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Suburræterna
Serving as a sequel to the “immensely successful” three-season “Suburra: Blood on Rome”, said TickerTV, Netflix’s spin-off series continues the “gripping” and “gritty” storyline of the Italian capital’s criminal underworld. “Spiritually”, said Johnny Loftus on Decider, “Subterraeterna” has picked up right where “Suburra” left off. It extends the “Suburra” universe in “typically entertaining fashion”, with lots of testing of family bonds, bold action on lasting vendettas, and an “overarching stretch of political theatre that reaches all the way into the Vatican”. The city of Rome feels like it’s “about to explode”. Where to watch: Netflix
Irvine Welsh’s Crime
It’s another “cheery tale of sex, drugs, death and madness”, said Alison Rowat in The Herald, as Irvine Welsh’s “Crime” returns for a second season. Playing the lead role of DI Ray Lennox, Dougray Scott is the “best thing” in this Edinburgh-set thriller, “as he was in the first run”. Fans of “gritty storytelling” and “powerhouse performances” should turn to “Crime”, said Anthony Morris on SBS. But “don’t let the generic title fool you”. With a story by “Trainspotting” author Welsh and with Scott in the lead, there’s “more to this TV series than meets the eye”. Where to watch: ITVX
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Shetland
Described by the BBC as the “dark side of one of the most beautiful places on earth”, Scottish crime drama “Shetland” is back for an eighth season and sees Ashley Jensen lead the cast as DI Ruth Calder, following the departure of DI Jimmy Perez (played by Douglas Henshall). Jensen’s arrival proves the hit crime drama “doesn’t need a leading man”, said Jack Seale in The Guardian, especially when paired with the “brilliant” Alison O’Donnell, who plays DI “Tosh” McIntosh. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Bodies
Starring “everyone’s fave” Stephen Graham, said Furvah Shah in Cosmopolitan, Netflix’s new crime and sci-fi series “Bodies” is “seriously mindblowing”. It follows “four detectives from different time periods” who discover the exact same body in Whitechapel, east London, and they begin to “unravel a disturbing conspiracy spanning decades and have to try to work together to solve the murder”. An adaptation of the late Si Spencer’s graphic novel from 2015, this “genre-blurring whodunnit” is “exceptionally good value”, said Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian. It will leave viewers “wanting more and more (and more)”. Where to watch: Netflix
Lupin
French language mystery thriller “Lupin” has returned for a third series. Inspired by the adventures of Arsène Lupin, the hit show created by British writer George Kay stars Omar Sy as Assane Diop, Netflix’s “most suave gentleman thief”, said Morgan Jeffery on RadioTimes.com. The first series of “Lupin” was one of the most successful ever on Netflix and part three is the “boldest and bloodiest yet”, said Leila Latif in The Guardian. “Super-suave” lead Sy is “such a born action star” that “he could be the next Bond”. Where to watch: Netflix
Top Boy
The final series of “Top Boy“, Netflix’s hit London street crime drama, has “gone down well with TV critics”, said Paul Glynn on the BBC. This series picks up where the last left off: with the murder of an upstart who had been tipped to take over the drugs empire presided over by gangster Dushane (played by Ashley Walters). Now, Dushane faces further problems with the arrival of a crew of fearsome Irish gangsters (led by Brian Gleeson and Barry Keoghan). At just six episodes, season three is a “frenetic final outing”, said Morgan Jeffery on RadioTimes. The swan song is “pacy and powerful”, but “leaves you wanting more”. Where to watch: Netflix
Gangs of Oslo
(Image credit: Netflix)
What else does Netflix “have up its sleeve” to fill the void left by “Top Boy”, asked Paul Speed on The Mirror. Well, “look no further” than Norwegian crime drama “Gangs of Oslo”, called “Blodsbrødre”. This show is a “rare breed indeed” – it’s both “hard-hitting” yet “uniquely vulnerable in equal measure”. Watch “Gangs of Oslo” now, said Ricky Gervais on X, it’s “my favourite series of the year” and “up there” with “Gomorrah” and “4 Blocks”. It’s like a “Scandi” version of “The Wire”. Where to watch: Netflix
Hijack
This “intense” Apple TV+ series is set in “real time”, said Alan Sepinwall in Rolling Stone, and sees Idris Elba’s “ace negotiator” navigate a hijacked flight from Dubai to London. Created by George Kay (“Lupin”) and Jim Field Smith (“Litvinenko”), “Hijack” is “no-frills fun”, said Angie Han in The Hollywood Reporter. Its premise is “as straightforward as its title”, and were it not for, “you know, its terror-at-35,000-feet concept”, the “24”-style seven-hour miniseries would be the “TV equivalent” of a classic plane read: “slick, exciting, unfussy”. As it stands, it’s “ideal for a lazy weekend planted firmly on the couch”. Where to watch: Apple TV+
