Anti-corruption units, island murders, an opera-loving Oxford inspector, a Manchester criminal psychologist and a Birmingham crime family: British television's crime dramas meet here. Which one is the best? Cast your vote.
1Line of DutyA tense anti-corruption police procedural following AC-12 as they investigate bent coppers across six gripping seasons.1000pts
2Prime SuspectHelen Mirren stars as DCI Jane Tennison, a trailblazing female detective fighting sexism within the Metropolitan Police.875pts
3EndeavourA prequel to Inspector Morse, following the young detective constable's early career in 1960s Oxford.643pts
4Midsomer MurdersA long-running whodunit set in the deceptively idyllic English county of Midsomer, where murder is disturbingly common.642pts
5BroadchurchA small seaside town is torn apart by the murder of a young boy, investigated by two mismatched detectives.577pts
6VeraBrenda Blethyn plays the gruff but astute DCI Vera Stanhope, solving murders across the Northumberland coast.500pts
7Silent WitnessA team of forensic pathologists uncovers the truth behind suspicious deaths in this long-running procedural.500pts
8Happy ValleySarah Lancashire plays a West Yorkshire police sergeant confronting the man responsible for her daughter's death.409pts
9TaggartOne of British television's longest-running crime dramas, following Glasgow detectives across three decades of cases.409pts
10A Touch of FrostDavid Jason stars as the rumpled, irreverent Detective Inspector Jack Frost in this beloved long-running series.409pts
11UnforgottenA cold case squad reopens decades-old murders, unraveling the buried secrets of ordinary people's pasts.409pts
12ShetlandDI Jimmy Perez investigates murders amid the stark, atmospheric landscapes of Scotland's Shetland Islands.300pts
13SherlockBenedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman modernize Arthur Conan Doyle's detective duo for 21st-century London.300pts
14LutherIdris Elba stars as a brilliant, morally compromised London detective who understands killers better than they understand themselves.300pts
15CrackerRobbie Coltrane plays a brilliant but self-destructive criminal psychologist who helps Manchester police crack difficult cases.0pts
16Inspector MorseJohn Thaw stars as the cerebral, opera-loving Oxford detective in this landmark classic of British crime television.0pts
17The FallGillian Anderson plays a London detective superintendent hunting a serial killer in Belfast in this tense psychological thriller.0pts
18Peaky BlindersBBC drama from 2013 to 2022 about the Shelby crime family in Birmingham after the First World War, starring Cillian Murphy.
19BodyguardJed Mercurio's 2018 BBC thriller starring Richard Madden as a police bodyguard protecting the Home Secretary.
Photo credits
- Peaky Blinders poster — BBC / Caryn Mandabach Productions, rights holder
- Bodyguard poster — BBC / World Productions, rights holder



























