As the nights draw in, we’re looking forward to having more time to cosy up on the sofa with some brilliant television. Autumn is set to bring us plenty of big crime dramas, from series 2 of Julie Graham's Liverpool-set gangster saga This City Is Ours to ITV's new detective show The Blame, starring Michelle Keegan. But before they land, we’ve unearthed some lesser-known dramas that might have passed you by.
From a moving Nicola Walker series that’s just as good as Unforgotten to a cosy sun-soaked saga and an Agatha Christie type mystery, we’ve got something for whatever mood you might be in. So, get yourself comfortable – here are our seven hidden-gem crime dramas to watch now on ITV, Netflix, the BBC and more.
Collateral
The exceptional Nicola Walker stars in this moving drama, which first aired in 2018 and is as good as Unforgotten. The four-part series explores the fallout after the fatal shooting of a pizza delivery man Abdullah Asif (Sam Otto), following all the characters caught up in the violence and how it impacts their lives – for example, Nicola’s character, vicar Jane, has been having an affair with a key witness. The series depicts the next four days, as a huge web of conspiracy is untangled. Collateral is available to watch now on Netflix.
The Victim
For an emotive story centred around a turbulent trial, this Scottish drama, which first aired on BBC One in 2019, is told through the eyes of the plaintiff and the accused as we’re left to grapple with the difficult question: who’s really the victim? The four-part saga follows grieving mother Anna (Kelly Macdonald) whose son was murdered 15 years ago. She’s accused of sharing his killer’s new identity online and conspiring to have him murdered, but he might not even be to blame. The series follows an Edinburgh High court trial and uncovers the events leading up to the proceedings between Anna and Craig (James Harkness) and the tense trial that follows. But has Anna’s fury turned her into a criminal? The Victim is available to watch now on ITVX and Netflix.
The Widow
For fans of mind-bending thrillers, this eight-part series, which first aired in 2019, introduces us to widow Georgia (Katie Beckinsale). She lives in seclusion in the Brecons Beacons, trying to get over the death of her husband, Will (Matthew Le Nevez), an aid-worker who died in a plane crash three years earlier in the Congo. While watching a news report that shows riots across Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, she’s certain she sees her supposedly dead husband in the footage. She flies out to attempt to piece together the mystery, where she’s exposed to the corrupt world of coltan mining, war and even faces an assassination attempt. As she treads this rocky path of political corruption and violence, will she ever learn what happened to Will? The Widow is available to watch now on ITVX.
Beck
The long-running Scandi noir crime drama is back with two brilliant feature-length episodes. The drama, which first aired in 1997, follows Inspector Martin Beck (Peter Haber) through a string of dark cases that take a hold of Stockholm. The latest series, which first aired earlier this year in Sweden, follows squad chief Alex Beijer (Jennie Silfverhjelm) as she tries to get to the bottom of a devastating blaze at a parish church, which left the senior pastor and her childhood best friend dead. She finds herself at the centre of a testing conflict of interest between loyalty and duty as she unravels a dark conspiracy. The second episode follows the squad as they take on an exhilaration operation to bring down a ruthless gang leader, but a masked figure emerges as they’re ready to close in on their suspect, blowing up the entire operation. Beck is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.
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Strangers
The eight-part series, which first aired on ITV1 in 2018, follows Professor Jonah Mulray (John Simm), who leads a quiet life in London, while his wife Megan (Dervla Kirwan) spends half the year working out in Hong Kong. He’s never visited since he’s terrified of flying – that is until he receives a devastating call informing him his wife has died. He travels over to embark on his own investigation but quickly unearths a deep-rooted scandal and learns that his wife was embroiled in a secret double life. Strangers is available to watch now on ITVX.
Agatha And The Truth Of Murder
Perfect for Poirot fans, this feature-length film, which first aired in 2018, takes us back to December 1926, when the acclaimed crime writer Agatha Christie (played by Ruth Bradley) disappeared for 11 days. Nobody knows what exactly happened while she was gone, but this drama envisages an imaginative solution: that she was solving a murder investigation. What’s more, the case was inspired by true events, too – the 1920 killing of Florence Nightingale’s goddaughter. Taking inspiration from her own novels, a dramatic whodunnit transpires as Agatha invites all the culprits to a country house under the guise of an inheritance reveal. Agatha And The Truth Of Murder is available to watch now on Channel 4 and U.
Sunny Nights
For something a lot cosier, this sun-soaked eight-part series takes us to Australia, where we meet the newly relocated American brother and sister Martin (Will Forte) and Vicki Marvin (D’Arcy Carden), who move to Sydney with a big entrepreneurial vision: a spray-tan van. As you might expect, their million-making mission doesn’t quite go to plan, but their financial woes are the least of their problems when a blackmail scheme drags them into Sydney’s criminal underworld… Sunny Nights is available to watch now on ITVX.
