From "baffling lingo" to "bowler hats", there's something "simultaneously engrossing and comforting" about watching detectives on the small screen, said Variety. British crime dramas benefit from "top-flight production values", "crackling casts" and "clever writing", making these series a "bingeing delight". Here are some of the best.
Get Millie Black
Booker-prize-winning novelist Marlon James's first television drama is an "impressive piece of work", said Carol Midgley in The Times. The action follows Millie-Jean Black (Tamara Lawrance), a Scotland Yard detective who leaves the Met and returns to Jamaica to work in the missing persons department. Much like a novel, each episode is narrated by a different character, adding to the show's "freshness and originality", and there's more story packed into the "first 300 seconds" than some series manage in an entire episode.
This English-language remake of the Welsh drama, Cleddau, is a "supremely satisfying treat", said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. A "cracking crime thriller" merged with a psychological drama, it follows two detectives (and exes) who are "forced into partnership once more" to investigate the murder of a nurse in a Cambrian seaside town. "Smartly plotted" and packed with twists, it's a gripping watch, spurred on by the "will-they-won't-they" tension between DI Ffion Lloyd (Elen Rhys) and DS Rick Shelton (Richard Harrington).
Martin Clunes is "perfectly cast" in ITV's "very watchable" crime drama "Out There", said The Telegraph. He plays Nathan, a Welsh farmer whose vulnerable son Johnny is drawn into a county-lines drug-running operation.The first episode is "slow and steady", introducing us to various characters, including Eiry Thomas as a "determined local bobby", and Gerran Howell and Carly-Sophia Davies, who play the siblings responsible for "getting Johnny involved in this mess". But over the course of the series it "ramps up to great effect, turning it into a thriller".
This "glossy" new BBC detective drama is set and filmed entirely in Bradford, said Radio Times. The action follows detective Virdee (Staz Nair) as he hunts down a killer who is targeting the city's Asian community, while struggling with his chaotic personal life. Crafted in a "meticulous manner", viewers are given an insight into each of Virdee's family members' inner worlds; it isn't easy to pack "all that richness" into just six episodes, but the series' writer A.A. Dhand "pulls it off in spectacular style". There's "no wasted dialogue" or scenes crammed with too much information. Instead, "Virdee" delivers all the "action and twists you'd expect from a high-budget blockbuster".
In this "very gentle" BBC six-parter about a puzzle creator with the pseudonym of Ludwig, David Mitchell is "as brilliantly awkward as ever", said The Guardian. He plays John, who reluctantly poses as his twin brother to find out why he has disappeared, at the request of his semi-estranged sister-in-law, Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin).
Of course, "John would no more fool James' colleagues than a stuffed rabbit would", but "Mitchell being the master of social agony", the deception "plays out as excruciatingly as you could wish". Although stressed by modern life – "Buildings, offices, computers! Everyone talking at once: moving around with no structure, no purpose!" he exclaims with Mitchell's "trademark baffled fury" – he nevertheless manages to solve murders that his twin's team are working on "thanks to his talent for puzzles and a rigorously logical mind". BBC iPlayer
Fool Me Once
Fool Me Once | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube
Harlan Coben's "Fool Me Once" topped the Netflix chart for several weeks at the start of 2024 and became one of the streaming platform's most-watched shows of all time. Michelle Keegan stars as a widow who thinks she sees her late husband in footage from their young daughter's nanny cam. The series has "wild moments that made no sense to the overall story", said The Tab, and an ending "so unpredictable my mind felt like it exploded a little", but it "kept us all on the edge of our seats". Netflix
This "extraordinary portrait" of Delia Balmer is rare, fearless and "values viewers' intelligence", said The Guardian. The "relentlessly confrontational" drama is based on the true story of Balmer's experience surviving repeated physical and sexual assaults by her boyfriend, convicted serial killer, John Sweeney. Anna Maxwell Martin delivers "the best performance of her career" as the free-spirited, socially awkward Delia. Shaun Evans as Sweeney is equally compelling, giving an "altogether terrifying" portrayal of the killer. In some ways, "Until I Kill You" is a classic domestic violence drama, but the "magnificent treatment of a damnable, unending subject" ultimately illuminates the heartbreaking experience from a fresh angle. ITVX
