Top 30 UK Crime Series
by Film_Wallah | created - 10 months ago | updated - 10 months ago | PublicThe best of UK crime dramas
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1. Happy Valley (2014–2023)
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Yorkshire-based crime drama centering on the personal and professional life of Police Sergeant Catherine Cawood.
Stars: Sarah Lancashire, Siobhan Finneran, James Norton, Rhys Connah
Votes: 64,640
2. Marcella (2016–2021)
TV-MA | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Marcella Backland left the Metropolitan Police for the sake of her family, only to have her husband leave her. She returns to her job on the murder squad, investigating a case that seems disturbingly familiar to her.
Stars: Anna Friel, Ray Panthaki, Jack Doolan, Jamie Bamber
Votes: 37,272
3. Broadchurch (2013–2017)
TV-MA | 1,143 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The murder of a young boy in a small coastal town brings a media frenzy, which threatens to tear the community apart.
Stars: David Tennant, Olivia Colman, Jodie Whittaker, Andrew Buchan
Votes: 127,345
4. Sherlock (2010–2017)
TV-14 | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The quirky spin on Conan Doyle's iconic sleuth pitches him as a "high-functioning sociopath" in modern-day London. Assisting him in his investigations: Afghanistan War vet John Watson, who's introduced to Holmes by a mutual acquaintance.
Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Una Stubbs, Rupert Graves
Votes: 999,200
5. Slow Horses (2022– )
TV-MA | Drama, Thriller
Follows a team of British intelligence agents who serve as a dumping ground department of MI5 due to their career-ending mistakes.
Stars: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rosalind Eleazar
Votes: 71,108
6. Line of Duty (2012–2021)
TV-14 | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Drama series following the investigations of AC-12, a controversial police anti-corruption unit.
Stars: Martin Compston, Vicky McClure, Adrian Dunbar, Craig Parkinson
Votes: 70,247
7. Peaky Blinders (2013–2022)
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama
A gangster family epic set in 1900s England, centering on a gang who sew razor blades in the peaks of their caps, and their fierce boss Tommy Shelby.
Stars: Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle, Helen McCrory
Votes: 650,298
8. The Tunnel (2013–2018)
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A prominent French politician is found dead on the border between the U.K. and France, and two agents must work together on behalf of their respective countries to find the murderer.
Stars: Stephen Dillane, Clémence Poésy, Cédric Vieira, Angel Coulby
Votes: 10,664
9. McMafia (2018)
TV-14 | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Alex Godman has spent his life trying to escape the shadow of his family's past. But when a murder unearths their past, Alex is drawn into the criminal underworld where he must confront his values to protect those he loves.
Stars: Yoalah Brinson, James Norton, Merab Ninidze, Kirill Pirogov
Votes: 17,039
10. Bodyguard (2018)
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Troubled war veteran turned Police Officer David Budd is assigned to the Metropolitan Police's Specialist Protection Branch.
Stars: Richard Madden, Sophie Rundle, Vincent Franklin, Ash Tandon
Votes: 147,968
11. Endeavour (2012–2023)
TV-14 | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Set from 1965 into the 1970s, the show follows Endeavour Morse in his early years as a police constable. Working alongside his senior partner DI Fred Thursday, Morse engages in a number of investigations around Oxford.
Stars: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, James Bradshaw, Sean Rigby
Votes: 33,455
12. Hidden (2018–2022)
TV-14 | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Police investigate when the body of a girl is found in a lake.
Stars: Sian Reese-Williams, Sion Alun Davies, Victoria Pugh, Sarah Tempest
Votes: 5,580
13. Suspects (2014–2016)
Not Rated | 48 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An unscripted crime/drama series centered on a team of three detectives - each with their own distinctive style of working.
Stars: Damien Molony, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Fay Ripley, Christian Brassington
Votes: 1,503
14. Apple Tree Yard (2017)
TV-14 | 58 min | Drama, Thriller
A provocative thriller which sees an eminent scientist caught up in a damaging and compromising lie. Based on the novel by Louise Doughty.
Stars: Emily Watson, Ben Chaplin, Mark Bonnar, Syreeta Kumar
Votes: 5,778
15. Vera (2011–2025)
TV-PG | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
With her caustic wit and singular charm, DCI Vera Stanhope leads her team as they face a series of captivating murder mysteries set against the breathtaking Northumberland landscape.
