Crime Not Punishment: How UK Police Thrillers Became Essential Viewing 

Some of the best-reviewed drama anywhere in recent years has been police procedurals. Think about Happy Valley, with Sarah Lancashire (Black Doves, When Did You Last See Your Father?, The Accident) starring as a weary policewoman juggling a turbulent personal life and the everyday chaos of police work with a complex kidnapping. Similar cat-and-mouse games between cops and criminals played out in The Fall, which had Gillian Anderson (Sex Education) trying to find a serial killer (Jamie Dornan, Belfast, The Tourist, New Worlds), and in Luther, where Idris Elba (Yardie, Hijack) is taunted by a sociopath (Ruth Wilson, His Dark Materials, How to Talk to Girls at Parties).  

Another huge hit was Line of Duty, starring Adrian Dunbar (Emily, The Secret Scripture) as the head of an anti-corruption unit within the police itself. If that left you wishing Dunbar would keep solving crime to retirement and beyond, try Ridley, where he’s a retired copper brought back in on tricky cases as a consulting detective (yes, just like Sherlock). If you want more from his Line of Duty co-star Vicky McClure, check out Trigger Point, where she heads up a police bomb disposal unit and deals with a literal ticking clock almost every episode. 

Chances are that you also enjoyed the four-part limited series Adolescence – and if you haven’t, you need to catch up. That made jaws drop worldwide not only with its impressive use of single camera shots lasting an entire episode – something of a trademark for director Philip Barantini (Boiling Point) – but also for its gripping, meticulous depiction of the arrest and processing of a young suspect and the ripple effects on his community. There’s a similarly close-focused, granular approach in Criminal: UK, which takes place almost entirely in police interrogation rooms,  

Another worldwide hit of recent years is Broadchurch, starring David Tennant (Good Omens, Doctor Who) and Olivia Colman (The Favourite, The Crown) as uneasy partners trying to solve the murder of a young boy in a small seaside town. You could stick with Tennant, now a murder suspect, in Deadwater Fell. Or there are other small town deaths to solve in Grantchester too, but there the clergy get involved, led by vicar Sidney Chambers (James Norton, War & Peace, Mr Jones).  

If you enjoyed the Celtic flavour of Dept. Q, good news! There’s lots more where that came from. You could stay in Scotland with Dalgliesh, about a brilliant detective in the 1970s, with Bertie Carvel (The Crown, The Sister) in the title role, or head up to Aberdeen for Granite Harbour, with police trying to solve the murder of an oil tycoon. From Wales, you can try Hinterland, a Welsh-set and partially Welsh language mystery set around Aberystwyth. Northern Ireland is represented by Hope Street, a warm-hearted depiction of small-town policing, and Blue Lights, the story of a gang of rookie police officers trying to figure out their jobs amid sectarian tensions in Belfast. 

For those who prefer something with a historical twist, Ripper Street is the obvious place to start, where Matthew McFadyen (Pride & Prejudice, Spooks) heads up a police force still haunted by their failure to catch Jack the Ripper in late 19th century London. Alternatively check out Miss Scarlet, about a lady detective in the Victorian era. You could then travel to the 1970s with the time-travelling police drama of Life on Mars. A good companion piece for that is Steeltown Murders: they share a star in Philip Glenister, but in the latter piece he plays the modern-day incarnation of a young detective who was unable to solve a serial murder case in the 1970s, until modern DNA evidence became available. The past haunts Sherwood too, with David Morrissey (Prime Target, The Missing) working on a case shaped by the fall out of the miner’s strikes of the 1980s. 

If you like warring detectives, try Criminal Record starring Peter Capaldi (The Thick of It, Benediction) and Cush Jumbo (Deadwater Fell). For detectives thrust into a new environment and trying to figure out who to trust, you could try DI Ray with Parminder Nagra (Bend It Like Beckham) out of her comfort zone, or follow a detective back to Kingston, Jamaica, in Get Millie Black, or watch a young hotshot (Holiday Grainger, C B Strike) tackle conspiracies in The Capture. For perhaps the most tormented detective on the list, watch Anna Friel (Butterfly) in Marcella; but Nabhaan Rizwan’s Raza is having an even worse time when he’s coerced into working for the police in dark drama Informer, while the bereaved father at the heart of Suspect is suffering perhaps more than any of them. 

And that’s not even touching the police movies like See How They Run, or Blue Story, or Filth, or Hot Fuzz, or Medusa Deluxe. You could play detective yourself with the game Murder Mystery Machine when you’ve learned every possible motive and clue in murder mystery history. 

It’s a selection that runs the gamut from broad comedy and cosy family mystery into the darkest corners of the psyche, but it’s all fascinating, riveting stuff. Just don’t watch so much that you lose all faith in humanity and remember: wherever there’s a crime, there’s a detective just waiting to make things all right again.