Wolf
Based on the book by Mo Hayder, “Wolf” is easily “the most harrowing thing I’ve had to watch” in years, said Sean O’Grady in The Independent. The drama centres around Jack Caffery (Ukweli Roach), a young detective haunted by his brother’s abduction when they were children. As he tries to get to the bottom of what happened, he gets entangled in the kidnap and torture of a well-off family at their Welsh holiday home. “Appalling violence of an apparently motiveless kind is a leitmotif”, but the series is worth sticking with – provided “you’ve the stomach for a fright”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Annika
The second series of this Scottish cop drama sees the “excellent” Nicola Walker return as “wry” homicide detective Annika Strandhed, said Phil Harrison in The Guardian. Inspired by BBC Radio 4’s audio drama “Annika Stranded”, the show revolves around the fictional Glasgow-based “Marine Homicide Unit”, said Patrick Cremona on RadioTimes.com, who are “tasked with solving various gory crimes”. Where to watch: Alibi
The Sixth Commandment
Starring Timothy Spall and Anne Reid, this four-part true crime drama on the BBC explores the deaths of Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, and the events that unfolded over the following years. Screenwriter Sarah Phelps gives a “rigorously respectful retelling” of the true story of the victims and their connection to murderer Ben Field, said Ed Power in The Daily Telegraph. Made with the blessing of the families, this series “refuses to be dazzled” by its killer – and “never forgets his victims”. It’s “hard to imagine” better television – “more dignified, more noticing” – than “The Sixth Commandment”, said Rachel Cooke in The Observer, and Spall’s “extraordinary” performance “lifts” it to a “different level”. Even “if you hate” true crime, you should watch. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Steeltown Murders
Philip Glenister (“Life On Mars”) and Steffan Rhodri (“Gavin & Stacey”) lead the cast of the BBC’s latest “prestige drama”, said David Craig on RadioTimes. Set in both 1973 and the early 2000s, “Steeltown Murders” centres on the hunt to catch the killer of three young women in the Port Talbot area. It also tells the story of how – in the first case of its kind – the mystery was solved almost 30 years later using pioneering DNA evidence. The hunt for the “Saturday Night Strangler” could not be more “timely TV”, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. This “illuminating” four-part series and its “deep dive” into police venality “really hits a nerve”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Poker Face
Showing in the UK on Sky Max and streaming series NOW, “Poker Face” is Peacock’s “first truly great original series”, said Charles Pulliam-Moore on The Verge. Chronicling the adventures of Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), an “industrious former poker player” who is “definitely not a cop”, this series is “aflush with intrigue, great storytelling, and a constellation of knockout guest stars”. Following the success of his “Knives Out” and “Glass Onion” movies, director Rian Johnson has become “synonymous with the murder mystery genre”, said Max Covill on RogerEbert.com. And with his first television series, Johnson “pays homage” to another classic murder mystery format: “the crime-of-the-week shows that were popular in the ’70s and ‘80s”. Those shows “relied on audience connection with a charismatic crime-solving star”, and Johnson finds his in Lyonne. They make a “perfect team”. Where to watch: Sky Max and NOW
The Nurse
If you’re in the mood for a “chilling true crime drama that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end”, then look no further than The Nurse, said Morgan Cormack on RadioTimes.com. This Danish thriller has landed on Netflix and comes from the producers of another “chilling streamer hit”, The Chestnut Man. Much like The Good Nurse before it, the Scandi mini-series “dramatises the disturbing true story of one nurse’s connection to a series of deaths at her hospital and how her crimes were brought to light”, said Rebecca Cook on Digital Spy. Where to watch: Netflix
Blue Lights
