nor listen to anyone about how it must be handled. In comparison, Jerry and Katie must think they've got an easy ride: their case appears to be just a straightforward divorce.

• Episode 12/20 Roe v Wade, the Musical

  Morality, identity, racial prejudices and ethics are at stake as Alan's new client wants to sue Missy Tiggs, accusing her of stealing his sperm to get pregnant. And there are surprising parallels in Jerry's latest case as he wants to help Leigh. She's been fired for hugging a student and wants her job back.

• Episode 13/20 Glow in the Dark

  What's worse than sleeping with your client? Denny and Alan find out when they learn they've both been sleeping with her. The client, Andrea, is trying to sue her town's authorities over their plans to build a nuclear power plant. But if Andrea's drawing Denny and Alan like a flame, Shirley is quite taken with the opposition attorney - who's an old flame. He's also guest star Scott Bakula.

• Episode 14/20 Rescue Me

  There is only so much pro bono work a law firm can be expected to take on - and of course Denny and Alan have far exceeded it. As Carl Sack gets agitated about the firm not making any money, he's drawn into helping Andrea with another case that's for a good cause. Away from the courtroom, Denny and Alan are struggling mightily with their coastguard training.

  RT Choice (Claire Webb, 8 May 2008)

  It's ridiculous, but brilliant.

• Episode 15/20 Tabloid Nation

  It should be romantic, if a bit tacky, as a man proposes to his ex-girlfriend on a television talk show. But she turns him down - and is then found murdered. Alan and Jerry are on the case, but could it really turn out to be as straightforward as the prosecution believes? In the meantime, Denny pursues Shirley anew and Lorraine learns something startling, yet so revealing, about Alan's childhood.

  RT Choice (Jack Seale, 15 May 2008)

  Many of the show's strongest elements are in force here and there's some trademark media satire.

• Episode 16/20 The Mighty Rogues

  We've seen stories about nuclear weapons in Boston Legal and probably every other legal drama, but this has to be a first: the residents of Nantucket actually want some. Meanwhile, Shirley faces a difficult decision as she contemplates euthanasia for her father, who has Alzheimer's disease, and needs Alan's help to get the courts to agree. And Jerry, in hot pursuit of a woman, tries too hard. /p>

  RT Choice (Jane Rackham, 22 May 2007)

  A touching and beautifully acted episode. Tissues at the ready: Alan's closing speech is a tear-jerker.

• Episode 17/20 The Court Supreme

  When Alan is eager to take a case that's before the Supreme Court, you know it won't be an easy one. Taking over the defence of a man with learning difficulties who was convicted of sexually assaulting a young girl, Alan intends to present an appeal against his death sentence. There are no easy answers, there are many upsetting issues, and Alan will challenge what side you're on.

• Episode 18/20 Indecent Proposals

  Boston Legal's deliberately tenuous connection to reality is given a little twist. Alan gets involved in politics in a storyline that isn't so very far removed from what was really happening with presidential candidates when this aired in America. Together with Shirley, Alan plans to sue the entire Democratic party over the way certain delegates are switching their votes between the candidates. In the meantime, Denny's suing the whole US Food and Drug Administration over cloned meat.

• Episode 19/20 The Gods Must Be Crazy

  It was oddly inevitable: Denny Crane for president. At least, there is suddenly a lot of pressure on Denny from very powerful people who want him to apply for the job. Meanwhile, back in the world of courts and crime, Jerry's ex-girlfriend is arrested for alleged prostitution, and a woman wants to sue the church for not allowing her to become a priest.

• Episode 20/20 Patriot Acts

  Following all their earlier work, Alan and Denny are accepted into the auxiliary coastguard in the season finale. But while that has brought them together like never before, a legal case looks like it's going to split them right back up again. Alan agrees to take on the case of a town that wants to secede from the United States.

Go to Series three