Starsky & Hutch
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50 free Starsky & Hutch trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Starsky & Hutch ran on American television from 1975 to 1979 and helped define the buddy-cop show: two plain-clothes detectives who trusted each other more than the rule book, a street informant with better clothes than either of them, and a car that was louder than any siren. Its mix of chases and open friendship between the leads was unusual for the time, and it travelled well, becoming a hit across Europe as well as at home. This quiz covers the whole story. There are questions on the characters and where they come from, the actors who played them and what they did next, famous episodes and guest stars, the theme tunes, the behind-the-scenes rows that nearly cost the show one of its leads, and the 2004 big-screen comedy version. It is pitched for anyone who remembers the series or caught it in reruns, with easier questions up front and deeper cuts for fans who know their episode guides. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Ford model, bright red with a white stripe, does Starsky drive in the series Starsky & Hutch?
Gran Torino
Gran Torino coupes played Starsky's car, chosen from the stock the studio leased for filming. The show made the model so popular that a limited run of factory replicas went on sale in 1976.
Q 02What mocking nickname does Hutch give Starsky's red-and-white car in Starsky & Hutch?
Striped tomato
Striped tomato began as the Starsky actor's own jibe on first seeing the car. The writers liked it enough to hand it to Hutch as a regular insult.
Q 03Which actor played the dark-haired, streetwise detective Starsky in the 1970s series Starsky & Hutch?
Paul Michael Glaser
Paul Michael Glaser played Starsky throughout the run and also directed five episodes himself, among them the series finale.
Q 04Which actor and singer played the blond detective Hutch in the 1970s series Starsky & Hutch?
David Soul
David Soul played Hutch for all four seasons and stepped behind the camera to direct some episodes himself.
Q 05Which actor played Huggy Bear, the flashy street informant of the original Starsky & Hutch series?
Antonio Fargas
Antonio Fargas played Huggy Bear after a string of blaxploitation films. Decades later he voiced the character again for a video game based on the series.
Q 06What is the name of the fictional California beat patrolled by the detectives of Starsky & Hutch?
Bay City
Bay City was the detectives' invented beat. The real streets on screen were mostly in and around Los Angeles, where the series was filmed on location.
Q 07What radio call sign do the two detectives use in the 1970s police series Starsky & Hutch?
Zebra Three
Zebra Three was the pair's radio call sign. The actor playing Starsky thought it ludicrous that two undercover cops answered it from such a loud car.
Q 08Which comedian played Starsky opposite Owen Wilson's Hutch in the 2004 film version of Starsky & Hutch?
Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller played Starsky in a film that swapped the detectives' personalities. On the big screen Starsky became the serious one and Hutch the laid-back one.
Q 09Which rapper played the informant Huggy Bear in the 2004 film version of Starsky & Hutch?
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg played Huggy Bear as an underworld boss. He later goes undercover, grudgingly, as the villain's golf caddy to help crack the case.
Q 10In the 2004 Starsky & Hutch film, which animal does Starsky accidentally shoot in a villain's garage?
A pony
A pony, bought as a Bat Mitzvah gift for the villain's daughter, was standing behind the garage door when Starsky shot off the lock.
Q 11Which ballad took the Starsky & Hutch actor who played Hutch to number one in America and Britain in 1977?
Don't Give Up on Us
Don't Give Up on Us spent four weeks at number one in Britain and a week on top in America. Its singer never reached the American top 40 again.
Q 12In the Starsky & Hutch episode The Fix, which drug do mobsters forcibly inject into Hutch?
Heroin
Heroin is forced on Hutch by a jealous crime boss who wants him to talk. The episode was judged so graphic that it stayed off British terrestrial television until 1999.
Q 13What kind of business does the informant Huggy Bear run in the series Starsky & Hutch?
A bar
A bar is Huggy Bear's base, first trading under his own name and later renamed The Pits.
Q 21Which actor played Captain Dobey, the gruff boss of the two detectives in the series Starsky & Hutch?
