Ignore the Americans: these are the real 20 best British crime dramas

There are few things we enjoy more than lightly mocking our American cousins but last week’s appalling US list of the best British TV crime dramas took the biscuit. Or should that be cookie? It wasn’t so much a laughing matter as an outrage sufficient to cause a diplomatic incident.

Hollywood bible Variety published a top 20 which beggared belief. Not only did it peddle some tired stereotypes – bowler hats and cravats indeed – but their selection was bafflingly off-beam. Nothing made before 2010, really? Traces and Vigil above Giri/Haji and Sherlock, are you kidding? Surely Bodyguard was a political thriller, rather than a crime drama? Don’t even get us started on the inclusion of the deeply forgettable The Stranger and DCI Banks among the all-time top 20. Both would struggle to scrape into a sane person’s top 100.

As a rebuttal, we’ve compiled our own selection. There’s the odd overlap with Variety’s but it’s an altogether more discerning countdown. Honourable mentions for Ripper Street, Strike, The Fall, New Tricks, Vera, Foyle's War, Waking the Dead and Juliet Bravo, which narrowly missed our cut. Sorry, DCI Banks, you won’t be required for this investigation…

20. Bergerac (1981-1991)

Unorthodox detective Jim Bergerac (John Nettles) was a recovering alcoholic, trying to rebuild his career at Jersey police force’s Le Bureau des étrangers. Entertaining escapades ensued. Cracking theme tune, too. Nettles would later dust off his warrant card for the rather more sedate Midsomer Murders.
Watch it on: BritBox

19. Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes (2006-2010)

It started as a spoof of The Sweeney but the time-travelling police procedural turned into something more profound. Cops Sam Tyler (John Simm) and, later, Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) were whisked in time back to work alongside the amusingly unreconstructed DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister). A third and final series is in the pipeline.
Watch it on: BritBox

18. Between the Lines (1992-1994)

Two decades before Line of Duty, Tony Garnett’s World Productions made this Bafta-winning police corruption drama. Neil Pearson starred as DSI Tony Clark, an ambitious member of the Met’s internal investigations bureau, rooting out wrong’uns – who included his own superiors.
Watch it on: BritBox

17. River (2015)

It only ran for one series, but what a series. Abi Morgan’s imaginatively creepy drama followed DI John River (Stellan Skarsg?rd), investigating crimes while haunted by “manifestations” of his recently murdered colleague (Nicola Walker). A poignant study of grief and guilt, wrapped up in a gripping whodunnit.
Watch it on: BritBox

16. Luther (2010-2019)

A worthy post-The Wire turn for Idris Elba, who swaggered across the screen as DCI John Luther. He obsessively hunted down a host of killers but was never better than when facing his nemesis-cum-love interest, psychopath Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson). He dons that grey overcoat again next year for a film spin-off.
Watch it on: BBC iPlayer

15. Scott & Bailey (2011-2016)

The Mancunian Cagney and Lacey, anyone? Writer Sally Wainwright’s underrated series chronicled the personal and professional lives of DC Janet Scott (Lesley Sharp) and DI Rachel Bailey (Suranne Jones). Grippingly plotted, impeccably performed and an all-too-rare depiction of female friendship in the workplace.
Watch it on: ITVX

14. Giri/Haji (2019)

A sleeper hit on BBC Two which then found a wider audience on Netflix, this stunningly original series followed a Tokyo detective landing in London to search for his missing gangster brother, bringing him into conflict with the criminal underworld in both cities. Darkly witty, visually stylish and utterly distinctive.
Watch it on: Netflix

13. Miss Marple (1984-1992)

Agatha Christie gave her seal of approval to Joan Hickson’s portrayal of her spinster sleuth from St Mary Mead in the BBC’s classy and faithful adaptations. Later incumbents Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie did a decent job but it was Hickson’s bird-like, intelligently watchful portrayal that sticks in the memory.
Watch it on: BritBox

12. Jonathan Creek (1997-2016)

The closest thing to a British version of Columbo was writer David Renwick’s delicious crime caper. Alan Davies played the titular magician’s consultant, using his knowledge of illusions to solve seemingly impossible crimes. His original and best sidekick was Caroline Quentin’s pushy investigative reporter. Just one more thing…
Watch it on: BritBox