Slow Horses
Slow Horses — Season 4 Official Trailer | Apple TV+ - YouTube
The British spy thriller is "such a breath of fresh air in a TV landscape dotted with low-effort nonsense", said Forbes. Based on Mick Herron's "Slough House" series, the "masterful" drama follows a team of dysfunctional MI5 agents, led by the iconic Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman). A thriller at heart, "Slow Horses" can also be "so funny, so suspenseful and so emotionally poignant all at once". The fourth season begins with David Cartwright (Jonathan Pryce), former MI5 heavyweight, succumbing increasingly to dementia, while Lamb is dealing with a London bomb. The show is "swaggering and well-defined", said The Independent, and across-the-board stand-out performances "make this one of the best series on TV". Apple TV+
"Baby Reindeer" has become a phenomenon since its Netflix debut, and is now one of the streaming platform's most watched shows ever. The series focuses on bartender and aspiring comedian Donny Dunn (Richard Gadd) who inadvertently becomes the subject of stalking and obsession by Martha Scott (Jessica Gunning) after he offers her a free cup of tea out of sympathy. The series is "darker and more disturbing" than suggested by its "trailers and marketing", said Forbes. At its core, it tackles difficult issues including sexual abuse, victimhood and mental health, and its claim to be a true story has caused real-life dramas outside the series. Be warned, said Kain, "it's not an easy watch". Netflix
"The publicity made this one sound like a standard police procedural, with added water," said The Guardian, but it soon "gets really good". In the aftermath of a river bursting its banks, a murder mystery unfolds "sparked by the discovery of a man's body in a lift in an underground car park". At first presumed trapped by floodwater, the post mortem revealed that he died at least three days before that. Out to investigate is Jo (Sophie Rundle), a heavily pregnant police officer who "races against the clock to solve the murder case before her baby arrives", said Radio Times. "You'll want to stick around to find out how this messy business concludes." ITVX
Making his directorial debut, Michael Sheen also stars in this three-part drama, set in "his beloved hometown of Port Talbot", said the Mirror. The "dystopian drama" is the tale of a Welsh family forced to flee their small town for the English coast following civil unrest, originally broadcast "just weeks after real-life demonstrations" after Tata Steel announced its closure. Adding to the narrative is "skilfully used" archive footage. The first episode is "different and fresh", said The Guardian, with a "slightly dreamlike (or nightmarish) off-kilter quality" that "surely makes you sit up and take notice". BBC iPlayer
Criminal Record
Criminal Record — Official Trailer | Apple TV+ - YouTube
In his 40-year acting career, Peter Capaldi had "never played a cop – until now", said The Independent. His turn in "Criminal Record", a drama based on two warring detectives, "feels worth the wait", and is "elevated by an equally impressive performance from Cush Jumbo that matches his intensity exactly". In a "cosier police procedural, this pairing might have ended up as an 'odd couple' detective duo". But this eight-part thriller, which explores institutional racism, sexism and malpractice in the Metropolitan Police, is "definitely not that show: it's much nastier and, therefore, much more realistic". Apple TV+
Explore More
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Adrienne Wyper has been a freelance sub-editor and writer for The Week's website and magazine since 2015. As a travel and lifestyle journalist, she has also written and edited for other titles including BBC Countryfile, British Travel Journal, Coast, Country Living, Country Walking, Good Housekeeping, The Independent, The Lady and Woman’s Own.
5 unlawfully funny cartoons about the Executive vs the Judiciary
What is the the Mar-a-Lago accord?
Facebook: Sarah Wynn-Williams' shocking exposé
Museum exhibitions across the globe are in artful bloom this spring. These are 5 to experience.
25 things Andrew Tate has said about women
10 concert tours to see this spring
TV to watch in March, including 'The Studio' and 'Paul American'
Movies to watch in March, including 'Mickey 17' and 'The Woman in the Yard'
Meghan Markle's new Netflix show and the media backlash
Will Amazon destroy James Bond?
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
