15 Best British Crime Dramas, Ranked

There's something about a British crime drama that can be so much more satisfying than its American counterpart. Perhaps it's the performances, often executed by trained thespians. Maybe it's their preference for season-long arcs, which offer variety and closure of American network procedurals while allowing room for larger-scale storytelling. I could be that everything just sounds cooler, smarter, and more intense in a British accent.

While we may have yet to solve this case, we have put together a suspect list of the 15 best British crime dramas ever made, and we've also ranked them based on overall quality. Hopefully for our readers in America or otherwise outside the United Kingdom, we can help you find your next binge-worthy mystery.

Starring "Furiosa" supporting actor Tom Burke in the title role, "Strike" (or "C.B. Strike," depending on your location) chronicles the investigations of veteran-turned-private eye Cormoran Blue Strike. The program is based on a series of mystery novels by J.K. Rowling. The controversial "Harry Potter" author originally published them anonymously under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

After failing to sell more than 1,500 copies, the leaking of her true identity to the press turned Strike into a buzz-worthy name overnight, and the series was eventually optioned to the BBC. Burke is obviously aware of the rift between Rowling and many of her former fans. Speaking diplomatically to journalists in 2024, the actor acknowledged the integrity of both Rowling and her detractors and committed to focusing on his own work.

Sadly, Rowling's reactionary online persona leaked into both her books and the series via the embarrassingly transparent "Ink Black Heart" (which consumed season 6 to a critically underwhelming end). Aside from that, however, the tone, writing, and performances in "Strike" make this a show worth giving a chance.

Where to watch in the U.S.: Max

"Inside Man" is the original creation of Steven Moffat, and it depicts the moral decline of a small town vicar (David Tennant) as he tries to protect his family from an unimaginable, life-ruining mistake. Its many horrifying scenarios were born of Moffat's own intrusive anxieties, as well as the question of how someone could live their life even after just one — albeit horrible — transgression. "What do you then do with the rest of your days?," he asked GQ. "Because you're a perfectly decent person apart from this one time you did something unacceptable. If you lapse from perfect decency, and kill someone, what would you do?"

Stanley Tucci — who plays the brilliant former criminologist and imprisoned murderer Jefferson Grieff — was compelled by the idea that, given the right set of bad circumstances, anyone could find themselves in a similar predicament. "One of the overriding themes of the piece is that we are all murderers," he told The Guardian. "We could all potentially kill somebody." With a twisted plot bolstered by dark and unwavering moral complexity, "Inside Man" is as unsettling as it is unmissable.

Where to watch in the U.S.: Netflix

Fans of the CBS crime drama "Cold Case" will find "Unforgotten" similarly intriguing, if more emotionally captivating. Like the American series, it focuses on murder cases that took place decades in the past and have more or less been deemed unsolvable by the authorities. The victims' families remain bereft of peace or justice, as the killer is allowed to walk amongst them with relative ease — that is, until detectives Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) and Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) are put on the case.

But part of what makes "Unforgotten" so fascinating — and indeed difficult to watch at times — is how it considers the psychology of the killer as well. Creator and writer Chris Lang was drawn in by this aspect of cold cases himself, having been moved by watching criminals — who built entire lives, homes, and families during their decades of escaping justice — be brought down before the world on live television. On the other side of the law, Lang also sought to imagine detectives who handled even their suspects with genuine respect.  "Unforgotten" is often surprisingly heartfelt in this grim way, unafraid of the complicated web of emotions and people that make up the world we live in.

Where to watch in the U.S.: Amazon Prime Video, PBS Masterpiece Passport

If "Eternals" left you with the sad feeling that Richard Madden is enduring a post-"Game of Thrones" slump, then you clearly haven't seen him in Netflix's explosive crime drama series "Bodyguard." Created and written by Jed Mercurio (arguably Britain's preeminent voice in this genre, who we'll come back to further down), the series is a unique political thriller that examines themes of political violence, espionage, terrorism, and the psychological trauma they inflict from the perspective of a Protection Officer (Madden) tasked with defending the life of a Conservative MP (genre favorite Keely Hawes).

This concept excited Mercurio for its novelty, as he felt American television was largely responsible for the majority of the world's political dramas at the time. By putting Madden's character at the center of the drama, he was also able to naturally engage with issues that are deeply important to him — particularly the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, the latter of which Madden's officer served in — while raising the constant sense of physical danger in the plot. Thus, "Bodyguard" manages to be riveting and incredibly thoughtful at the same time, as it honors the real life experiences its title character represents while interrogating the political environment that made them so.

Where to watch in the U.S.: Netflix

What do you get when you give a thrilling tale by one of the world's foremost crime novelists to two of the most powerful performers to dominate both sides of the Atlantic? You get "The Night Manager."

Tom Hiddleston faces off against Hugh Laurie in the 2016 adaptation of John le Carré's 1993 novel. Laurie (who turns in a critically lauded performance as Richard Roper, an illicit weapons dealer on the brink of bringing chemical weapons into Egypt) had been trying to see an adaptation through for more than two decades, and served as an executive producer on the series. With writer David Farr and director Susanne Bier, they found ways to make the story contemporary to the late 2010s, in part by setting it in the aftermath of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.

