01 A gruff, brilliant Northumberland detective who solves cases as much through instinct as evidence.
12 Best British Crime Dramas
By Vlad Zakh · January 30, 2026
Line of Duty and Happy Valley are slow-burn and procedurally patient, trusting the audience to sit with tension. Luther takes a more stylized, character-driven approach, and Broadchurch and The Fall are built as much on grief as mystery.
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02 A war veteran assigned to protect a politician whose politics he privately despises.
03 A cold-case unit reopening decades-old murders and unraveling the lives everyone involved built since.
04 A detective returning to the force after a breakdown, investigating a case eerily similar to one from her past.
05 One of the first major dramas to put a woman at the center of a murder investigation, decades ahead of its time.
06 A Birmingham gangster family clawing their way up England's criminal and political ladder after WWI.
07 A detective hunting a serial killer whose identity the audience already knows from episode one.
08 A modern-day reimagining of the detective that redefined the character for a new generation.
09 A police sergeant in West Yorkshire confronting the man responsible for her daughter's death.
10 An anti-corruption police unit investigating officers who may be dirtier than the criminals.
11 A child's murder tears apart a small coastal town over the course of one devastating season.
12 A brilliant, morally gray detective who bends every rule to catch London's worst killers.