The BBC’s six-part cop drama thriller is a cracker. Written by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, Blue Lights doesn’t have “a duff line or an overcooked scene”, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph. The drama centres on three rookie constables in Belfast negotiating their more experienced colleagues on one side, the city’s criminals on the other, and dodgy intelligence officers in between. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
The Night Agent
This political thriller, based on Matthew Quirk’s 2012 novel, is “propulsive, slicker-than-slick fun”, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. FBI agent Peter Sutherland (played by Gabriel Basso) saves a bunch of “ordinary joes” from a bomb on a subway train. Then he’s put on desk duties in the basement of the White House, “doing admin while he waits by a helpline phone that undercover operatives can call to let the powers-that-be know they are in trouble”. Where to watch: Netflix
Six Four
“How do you create a unique police drama nowadays?” asked Charlotta Billstrom in the Evening Standard. With the “ever-growing choice” of streaming platforms come an “equal amount of crime shows”. But this glut “isn’t necessarily a bad thing”, especially when the set up is “as juicy as the one” in Six Four. Inspired by Hideo Yokoyama’s best-selling novel by the same name and set in Glasgow, it “follows a story of corruption, kidnappings and an uncompromising search for the truth”. Kevin McKidd (Grey’s Anatomy) and Vinette Robinson (Sherlock) star. Where to watch: ITVX
A Town Called Malice
The 1980s “sound like a great time to be a criminal” – especially in the world of A Town Called Malice, said Vicky Jessop in the Evening Standard. The premise of the Sky Max show is that the police are “spectacularly incompetent”, the outfits are “fabulous” and the music is “banging”. And at the “first whiff of the law”, you can “scarper off to Spain to avoid extradition entirely”. This cocktail of crime thriller and family saga follows the Lords – a family of South London gangsters who’ve fallen to the bottom of the criminal food chain – and they’re not happy about it. Where to watch: Sky Max
Magpie Murders
Lesley Manville stars in this six-part adaptation of Anthony Horowitz’s bestselling novel about an editor of crime novels who is drawn into a real-life mystery when one of her authors is murdered. Available on BritBox in 2022, the BBC has since “snapped up” the series, said Hollie Richardson in The Guardian, “so here’s a chance to watch the first season ahead of the upcoming second”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Redemption
In this six-part crime drama set in Dublin, DI Colette Cunningham (played by Paula Malcomson) is determined to get to the truth when her long-estranged daughter is found dead. Redemption offers “all the tropes of crime drama we know and love”, said Kate Rice in the Evening Standard. While it is “by no means revolutionary”, it’s a “worthwhile contribution” to the much loved genre. Where to watch: ITVX
Unforgotten
Season five of Unforgotten was released on ITV and even without Nicola Walker, the “much-loved gaffer” who was “killed off at the end of the last series”, it is still a “cracking” crime drama, said Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian. Starring Sinéad Keenan and Sanjeev Bhaskar, Chris Lang’s show is as “taut and tense and pleasurable as ever”. Where to watch: ITVX
The Gold
BBC One’s six-part crime drama “bubbles away with the vigour of a red-hot crucible”, said Nick Hilton in The Independent. Its subject is the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery, when a gang of thieves broke into a depot near Heathrow expecting to steal £1m in foreign currency, but found £26m in gold bullion instead. The heist itself is swiftly dealt with: it’s what happened next that interests writer Neil Forsyth. The thieves turn to Kenneth Noye (Jack Lowden) to fence the gold; he enlists a smelter (Tom Cullen), a crooked businessman (Sean Harris) and a dodgy solicitor (Dominic Cooper) to help. Can they outwit the law, in the form of DCI Brian Boyce (Hugh Bonneville)? “Filled with twists and turns, and a cast who veer between likeable and villainous, The Gold is pure primetime fun.” Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Happy Valley
“Can it really be seven years” since the last season of “Happy Valley”? “It doesn’t feel that way”, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph, “and yet the sweet little boy who played Sergeant Catherine Cawood’s grandson is now a lanky teen”, and Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), who was “once a skinhead”, has spent so long in jail that he now resembles “an errant member of Aerosmith”. All other aspects of the BBC series, though, are unchanged: the characters and sense of place remain rock solid, and Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) is still “one of television’s finest creations”. At the start of this third and final series, Cawood is about to retire, and human remains have been found in a reservoir. The discovery will bring her back into the orbit of the psychopath Royce, though not especially quickly: writer Sally Wainwright “takes her time” in building the plot and introducing her characters, without leaving us in any doubt that she’s still the finest writer working in British television today. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Kaleidoscope