Hiddleston's Jonathan Pine (scarred by both events he experienced around the revolution and fighting for the British army in the Iraq War) is the unassuming "Night Manager" of an upscale Egyptian hotel where Laurie's Roper feels safe. He is thus urged to redeem his soul by assisting a British foreign affairs officer (Olivia Coleman) with building a case against Roper — requiring him to go in deep cover as Roper's confidante. The ensemble cast was praised for their work, with Laurie, Hiddleston, and Coleman all receiving Emmy Award nominations and taking home Golden Globes. If you enjoy tense thrills carried by textured performances, "The Night Manager" won't disappoint.

Where to watch in the U.S.: Hulu, Prime Video

Stellan Skarsgård is one of the most enchanting actors to watch on-screen, making "River" an unexpected gift for his fans. This subversive police procedural stars Skarsgård as the titular detective, whose complicated casework is made all the more difficult by tragedy-induced hallucinations that threaten his career and sanity. The Swedish actor had been offered several procedurals in the past, declining to be involved with any because they "bore the s**t out of [him]" (as he told The Guardian).

He was, however, almost immediately pulled in by the psychological drama that underpins this show's story. Creator and writer Abi Morgan wrote a series that was unusual to Skarsgård, and she hoped it would be unusual to audiences familiar with the police procedural subgenre as well. By portraying the protagonist's fragility in such a vivid way, she aimed to mine a universal experience which she could then present in a world that is normally inhabited by impenetrably stoic heroes and villains.

"River" has received widespread acclaim from fans and critics, particularly for its writing. At just six episodes, it's the perfect British crime drama for anyone seeking the maximum amount of narrative satisfaction at the lowest level of commitment.

Where to watch in the U.S.: Prime Video, BritBox

One could argue most crime dramas are less about the crimes and more about the people solving them — that has never been more true than for "Criminal Record," a tight but jaw-dropping series starring Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo as warring detectives. When an anonymous tip leads a novice investigator (Jumbo) to believe that one of her senior officers (Capaldi) may have sent the wrong man to prison for murder, they push each other to the limits of morality and legality in pursuit of their own truth.

Creator Paul Rutman devised the plot specifically for his stars, telling reporters that it naturally came together when he imagined how they might antagonize and, eventually, learn from one another. With this in mind, he was able to craft a morally grey saga that shed notions of absolute right and wrong in favor of examinations of why humans react the way they do when their sense of truth is threatened.

Where to watch in the U.S.: AppleTV+

Part-cop drama, part-fantasy mystery, "Life on Mars" is the odd man out on this list. Unlike its peers in the crime genre, "Mars" bends reality by sending its hero Sam Tyler (John Simm, best known to American viewers as one of the Masters on "Doctor Who") back several decades in time so that he can experience what policing was like in 1973.

Though the episodes do play out like a bizarre, crook-of-the-week police procedural (with the setting providing ample room for satire and exaggeration), the core mystery of how and why Sam was sent back in time give the entire series (and its equally twisty sequel "Ashes to Ashes") the pacing and tone of sci-fi thriller. If you're partial to mind-bending-ly unpredictable stories, "Life on Mars" is the program for you.

Where to watch in the U.S.: BritBox

Allan Cubitt's "The Fall" excels beyond what most killer crime dramas achieve because it shifts emphasis away from the "who" completely toward the "why" and "how." In one half of the story, we follow Gillian Anderson as an investigator attempting to bring a serial killer in Belfast, Ireland to justice — in the other half, we follow that very killer played by Jamie Dornan, whose eerily normal life serves as cover for his murderous impulses.

Cubitt and Dornan both see "The Fall" as a study of men, describing the latter's Paul Spector as something of an extrapolation on toxic male behavior that already exists in the real world. "[The show] suggests that there's a continuity between all kinds of male behavior and what Spector is doing..." Cubitt told Collider. "He's very much an ordinary man, and that is disconcerting for people." Meanwhile, the "Fifty Shades" star has praised Cubitt for giving him a character with so much darkness and history to untangle, and has further described "The Fall" as the highpoint of his career.

Where to watch in the U.S.: Tubi, Prime Video, and Brit Box

If you can stomach plots so imaginatively and intricately gruesome they almost belong to the horror genre, "Luther" is a top-tier crime thriller as well-crafted as it is relentless. Idris Elba leads the series as the titular character, an on-the-edge Chief Inspector who's as attracted to dark forces as he is dedicated to stopping them.

Creator Neil Cross was approached by the BBC at a time when forensic dramas were dominant to the point of over-saturating the market, each new variation using up one of the few twists that remained for the subgenre. Cross, meanwhile, had gained something of a reputation for telling shocking crime-related stories thanks to his MI5 thriller "Spooks," which infamously featured perhaps the most upsetting torture scene in media history. His capacity for writing dramatically-earned darkness is what makes "Luther" unimpeachable, despite its subject matter. All five seasons are psychologically arresting, and the follow-up feature film delivers everything fans could hope for and more (read our full review here).

