If the likes of Grantchester, Shetland and Death Valley are up there with your favourite detective dramas, we’re about to introduce you to some new ones that you might be surprised to hear are just as good. We’ve been busy watching the best detective dramas on offer to bring you the top-rated shows that are actually worth the hype - including one that’s a very worthy Grantchester rival.
Among our favourites, we’ve got a Shetland-esque series from the pen of Fool Me Once’s Danny Brocklehurst (In the Dark, if you’re wondering), a series that’s spent a lot of time in the Netflix charts (for good reason) and one that stars John Simm as the creepiest serial killer we’ve seen on TV. So, remotes at the ready, as these are the 7 best detective dramas to watch now on ITV, Netflix, the BBC and more.
Irvine Welsh’s Crime
This ITV drama is the titular Trainspotting author’s first TV project, but you wouldn’t know it. The series, which has earned rave reviews, takes us to Edinburgh where Detective Ray Lennox (Dougray Scott) is investigating the abduction and murder of a young girl, Britney Hamil, at the hands of a chilling serial killer known as Mr. Confectioner (played brilliantly by John Simm). The gritty, complex case is made all the more challenging by Lennox’s personal struggles with addiction and childhood trauma, which his nemesis is all too aware of. Irvine Welsh’s Crime is available to watch now on ITVX.
Cardinal
One that's won numerous awards, this Canadian series transports us to the small, icy fictional town in Northern Ontario known as Algonquin Bay where Detective John Cardinal (Billy Campbell) returns to the homicide unit after a demotion (spoiler: he became obsessed with a case). When the body of the missing teenager is found down a mine, he's reassigned to the case and given a new partner in the form of Detective Lise Delorme (Karine Vanasse). But what Cardinal doesn't know if that his colleague has been told to investigate him in relation to a federal police corruption probe - and he is, in fact, suspected of working with a drug dealer. Four series of Cardinal are available to watch now on U.
McDonald & Dodds
If you’re a fan of Grantchester, McDonald & Dodds is a very worthy rival thanks largely to the two mismatched detectives at the centre of it. DCI McDonald (Tala Gouveia) is wildly ambitious while DS Dodds (Jason Watkins) is shy and assuming - and yet they’re equally good at solving crimes. Each of their investigations is as compelling as the last, with a mysterious hot air balloon death and the murder of an absconder from a local rehab clinic among them. McDonald & Dodds is available to watch now on ITVX.
Scrublands
The real genius of this series is in the mysteries, which are plucked straight from Chris Hammer’s award-winning novels. Investigative journalist Martin Scarsden (Luke Arnold) heads to the drought-stricken Australian town of Riversend where a dedicated young priest has, seemingly out of nowhere, killed five parishioners. It's been a year since the event and Martin's job is tasked with writing a story about it - that is, until he starts unravelling the mystery behind it. If you’re an Endeavour fan, you'll enjoy Scrublands. Scrublands is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.
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Case Histories
Adapted from Kate Atkinson’s popular novels, Case Histories enters us into the world of Jackson Brodie (Jason Isaacs) who’s drawn into the lives those who want to understand mysteries from the past. A former soldier and policeman, Jackson has a traumatic past, yet he often comes to the rescue of those around him. The first six-part series (of two) sees Jackson take on the case of a girl who went missing 30 years ago, help a mysteries seductress find her niece, a crime novelist caught in a road rage incident - and that’s just a taster. Case Histories is available to watch now on U.
In the Dark
This brilliant Shetland-esque series comes from the pen of Danny Brocklehurst (the man behind Fool Me Once and Brassic) and features two very clever, very compelling stories that take place over the course of Manchester detective Helen Weeks’ (MyAnna Buring) pregnancy. We meet Helen when she discovers she’s pregnant, but before she can deal with the tricky issue of whether the child is her partner and fellow detective Paul's (Ben Batt) or the result of an affair, she’s drawn into the most testing case of her career. Up there with the BBC's best shows. In the Dark is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.
Absentia
You might have already seen Absentia in the Netflix charts as it earned an army of fans when it landed on the platform. Stana Katic is FBI Agent Emily Byrne who goes missing while hunting a serial killer and is legally presumed dead, despite there being no body. So, when she’s found alive six years later, with zero memory of her time away, it’s a shock to both her now remarried husband and just about everyone around her, particularly when she becomes the chief suspect in a new crime. It's the sort of series you’ll be watching for hours. Absentia is available to watch now on Netflix.