New heist series Kaleidoscope represents “nothing less than a bold new vision of storytelling”, said Stuart Heritage in The Guardian. There are eight episodes in total, “but here’s the thing”, you can watch “in any order you like”. In fact there are “40,320 ways” to watch the show. Giancarlo Esposito, Jai Courtney, Tati Gabrielle and Rufus Sewell star. Where to watch: Netflix
Kleo
If you’re “pining for more Killing Eve”, then this German thriller “may be the next best thing”, said Wired. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, a former East German spy sets out to find out who betrayed her and why, using her deadly skills to exact revenge. Netflix confirmed in late 2022 that there would be a second season, “so now’s a perfect chance to catch up”. Where to watch: Netflix
Slow Horses
Directed by Jeremy Lovering, Apple TV’s drama stars Gary Oldman as the spy boss Jackson Lamb. Slow Horses is, by my reckoning, “the best reason there is for remembering whether you have an Apple TV+ password”, said Hugo Rifkind in The Times. Yes, the plots are convoluted, “but the characters are crystal clear and the dialogue just sings”. Oldman isn’t the only draw, either: there is also Kristin Scott Thomas as a well-groomed spy supremo. Where to watch: Apple TV+
A Spy Among Friends
The story of the notorious MI6 agent and Soviet spy Kim Philby has been told before, but A Spy Among Friends has “a fresh bash at it”, with mixed results, said Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian. Adapted from the 2015 book by Ben Macintyre, the drama opens with the “big reveal” that Philby (Guy Pearce) has been feeding intel to the KGB for the past 20 years. His close friend and fellow agent Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis) is despatched to Beirut to retrieve Philby and extract a confession; at which point the drama becomes “a sort of espionage stew”, hopping between times and locations in a way that isn’t entirely satisfactory. I wasn’t expecting to like this “big-dick, big-money all-star drama”, said Camilla Long in The Sunday Times. But it won me over. “At first it looks like one of those period dramas where everyone just honks at each other about ‘Cambridge’.” But “slowly, surely, it morphs into a stylish, moreish and brilliant, if understated show”. Where to watch: ITVX
Murder in Provence
Roger Allam and Nancy Carroll in Murder in Provence
(Image credit: ITV)
Previously streamed on BritBox, mystery drama Murder in Provence has made its free-to-view debut on ITV. Roger Allam stars as investigative judge Antoine Verlaque, who along with his partner Marine Bonnet (Nancy Carroll), unpick the murders, mysteries, and dark underbelly of their idyllic home in the south of France. Adapted from the Verlaque and Bonnet novels by Canadian author M.L. Longworth, the role of the judge “could almost have been created for Allam”, said Sean O’Grady in The Independent. He makes this great drama “sublime”. With three two-hour long episodes, Murder in Provence is “chic, sun-dappled” and set in France, yet it is the “most English drama on TV”, said Anita Singh in The Telegraph. The “beautiful backdrops” of Aix-en-Provence are “more scintillating than the pedestrian plots”, but Allam is “as watchable as ever”. Where to watch: ITVX
Black Bird
Taron Egerton as Jimmy Keene in Black Bird
(Image credit: Apple TV+)
Black Bird’s premise is so neat, it sounds like something dreamed up by scriptwriters; but in fact, it’s rooted in a true story, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph. Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton) lived the high life as a drug dealer, until he was caught, and given a ten-year jail term. Then the FBI offered him a deal: if he elicited a confession from a suspected serial killer, he could walk free. Keene agreed to the challenge, and over six episodes, we find out if he pulled it off. The Apple TV+ show weaves together two timelines: Keene’s dealings with the killer, Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser); and the investigation into Hall. The most moving performance comes from Ray Liotta in his final TV role: his turn as Jimmy’s “regret-filled father” is a powerful testament to his range as an actor. Where to watch: Apple TV+