11. Taggart (1985-2010)

It takes a robust show to survive the loss of its title character. Yet that's what happened with the Strathclyde CID drama, which carried on for another 16 years after the death of leading man Mark McManus, aka tough-talking DCI Jim Taggart. Its resilience made it British TV's longest-running crime drama. Altogether now: "There's been a murr-duh."
Watch it on: UKTV Player

10. Broadchurch (2013-2017)

Who killed 11-year-old Danny Latimer, found dead at the foot of a Dorset cliff? That riddle gripped the nation in this Scandi-tinged ensemble drama. Two follow-ups never hit the heights of the original but as a portrayal of the impact of grief, mutual suspicion and media attention on a close-knit community, it was terrific.
Watch it on: ITVX

9. Unforgotten (2015-present)

This slow-burning gem follows DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) and DI Sunil Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) as they investigate haunting cold cases. It will be fascinating to see how the show copes with Walker’s departure for the fifth series in early 2023, with Sinéad Keenan replacing her as Sunny’s partner.
Watch it on: ITVX

8. Poirot (1989-2013)

Picture Hercule Poirot and it’s hard not to picture David Suchet’s definitive portrayal of Agatha Christie’s fastidious Belgian sleuth, all eccentric mannerisms and “little grey cells”. He stood in those polished patent shoes for an impressive 24 years, during which ITV adapted all of Christie’s major Poirot mysteries.
Watch it on: ITVX

7. Happy Valley (2014-present)

Sally Wainwright’s second creation in our top 20 follows Sgt Catherine Cawood (the magnificent Sarah Lancashire) as she fights to keep her family together in Yorkshire’s crime-ridden Calder Valley. The third chapter arrives on New Year’s Day, promising a final reckoning between Cawood and her nemesis, Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton).
Watch it on: BBC iPlayer

6. Line of Duty (2012-present)

Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee donkey. Jed Mercurio’s immersively tense drama about anti-corruption unit AC-12 has become a national talking point across the course of its six series. But will there be a seventh? It’a mystery to rival the identity of bent copper kingpin “H”…
Watch it on: BBC iPlayer

5. The Sweeney (1975-1978)

“Get your trousers on, you’re nicked.” The trailblazing drama followed the Met’s Flying Squad (“Sweeney Todd in Cockney rhyming slang). Guv’nor DI Jack Regan (John Thaw) and sidekick DS George Carter (Dennis Waterman) kicked down doors and collared criminals in thrillingly gritty, pacey style.
Watch it on: ITVX

4. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes/Sherlock (1984-1994, 2010-2017)

Cheating slightly, perhaps, but they’re both the same high-functioning sleuth. Jeremy Brett’s electrifying eccentric in the period Granada series was the definitive TV portrayal of Conan Doyle’s consulting detective. For the next generation, it was flowing-coated misfit Benedict Cumberbatch in the BBC’s hit reboot.
Watch it on: ITVX/BBC iPlayer

3. Cracker (1993-2006)

“I drink too much, I smoke too much, I gamble too much. I am too much.” Still, in Jimmy McGovern's gripping series, psychological profiler Fitz (the late Robbie -Coltrane) had an -uncanny knack not just for deducing whodunnit but delving into their mind to work out whydunnit.
Watch it on: ITVX

2. Inspector Morse (1987-2000)

John Thaw’s second entry in our top five found him cruising around -Oxford in a vintage Jag, listening to opera, solving cryptic crosswords, supping real ale - oh, and solving murders in satisfyingly erudite style. Of its subsequent spin-offs, prequel Endeavour is superior to the plodding Lewis.
Watch it on: ITVX

1. Prime Suspect (1991-2006)

With her alcoholism and doomed love-life, Lynda La Plante’s anti-heroine DCI Jane Tennison was a flawed figure. Brought to life by the mighty Helen Mirren, she was all the more magnetic for it. In the male-dominated Met, she fought her way up the ladder by solving grisly murders. Don’t call her “Ma’am”, call her “Guv”.
Watch it on: ITVX