Stars: Brenda Blethyn, Jon Morrison, Riley Jones, Kenny Doughty
Votes: 20,103
16. Unforgotten (2015– )
TV-MA | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
London detectives investigate crimes from the past, unravelling secrets left buried for years.
Stars: Sanjeev Bhaskar, Jordan Long, Carolina Main, Nicola Walker
Votes: 30,536
17. The Loch (2017)
Not Rated | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The search for a serial killer becomes a matter of life and death for detective Annie Redford, who is trying to cope with her first murder case.
Stars: Jim McMeekin, Laura Fraser, Siobhan Finneran, Don Gilet
Votes: 5,875
18. Three Girls (2017)
TV-14 | 59 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Three young girls were groomed, sexually abused, and trafficked by a group of men in Rochdale, as well as the authorities failed to do anything about it.
Stars: Molly Windsor, Ria Zmitrowicz, Liv Hill, Paul Kaye
Votes: 5,210
19. The Great Train Robbery (2013)
Not Rated | 90 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A two-part drama which portrays The Great Train Robbery of 8 August 1963, firstly from the point of view of the robbers and then from the point of view of the police who set out to identify and catch the robbers.
Stars: Robert Glenister, Jack Roth, Paul Anderson, Luke Evans
Votes: 4,979
20. The Salisbury Poisonings (2020)
TV-14 | 58 min | Drama, History, Thriller
Three episode, fact based drama from the BBC, about the 2018 Novichok poisoning crisis in the city of Salisbury.
Stars: Rafe Spall, Anne-Marie Duff, Annabel Scholey, Judah Cousin
Votes: 7,297
21. Traces (2019–2022)
TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
While attending an online forensic course, young lab assistant discovers that the fictitious case study has a link to her past. With the help of two female professors she works on bringing a killer to justice.
Stars: Laura Fraser, Michael Nardone, Jennifer Spence, Andrea Hart
Votes: 6,765
22. The Murders at White House Farm (2020)
TV-MA | 46 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Revolves around the true story of a fateful night in August 1985 when five members of the same family are murdered at an Essex farmhouse, and the ensuing police investigation and court case that follows.
Stars: Freddie Fox, Alexa Davies, Mark Addy, Scott Reid
Votes: 12,030
23. Innocent (2018–2021)
TV-PG | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
After having their conviction overturned, people wrongly accused of murder rebuild their lives while the police hunt the true culprit.
Stars: Lee Ingleby, Daniel Ryan, Adrian Rawlins, Hermione Norris
Votes: 5,600
24. Des (2020)
Not Rated | 48 min | Crime, Drama, History
In 1983, Scottish serial killer Dennis Nilsen was arrested after the discovery of human remains which had blocked a drain near his London home.
Stars: David Tennant, Daniel Mays, Jason Watkins, Ron Cook
Votes: 20,781
25. Top Boy (2011–2023)
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Two London drug dealers ply their lucrative trade at a public housing estate in East London.
Stars: Ashley Walters, Kano, Jasmine Jobson, Little Simz
Votes: 39,843
26. The Shadow Line (2011)
60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Christopher Eccleston and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in this intricate conspiracy thriller set in a world of blurred morality, inhabited by conflicted characters on both sides of the law.
Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christopher Eccleston, Kierston Wareing, Richard Lintern
Votes: 5,005
27. Luther (2010–2019)
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
John Luther is a brilliant homicide detective with a knack for getting inside the minds of murderers. Unfortunately, his unconventional methods and personal demons put him at odds with his team.
Stars: Idris Elba, Dermot Crowley, Michael Smiley, Warren Brown
Votes: 154,386
28. Inspector Lewis (2006–2015)
TV-PG | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
DI Robert Lewis and DS James Hathaway solve the tough cases that the learned inhabitants of Oxford throw at them.
Stars: Kevin Whately, Laurence Fox, Clare Holman, Rebecca Front
Votes: 15,886
29. Inspector Morse (1987–2000)
TV-14 | 3,431 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Chief Inspector Morse has an ear for Western classical music, a taste for beer, and a nose for crime. He and Detective Sergeant Robert Lewis solve intriguing cases in and around the Oxford area.
Stars: John Thaw, Kevin Whately, James Grout, Peter Woodthorpe
Votes: 14,367
30. Foyle's War (2002–2015)
TV-14 | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
As WWII rages, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front; investigating crime on the south coast of England. Later series, see the retired detective working as an MI5 agent in the aftermath of the war.
Stars: Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks, Anthony Howell, Ellie Haddington
Votes: 18,278
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