Maryland
Hayley Squires and Zawe Ashton in Maryland
(Image credit: BBC)
Award-winning playwright Lucy Kirkwood adapted her 2021 play – written in response to a spate of high-profile murders of women – for the small screen. Starring Daniel Mays, Zawe Ashton and Hayley Squires, this is a “blistering” 30-minute adaptation, said Hollie Richardson in The Guardian. Squires and Ashton are “brilliant”. This short film seeks to “jolt society from its violent indifference towards the continued abuse and assaults suffered by women at the hands of men”, said the FT. Originally staged at the Royal Court Theatre, the production was “spontaneous and performed script-in-hand”. This “arresting” BBC Two adaptation “has lost none of this urgency”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Grace
Detective Roy Grace is back “patrolling the mean streets” of Brighton in the third series of Grace, the ITV crime drama based on the novels by Peter James, said Jo Berry on Digital Spy. Played by John Simm, the police officer has been “haunted for years” by the disappearance of his wife Sandy, but “at the end of the second series in 2022 – just as he was about to declare her legally dead – he received a phone call telling him of a possible sighting”. Where to watch: ITVX
Sherwood
James Graham’s six-part BBC drama is the television equivalent of “bowling a strike”, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. “Everything you could hope for is here”: a writer who knows the “setting and themes in his bones”; a dream cast; and “beautiful” direction, by Lewis Arnold and Ben A. Williams. The story draws on two real-life murders that took place in Nottinghamshire in 2004, close to where Graham grew up. Alun Armstrong plays Gary, an ex-miner who is killed by a crossbow bolt not far from the home he shares with his wife (Lesley Manville). When local detective Ian (David Morrissey) is tasked with solving the murder, it seems straightforward enough – until he learns that Gary’s arrest records have been “inexplicably redacted”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Peaky Blinders
With its sixth and final season, “Peaky Blinders” bowed out in “a blaze of glory” in April 2022, said Michael Hogan in The Guardian. The epic gangster saga left “plenty of feuds for the future”, so “see you on the big screen, Peakys”. Starring Cillian Murphy as crime boss Tommy Shelby, the show has been an “absolute British triumph of television” and “one of the best things the BBC has made in years”, said Marc Chacksfield on Shortlist. “If ‘Gangs of New York’ had a sequel and that sequel was set in Birmingham, this is what it would be.” Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Killing Eve
Another TV smash hit, “Killing Eve”, also came to an end in 2022. Starring Jodie Comer as psychopathic Villanelle and Sandra Oh as intelligence agent Eve Polastri, the show is “funny, sexy and the source of numerous already brilliant actors’ best work”, said Jack Seale in The Guardian. After four seasons of “cat-and-mouse” between Villanelle and Eve, it doesn’t mean fans have seen the last of the two characters, said Kadin Burnett on Bustle. “AMC is working closely with ‘Killing Eve’ producers Sid Gentle Films to produce potential spinoffs to expand the show”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
The Responder
This BBC original show was billed as a “distinctive new take” on crime drama, said the Liverpool Echo. Written by Tony Schumacher, a former Merseyside Police officer, The Responder highlights “life on the front line” of Liverpool’s streets. Martin Freeman stars as “crisis-stricken, morally compromised” urgent response officer Chris Carson who works night shifts in and around Liverpool, said Stylist. The series follows Carson over the course of five shifts, at a time when he’s struggling “both personally and professionally”. Freeman is “magnificent” in this “tour de police force”, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. The script is an “astoundingly tough, vigorous, sinewy thing without a wasted word or moment” and Freeman “does every bit of it justice”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Trigger Point
Line of Duty’s Vicky McClure stars in this ITV police drama. Full of bomb factories and banter, Trigger Point is “utterly preposterous”, but “what a blast”, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. “Just go in thinking CSI: Peckham or Line of Bomb Duty and you’ll have a great time.” From the makers of Line of Duty, Jed Mercurio’s fingerprints are “all over this explosive thriller”, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph. But despite the “identikit casting”, this turns out to be a different show. Where to watch: ITVX
