Three Men and Adena

“Three Men and Adena” is the 5th episode of the first season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on March 3, 1993. The episode was written by executive producer Tom Fontana and directed by Martin Campbell. In the episode, Pembleton and Bayliss have a 12-hour limit to elicit a confession from Risley Tucker for the murder of 11-year-old Adena Watson. The episode takes place almost entirely within the confines of the police interrogation room with the 3 actors.

Tucker was played by actor Moses Gunn, which was his final acting role before his death in December 1993. “Three Men and Adena” was seen by 7.08 million households in its original broadcast, which was among the lowest-rated network shows from that evening. However, the episode received positive reviews; it is considered one of the classic Homicide episodes, and ranked number 74 in an Entertainment Weekly list of the 100 greatest television moments. Tom Fontana won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the episode’s script.