Are you missing The Good Wife and all its glorious drama and courtroom scandal? Well, you might have missed that one of its most charming characters has a detective drama of her own called Elsbeth – and it’s exceptionally good. The series follows the eponymous lead as she swaps the courtroom for crime scenes: think Midsomer Murders meets The Good Wife. And, even better, you can watch it all this week!
The drama, which first aired in the US in 2024, takes us to the streets of New York City, where the larger-than-life, pink-clad female Columbo tackles murder cases as colourful as her wardrobe. Elsbeth initially joins the NYPD as a procedural observer to ensure standards are in check; however, it soon becomes apparent that she has an ulterior motive for moving from her native Chicago…
Here’s everything you need to know about Elsbeth, including the plot, cast and all the inside details about this series.
What is Elsbeth about?
The spin-off of The Good Wife and The Good Fight follows Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston), an adept but unconventional attorney who leaves Chicago for the Big Apple and starts working with the New York Police Department. Officially, she’s there to ensure police procedure is being followed, but it soon becomes clear she has a unique knack for catching criminals.
She works alongside Officer Kaya Blanke (Carra Patterson) in a department led by Captain Charles Wallace (CW) Wagner (Wendell Pierce). But Elsbeth isn’t your typical detective. She’s extremely chirpy, almost exclusively wears pink and her bubbly nature means she’s underestimated by almost everyone around her – which she uses to her advantage. However, there’s a secret motive that brings her to New York: we learn that Elsbeth is investigating Captain Wagner for possible corruption.
The show’s formula subverts the traditional ‘whodunnit’, as the audience watches each murder unfold, meaning the real mystery revolves around how Elsbeth and the police force manage to catch the killer. Across the two series currently available in the UK, the eternally optimistic sleuth works on unmistakably New York cases, from the murder of a loathed co-op board president to the fatal electrocution of a reality star.
Carrie previously spoke about the soaring popularity of Elsbeth, ‘I think it has something to do with people wanting a beginning, middle and end, and a cathartic, joyful, intelligent experience, and then they can go to sleep and not have nightmares,” she previously told Marie Claire. ‘In our show, you know the murderer. So you don’t have the stress of figuring it out, and you get the delight of watching this woman who approaches things in such an unconventional way piece it together,’ she added.
Is there a trailer for Elsbeth?
Yes, you can watch the trailer for Elsbeth below.
Who’s in the cast of Elsbeth?
The cast of Elsbeth includes:
- Carrie Preston (The Good Wife, The Good Fight) as Elsbeth Tascioni
- Wendell Pierce (The Wire, Suits) as Captain CW Wagner
- Carra Patterson (Turner & Hooch, Love, Brooklyn) as Officer Kaya Blanke
- Ben Levi Ross (River Fork) as Teddy Tascioni
- Daniel K. Isaac (Outerlands) as Lieutenant Steve Connor
- Danny Mastrogiorgio (Instinct) as Detective Bobby Smullen
- Molly Price (The Devil You Know) as Detective Jackie Donnelly
- Daniel Oreskes (Mountainhead) as Detective Buzz Fleming
- Sullivan Jones (The Surrogate, Harlem) as Cameron Clayden
- Ivan Hernandez (And Just Like That…) as Alec Bloom
- B Norwood (WeCrashed) as Officer Nikki Reynolds
- Micaela Diamond (Grotesquerie) as Detective Samantha Edwards
- Fredric Lehne (The Greatest Showman, Shy Guys) as Lieutenant Dave Noonan
- Lindsay Mendez (Elementary) as Officer Grace Hackett
- Hayward Leach (Tom Swift) as Roy
- Braeden De La Garza (The Quest) as Detective Rivers
- Gloria Reuben (Boston Blue) as Claudia Payne
- Danny McCarthy (Good One) as Agent Fred Celetano
Is Elsbeth any good?
In one word, yes! Elsbeth is the perfect watch to get lost in for hours, with its endlessly entertaining mysteries and colourful characters. Carrie Preston’s Elsbeth is completely enchanting, and someone you’d want to befriend in real life. She’s extremely vivacious, with a wardrobe to match. If you’re into cosy crime dramas, such as Midsomer Murders, this is the perfect series to cosy up with: just swap Midsomer for the hustle and bustle of Manhattan.
How can I watch Elsbeth?
The first two series of Elsbeth are available to watch now on NOW. The third series is expected to arrive in the UK later this year, with a fourth coming out in the US next month. We’ll keep you updated here as soon as we have more information.
What other detective dramas can I watch now?
For a grittier corruption-chasing detective drama, we’d suggest Inspector George Gently, in which the eponymous anti-corruption inspector (Martin Shaw) takes the rash young DS John Bacchus (Lee Ingleby) under his wing as they solve a string of complex crimes in 1960s North-east England. Inspector George Gently is available to stream now on Netflix. If you’re a cosy crime addict, try Agatha Raisin, where PR hotshot turned private detective Agatha (Shetland’s Ashely Jensen) tackles crimes in the fictional Cotswold village of Carsely. It’s brilliantly fun and charming! Agatha Raisin is available to stream now on Acorn TV via Prime Video.