Hidden Assets
Line of Duty meets The Bridge in this promising Irish drama, said Rachael Sigee in The i Paper. Forget AC-12, this complex crime series introduces Ireland’s CAB – the Criminal Assets Bureau. Hidden Assets is a co-production between Irish company RTE and its counterparts in Belgium and Canada, the Belfast News Letter reported. After making its debut on Irish TV, the hit show “went down a storm with viewers who were kept on the edge of their seats throughout its six-part run”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
The Tourist
Fifty Shades star Jamie Dornan is “explosive” in his action-packed role as “The Man”, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. This outback thriller from the writers of The Missing is a “fun, stylish and confident caper” which is well worth watching. The Tourist went down “a treat” with viewers, many of whom binged the BBC crime drama, said the Daily Express. As a result, the six-episode series “helped break BBC iPlayer streaming records with its impressive viewership”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Four Lives
In the BBC’s factual drama Four Lives, Stephen Merchant transforms into real-life serial killer Stephen Port, Entertainment Daily said. The series tells the story of the horrifying case from the perspective of the families of Port’s four victims and their fight for justice. If Merchant is “a convincing villain”, then co-star Sheridan Smith is “an equally believable hero campaigning for justice in this real-life case”, The Independent said. After A Very British Scandal and The Tourist, someone at the BBC “has had their Weetabix”, as this drama is another “that’s hard to take your eyes off”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Landscapers
Landscapers “shouldn’t work”, said Barbara Ellen in The Observer. Sky Atlantic’s four-part drama is pretentious, wayward, hyper-conceptual; it breaks all the rules of true crime, “including the good ones”. And yet it’s also extraordinary and disquieting; “television as art”. Olivia Colman and David Thewlis star as real-life couple Susan and Christopher Edwards, the “Mansfield murderers” who, in 1998, killed Susan’s parents and buried them in a garden. They then used their money to buy celebrity memorabilia, while spinning a web of lies explaining their disappearance. We meet the killers in France, where they’re on the run. Their cocoon seems on the verge of shattering, and it does. The show then becomes a “writhing screen-Hydra” of techniques and moods, from black-and-white court scenes to a Western sequence. Where to watch: Sky Atlantic
You Don’t Know Me
This tense BBC crime show is about a young South Londoner charged with murder. Pleading innocence, he sacks his barrister to tell his own story. In this courtroom drama “the audience gets to be the jury”, said Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian. “Hopefully the members of the jury, including those at home, will have the patience to see it through.” Adapted from a novel by Imran Mahmood, You Don’t Know Me stars Samuel Adewunmi as the accused, known only as “Hero”. The whole thing revolves around Adewunmi, who is in practically every scene, “walking the line between trustworthy and suspicious”, said Ed Cumming in The Independent. It is “testament to his warm, canny star performance” that we keep guessing. “Guilty or not”, this Hero makes a “very plausible case”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Time
Jimmy McGovern’s three-part BBC prison drama Time is “just about perfect”, said Hugo Rifkind in The Times. It stars Sean Bean as a middle-class teacher, Mark, jailed for causing a death through drink driving, and Stephen Graham as a prison guard, Eric. Mark is an older man guilt-stricken about his crime, and is “immediately clocked as a victim by vicious young inmate bullies”; Eric is a decent person coerced into bringing in drugs by a gang. A common theme unites their stories and a handful of equally “deft” subplots: how is it possible “to atone for past inhumanity” in a system that “perpetuates inhumanity anew”? The acting is superb, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian, and the drama becomes more moving and “enraging” at every turn. “Time well spent.” Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Showtrial