Bernie Hamilton
Bernie Hamilton played the captain in every season, though a different actor had the part in the pilot. After the show he largely gave up acting to produce records.
Q 22What did the actor playing Starsky do before the third season of Starsky & Hutch to try to leave the show?
Sued the producers
The actor sued the producers to win release from his contract. He came back after winning more creative control, chances to direct and a big pay rise.
Q 23Which relative of Starsky turns up as a small-time hustler in the final season of Starsky & Hutch?
His younger brother
Q 14In Starsky & Hutch, Starsky is a streetwise transplant to California from which New York borough?
Brooklyn
Brooklyn gave Starsky his street-smart edge. The scripts also made him an Army veteran, a contrast to his more reserved and bookish partner.
Q 15Which Minnesota city is the hometown of the blond, more reserved detective Hutch in Starsky & Hutch?
Duluth
Duluth is where Hutch grew up. The writers also gave him a failed marriage, making him the divorced half of the partnership.
Q 16What is the first name of Detective Hutchinson, the partner nicknamed Hutch in Starsky & Hutch?
Ken
Ken is short for Kenneth, and the character's full name is Kenneth Richard Hutchinson. Like his partner, he holds the rank of sergeant.
Q 17Which composer of the Mission: Impossible theme wrote the dark first-season theme for Starsky & Hutch?
Lalo Schifrin
Lalo Schifrin cut the first-season theme down from the chase music he scored for the pilot. It lasted one year before a new tune replaced it.
Q 18Which saxophonist wrote Gotcha, the theme tune that Starsky & Hutch adopted in its second season?
Tom Scott
Tom Scott wrote Gotcha, the best known of the show's themes. A reworked version came back for the final season after a different tune was tried in between.
Q 19Which producer, later behind Charlie's Angels and Dynasty, made Starsky & Hutch with partner Leonard Goldberg?
Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling personally walked his Starsky out to meet the red-and-white car during work on the pilot. The actor took an instant and lasting dislike to it.
Q 20Which writer, an Emmy winner for Brian's Song and Roots, created the police series Starsky & Hutch?
William Blinn
William Blinn created the series and came back decades later as a producer of the 2004 film version.
His younger brother Nick comes to visit and is courted by the mob, then needs the detective's help to get clear of it. The episode is titled Starsky's Brother.
Q 24Early drafts of the Starsky & Hutch finale, in which Starsky is gunned down, ended with what fate for him?
Death
Death was Starsky's fate in the early drafts. The makers let him pull through so that reruns would still make sense and the series could be revived later.
Q 25In the Starsky & Hutch episode A Coffin for Starsky, what gives Starsky only 24 hours to live?
An injected poison
An injected poison, slow to act, is given to Starsky by an unknown attacker. He talks his way out of hospital to join the hunt for whoever did it.
Q 26Which future Dynasty star played a photographer in Starsky & Hutch's two-part Voodoo Island story?
Joan Collins
Joan Collins played the photographer Janice in the feature-length story that opened the third season, set among murders on a tropical island.
Q 27Which actress, soon famous as Chrissy Snow, played several different guest roles across Starsky & Hutch's run?
Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers kept returning as a different character each time, including in an episode about a killer who drains his victims' blood.
Q 28Which future director of Heat and Collateral wrote four early episodes of Starsky & Hutch?
Michael Mann
Michael Mann wrote for the series at the very start of his screen career, years before he ran another stylish cop show, Miami Vice.
Q 29A replica of Starsky's car from Starsky & Hutch made a one-off cameo in the first episode of which series?
The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard put a factory replica in its opening episode, driven by the mechanic Cooter. Fans suspect an in-joke, as the Dukes' own car was taking over as television's star vehicle.
Q 30Which actor played Reese Feldman, the drug kingpin hunted by the detectives in the 2004 Starsky & Hutch film?
Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn played the kingpin, who plans to move his product by hiding it inside cars given away at a charity ball.