Where to watch in the U.S.: Netflix

One of the most popular crime dramas of the 21st century, "Sherlock" was a global phenomenon when it aired throughout the 2010s, making stars of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman while updating the classic character's mythos for a new generation. Creator Steven Moffat reimagines him as an enigmatic and chaotic crime solver, whose antisocial traits are even more alienating in modern-day London.

Though the series certainly had its highs and lows, "Sherlock" was more often than not blockbuster television you couldn't ignore. Especially in its reviving of plot points such as the character's demise at Reichenbach Falls, the series decisively proved that Sherlock Holmes can be just as enthralling now as he was when he was kept between the pages of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels. There hasn't been a show like it since and its greatest episodes are still well-worth watching at present, especially given that they showcase some of Cumberbatch's greatest performances to date.

Where to watch in the U.S.: Hulu, PBS Masterpiece Passport

As brutal as it is beautiful, "Happy Valley" is a grounded and unapologetically visceral program that doesn't shy from the realities of law enforcement. Creator, writer-director, and showrunner Sally Wainwright feels her show stands apart from others in the crime procedural genre for portraying police work with accuracy. "One of the unique things about 'Happy Valley' is that we do have advisors on board, and they're a part of the process right from the beginning, right from the word 'go,'" she told Variety.

Another core aspect of "Happy Valley's" DNA is its decision to have a psychologically complex woman (Sarah Lancashire) leading the plot, which has earned it comparisons to HBO's "Mare of Easttown." These comparisons do a disservice to Wainwright's singularly urgent storytelling — as well as the series' fully realized ensemble, all of whom rank among the best-written characters in the crime genre at large.

Where to watch in the U.S.: AMC+

Adapting Mick Herron's beloved and ongoing novels, "Slow Horses" follows the most dysfunctional and untrustworthy agents of MI5, led by a famously farting Gary Oldman. Creator and showrunner Will Smith has described the show as a combination between his previous political workplace sitcom "The Thick of It" and the 2011 spy thriller "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy." Smith has customarily been partial to injecting serious material and subject matter with comedic beats (he also worked on both "Succession" and "VEEP" at HBO), as he feels it gives the world of the series and its characters a more realistic tone.

As of writing, Herron's ninth novel in the series "Clown Town" is preparing for publication; Smith, meanwhile, has commitments to AppleTV+ for two more seasons, which will cover through the events of "Slough House." Neither they nor Oldman show any signs of slowing down any time soon. "Gary openly says, 'I'm happy to keep doing this for the rest of my career,'" Smith told the Television Academy in 2024. Given how it manages to be one of the funniest and intellectually satisfying shows produced in any country over the past few years, we sure hope these horses are in it for the long haul.

Where to watch in the U.S.: AppleTV+

Created and written by "Bodyguard" creator Jed Mercurio, "Line of Duty" is an ambitious procedural that showcases a side of law enforcement we rarely see (especially not in a positive light) on American television — Internal Affairs. Scottish actor Martin Compston plays a police officer working within an anti-corruption taskforce to investigate instances of police misconduct, including on-the-job murder.

Mercurio has noted how unusual it was at the time for a series to be entirely about police corruption, but wanted to craft his series without trying to hide or otherwise water down its subject matter. That said, he further explained he sought to avoid any of the characters coming across "out-and-out villains," hoping to divide the audience somewhat over whether or not they felt an officer was truly in the wrong. Through this lens, "Line of Duty" completely disrupts the conventions of the tried and tired police procedural, building on its framework something entirely new and uniquely compelling.

Where to watch in the U.S.: Peacock, BritBox, Hulu, Prime Video

If "Broadchurch" seems strangely familiar to American readers, it may be because of the underwhelming U.S. remake "Gracepoint." But while both series feature David Tennant in the leading role and share some basic plot elements and themes, they could not be more different in terms of execution.

Chris Chibnall's "Broadchurch" is a feat of storytelling that was at the forefront of Britain's crime drama scene in the 2010s, wielding heavy, controversial themes with immense care. Tennant and Olivia Coleman play small-town detectives, wading through the often dubious testimonies and volatile behaviors of an almost conspiratorial citizenry. Though each season introduces a new overarching case for them to solve, the initial mystery of a young child's murder haunts the entirety of the series. Chibnall was cautious of using such loaded storylines as mere dramatic fodder, and thus goes to great lengths to remind the audience that these tragedies aren't just the work of crime fiction. "At every point in 'Broadchurch' you're continually told and pulled back into the emotional cost," he told Den of Geek. "All throughout I was trying to say that nobody gets let off the hook in Broadchurch."

For those who have already seen "Broadchurch" but are searching for a similar experience, there are many shows quite similar to it that are definitely worth watching. For everyone else, "Broadchurch" is a must-watch mystery series that gives its characters just as much if not greater emphasis than it does its provocative story.

Where to watch in the U.S.: Peacock, PBS Masterpiece Passport, Prime Video