Showtrial starts, of course, with a murder: Hannah (Abra Thompson) is a student, found dead after a ball in Bristol. Chief among the suspects is her ex-friend Talitha Campbell (Celine Buckens) – rich, arrogant and “deeply unpleasant to everyone she meets”, said Alison Rowat in The Herald. I thought it was “great”, said Hugo Rifkind in The Times. Away from the students, much of the drama concerns technical wranglings between the police and the Crown Prosecution Service; there’s also an abuse storyline and a “grief subplot” centring on the victim’s mother. All these strands could have stood alone, but here they are “twisted together”. It’s Buckens, though, who steals the show, turning in a mesmerising performance “right on the edge of ham” as a rich kid with emerald nails “clearly destined to break”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Vigil
The BBC brought out the big guns for this submarine-set drama: Martin Compston (AKA Line of Duty’s Steve Arnott), Doctor Foster’s Suranne Jones, Connor Swindells (best known for playing Adam in Sex Education) and Downton Abbey’s Rose Leslie are just a handful of the notable names in this gripping maritime crime series. Vigil is a “dense, sharply written” and “absolute treat of a show”, said The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan. “It’s one that viewers will surely want to dive into”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Mare of Easttown
Kate Winslet is mesmerising in HBO crime drama Mare of Easttown, said Carol Midgley in The Times. Make-up-free and “permanently sour-faced”, she plays Mare Sheehan, an “unhappy, junk-food-eating” detective in a small Pennsylvania town that “reeks of poverty and dead ends”. At the outset, she’s working on the case of a 19-year-old woman who disappeared a year ago. And then the body of another teenager, a young mother, is found. Written by Pennsylvania native Brad Ingelsby, this is “a perfectly conjured study of a community”, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian, focusing as much on how the locals endure these terrible events as on the process of finding the culprits. Everything and everyone feels “real”, and you care about “every tiny part” – not least Mare’s new relationship with an author and college lecturer, played by Guy Pearce, whom she picks up in a bar. Where to watch: Sky Atlantic
Line of Duty
Trainspotting’s Kelly Macdonald joined the cast for the sixth and final series of Line of Duty. Macdonald plays DCI Joanne Davidson, a “senior investigating officer of an unsolved murder, whose unconventional conduct raises suspicions at AC-12”. Martin Compston (DS Steve Arnott), Vicky McClure (DS Kate Fleming) and Adrian Dunbar (Superintendent Ted Hastings) reprise their roles as the key investigators. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
Somos
The lives of the people of Allende, a Mexican border town, are overtaken by a powerful cartel’s operations, leading to tragedy. Inspired by true events, Somos “flips the script on brutal cartel crime epics”, said The Guardian’s Jack Seale. This Netflix drama “centres on the people who are usually peripheral casualties in crime shows like Narcos – the residents of Allende, who were all killed in a horrific real-life massacre”. Where to watch: Netflix
Before We Die
In this high-octane six-part drama series Lesley Sharp stars as Hannah Laing, a senior police detective who is forced to make a terrible decision as her son, Christian (Patrick Gibson) goes off the rails. With their relationship seemingly beyond repair, Hannah gets a chance at redemption when Christian becomes caught up in the investigation into the brutal murder of one of Hannah’s colleagues and their paths cross again in unexpected circumstances. Where to watch: Channel 4
Intruder
From the close-up of a knife plunging into a piece of meat at a dinner party, the plot of Intruder was “signposted like a golf sale”, said Victoria Segal in The Sunday Times. It stars Elaine Cassidy as Rebecca, a journalist whose husband Sam (Tom Meeten) stabs a burglar in the back during a break-in at their seaside house. It’s an “intriguing” opening, but things spiral into absurdity when Rebecca takes responsibility for the killing, and tries to pass it off as self-defence. Her friend Angela (Helen Behan), who is having an affair with Sam, then turns into a Fatal Attraction-style liability – whereupon Rebecca forges an alliance with the local drugs kingpin. Sally Lindsay is stuck in the middle of it all, playing an honest copper. Where to watch: Channel 5
Your Honor
Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston stars as a New Orleans judge forced to confront his own convictions when his son is involved in a hit and run. The ten episode mini-series from Showtime is “elegantly shot, with credible dialogue and a robust, well-made quality”, said The Independent. And Cranston is “back doing what he does best – playing the devoted parent”. Where to watch: Sky Atlantic
Who Killed Sara?
