# What is the best British crime drama of all time?

> From tense anti-corruption thrillers to atmospheric island whodunits, these detectives range from opera-loving Oxford dons to hard-bitten Manchester psychologists. Cast your vote for the definitive British sleuth saga.

*By YPB Team · Published August 12, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-british-crime-drama-of-all-time*

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## Current results (3 votes)

1. **Line of Duty** — 66.67% (2 votes · score 1000/1000)
   A tense anti-corruption police procedural following AC-12 as they investigate bent coppers across six gripping seasons.
2. **Prime Suspect** — 33.33% (1 votes · score 875/1000)
   Helen Mirren stars as DCI Jane Tennison, a trailblazing female detective fighting sexism within the Metropolitan Police.
3. **Endeavour** — 0% (0 votes · score 643/1000)
   A prequel to Inspector Morse, following the young detective constable's early career in 1960s Oxford.
4. **Midsomer Murders** — 0% (0 votes · score 642/1000)
   A long-running whodunit set in the deceptively idyllic English county of Midsomer, where murder is disturbingly common.
5. **Broadchurch** — 0% (0 votes · score 577/1000)
   A small seaside town is torn apart by the murder of a young boy, investigated by two mismatched detectives.
6. **Vera** — 0% (0 votes · score 500/1000)
   Brenda Blethyn plays the gruff but astute DCI Vera Stanhope, solving murders across the Northumberland coast.
7. **Silent Witness** — 0% (0 votes · score 500/1000)
   A team of forensic pathologists uncovers the truth behind suspicious deaths in this long-running procedural.
8. **Happy Valley** — 0% (0 votes · score 409/1000)
   Sarah Lancashire plays a West Yorkshire police sergeant confronting the man responsible for her daughter's death.
9. **Taggart** — 0% (0 votes · score 409/1000)
   One of British television's longest-running crime dramas, following Glasgow detectives across three decades of cases.
10. **A Touch of Frost** — 0% (0 votes · score 409/1000)
   David Jason stars as the rumpled, irreverent Detective Inspector Jack Frost in this beloved long-running series.
11. **Unforgotten** — 0% (0 votes · score 409/1000)
   A cold case squad reopens decades-old murders, unraveling the buried secrets of ordinary people's pasts.
12. **Shetland** — 0% (0 votes · score 300/1000)
   DI Jimmy Perez investigates murders amid the stark, atmospheric landscapes of Scotland's Shetland Islands.
13. **Sherlock** — 0% (0 votes · score 300/1000)
   Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman modernize Arthur Conan Doyle's detective duo for 21st-century London.
14. **Luther** — 0% (0 votes · score 300/1000)
   Idris Elba stars as a brilliant, morally compromised London detective who understands killers better than they understand themselves.
15. **Cracker** — 0% (0 votes · score 167/1000)
   Robbie Coltrane plays a brilliant but self-destructive criminal psychologist who helps Manchester police crack difficult cases.
16. **Inspector Morse** — 0% (0 votes · score 167/1000)
   John Thaw stars as the cerebral, opera-loving Oxford detective in this landmark classic of British crime television.
17. **The Fall** — 0% (0 votes · score 167/1000)
   Gillian Anderson plays a London detective superintendent hunting a serial killer in Belfast in this tense psychological thriller.

Tags: tv shows, crime, british, mystery, detective