Released on Netflix in the UK, this Mexican crime series was “a hit with fans”, said the Daily Express. Starring Narcos’ Manolo Cardona, the story follows Álex Guzmán, who is hell-bent on exacting revenge and proving he was framed for his sister’s murder. He sets out to unearth much more than the crime’s real culprit. Fans of shows like Money Heist, Sky Rojo and Narcos should be excited about this murder mystery. Where to watch: Netflix
The Irregulars
Set in Victorian London, the series follows a gang of troubled street teens who are manipulated into solving crimes for the sinister Doctor Watson and his mysterious business partner, the elusive Sherlock Holmes. As the crimes take on a horrifying supernatural edge and a dark power emerges, it’ll be up to the Irregulars to come together to save not only London but the entire world. The Irregulars “feels like Netflix threw every one of its originals into a blender”, said Cosmopolitan. The show “might not knock your socks off”, Empire added, but it offers “more than enough intrigue to warrant hoovering up the show’s entire eight-episode run”. Where to watch: Netflix
The Investigation
This six-part Danish-language drama from Tobias Lindholm is a “radical take” on the true-crime genre, said The Independent. When 30-year-old Swedish journalist Kim Wall disappears, attention turns to a wealthy inventor and his private submarine. This feels like a “new direction for true crime”, said The Guardian, an “antidote of sorts to the showier serial killer documentaries that seem to be everywhere”. Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
The Flight Attendant
The Flight Attendant is a “lively” HBO thriller that’s “the TV equivalent of a beach read”, said Daniel Fienberg in The Hollywood Reporter. Kaley Cuoco stars as Cassie Bowden, the titular flight attendant and party girl, who flirts with a “scruffy-but rich” stranger (Michiel Huisman) on a red-eye to Bangkok, only to wake up the next morning, after an alcohol-induced blackout, in a hotel room, next to his bloody corpse. Cassie is a “powerhouse” of a role, and watching Cuoco ace it is “absurdly pleasurable”, said Suzi Feay in the FT. Played for laughs at first, her vodka habit soon comes to seem as darkly troubling as the corpse itself, and the series cleverly uses her memory loss to confuse the timeline. Based on a novel by Chris Bohjalian, it is “pitch black”, but also “pulpy and surreal”, with real “comic spark”, said Caroline Framke in Variety. This is a series that you may find “hard to stop watching, even if you try”. Where to watch: Sky One
Bloodlands
This “astute” thriller is a fine addition to the growing Irish noir genre, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. James Nesbitt stars as weary detective Tom Brannick, whose investigation into a kidnapping puts him on the trail of “Goliath” – the suspected killer of four people in the lead-up to the Good Friday Agreement. His superiors in the Northern Ireland police don’t want him reopening old wounds, but for Brannick it’s personal. The plot is dense, but enjoyably so, and there’s black humour mixed in to let it breathe. The four-part drama is written by Chris Brandon, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph, but it has executive producer Jed Mercurio’s fingerprints all over it: “You don’t know whom to trust, none of the characters ever smile and senior detectives spend their time looking broodily out of windows.” Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
The Serpent
True-crime drama The Serpent helped give BBC iPlayer viewing figures a “dramatic boost” when it was released in early 2021, said Digital Spy. It tells the disturbing real-life story of Charles Sobhraj, the chief suspect in a series of “grisly unsolved murders of attractive young female backpackers across Asia in the mid-1970s”, Dead Good reported.
The Pembrokeshire Murders
This mini-series on ITV is about the cold-case pursuit of John Cooper – the most notorious serial killer in Welsh criminal history. Starring Luke Evans and Keith Allen, The Pembrokeshire Murders gives justice for the victims, who are central to the narrative. “It is sensitive when it needs to be, and never loses sight of who suffered,” said The Guardian’s Rebecca Nicholson. Where to watch: ITVX
Traces
Based on a story idea from best-selling crime writer Val McDermid, this six-part thriller stars Line of Duty’s Martin Compston. Set in Scotland, three women try to unearth the truth about an unsolved murder that’s very close to home. Traces is an “easy watch”, said The Arts Desk, but it has a bad habit of “spraying coincidences and startling revelations like machine-gun fire, as if it’s frantically crushing 12 episodes into six”.
Deadwater Fell
Channel 4’s Deadwater Fell is “basically Broadchurch in Scotland”, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. David Tennant is “a doctor rather than a policeman”, and at the “centre of a crime rather than investigating it”. He’s “letting his freckles show”, but “switch your mind to its Broadchurch setting and you will not be disappointed”. Tennant plays Tom, whose wife and three children die in a house fire, but it soon becomes apparent that all is not as it seems. Where to watch: Channel 4