Modern hits like Only Murders in the Building and age-old classics like Kojak prove the timeless pull of detective shows. The genre offers a puzzle of mystery, suspense, and action, all tied together by a compelling character who puts the pieces together. Everything from True Detective to the Sherlock Holmes-inspired House offers a detective premise in its own way, making room for plenty of variety in the genre.
The detective story has yet to go out of style, with seemingly infinite TV sleuths continuing to emerge onto the scene. Mare of Easttown‘s Mare and Poker Face‘s Charlie Cale could hold their own against the likes of Columbo and Mannix. Yet there are some excellent series that highlight all the strengths of a detective story, complete with a mesmerizing lead, and still didn’t get the attention they deserved.
Broadchurch
2013-2017
Led by the duo of David Tennant and Olivia Colman, Broadchurch certainly delivers on the promise of compelling detectives, but Broadchurch’s quality goes beyond its cast. Broadchurch ran for three seasons, utilizing an interesting structure that really enables emotional depth in its characters.
The show opens with the investigation of the death of an 11-year-old boy, an event that remains an undercurrent of the series. Yet, while the fallout from Danny’s death never goes away, Detective Inspector Alec Hardy and Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller eventually move on to other cases as well.
Broadchurch is a unique blend of procedural and serialized character study that paints a compelling picture of grief that persists in a society that keeps moving. With its impressive performances and emotional themes, Broadchurch is comparable to Adolescence, but in a slightly wider, more thoroughly explored world.
Pushing Daisies
2007-2009
Winning seven Emmys while also being canceled after two seasons, Pushing Daisies had a wealth of untapped potential. The premise of a man who uses his ability to revive the dead in order to solve crimes already stands out among other TV detectives, but Pushing Daisies‘ uniqueness is embedded in every facet of its characters, writing, and production design.
The show is almost posited as a fairy tale, complete with a voiceover narrator who is not unlike Dr. Seuss. Names like Charlotte “Chuck” Charles and Boutique Travel Travel Boutique add to its storybook feel. Visually, it has a bright, colorful look to an almost unnatural extent. The dialogue is fast and memorable, evoking the likes of Gilmore Girls or Aaron Sorkin’s trademark repartee in The West Wing.
The ethical quandary that accompanies Ned’s ability keeps the stakes high and the show grounded in emotional weight despite all the wackiness going on around him. All in all, Pushing Daisies deserved to go so much farther, and its potential just might come to fruition. The creative team behind the show has confirmed hopes for Pushing Daisies season 3.
Top Of The Lake
2013-2017
Top of the Lake has the sensational appeal of Law and Order: SVU with the quality of a small cable drama. Created by famed director Jane Campion and starring Elisabeth Moss as Detective Robin Griffin, the show offers a creative powerhouse that artfully explores female-centric themes of gender roles and sexual assault.
A troubled woman investigating crimes in her hometown to which she has her own dark familial ties is perhaps unoriginal on the surface (that could just as easily describe Sharp Objects or Under the Bridge), but Top of the Lake has a unique, haunting quality, punctuated by its shocking premise: a pregnant 12-year-old girl goes missing shortly after being discovered standing in a frigid lake.
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Four years after its first season, Moss reprised her role in a sequel season, Top of the Lake: China Girl. Season 1 had an unmatched aura and plot, but China Girl cemented Top of the Lake‘s command of the detective genre. And, of course, Elisabeth Moss is as powerful as ever.
Mr. Mercedes
2017-2019
David E. Kelley’s Stephen King adaptation was a casualty of the 2020 dissolution of Audience, a streaming service powered by AT&T. Beyond Brendan Gleeson as the leading Bill Hodges, an endearing, open-minded detective, Mr. Mercedes features acclaimed actors like Mary-Louise Parker and Holland Taylor. Yet while the show eventually made its way to Peacock, it was never revived for more episodes.
The open-ended supernatural undertones that Stephen King is known for gave Mr. Mercedes’ mysteries an added level of suspense and uncertainty. As King’s world continues to expand both on the screen and on the page, Mr. Mercedes is as relevant as ever.
Bill Hodges is a mentor to Holly Gibney, a character played by Justine Lupe in Mr. Mercedes. However, Cynthia Erivo plays another iteration of the character in The Outsider, bringing Holly Gibney to new levels of popularity. The character also recently led her own King novel, Holly, where Bill Hodges is heavily mentioned.
Blue Murder
2003-2009
In classic UK television fashion, Blue Murder only has 19 total episodes in its five-season run. In this case, it allowed the show to be meticulous in its storytelling, taking its time to develop stories to their full potential.
Indeed, it’s a rare breed of show that starts out strong and just keeps getting better. Where other shows may have been treading water in their fifth season, Blue Murder was hitting its stride.
It’s a show that commands your full attention, not afraid to move and talk quickly through its sprawling cast of characters. Detective/mother of four, Janine Lewis, brings both humor and competence to the show, which is greatly strengthened by the inclusion of her own personal struggles with her ex-husband, Pete.
Rebecka Martinsson
2017-2020
Fans of the striking setting of True Detective: Night Country will enjoy the arctic setting of this Swedish series. Unlike other similar detective stories, Rebecka Martinsson doesn’t dance around the title character’s connection to the crime through subtext and atmosphere; the show embraces the emotional gold mine of Martinsson’s behavior being heavily influenced by the sudden death of a childhood friend.
Ida Engvoll doesn’t reprise her role as Rebecka Martinsson in season 2, though she remains an executive producer on the series. Sascha Zacharias instead takes on the character in the show’s second season, and she smartly brings her own flair to the character rather than attempting to be an imitation of Engvoll. Rebecka Martinsson is just as captivating in season 2, a credit to both the writing and Zacharias.
Interior Chinatown
2024
The phrase mind-bending doesn’t quite do justice to this twisty series that continues to distort itself in new ways throughout its 10-episode run. Its source material, Charles Yu’s novel of the same name, offers no easy feat with its rich cultural commentary told through an increasingly ambiguous and symbolic plot. Yet Interior Chinatown gives the story direction without losing its whimsy.
As Willis Wu attempts to take some agency over his life and the disappearance of his brother, he steps out of his role in society as a “background character,” shaking the natural balance of the world to a point of no return. The world physically stops Wu from entering the police station, a location inaccessible to a character of his caliber, until he learns that delivering food to cops will gain him entry.
The constant presence of the show-within-a-show, cop procedural Black and White, creates ongoing uncertainty whether the in-world procedural is a commentary on society, or an indication that the characters are, in fact, in a fictional world within their fictional world.
The nature of the cop duo — a white woman and a Black man — allows for an even deeper exploration of race relations, “acceptable” roles, and stereotypes that all tie back to the show’s main focus on Asian American culture. Using the assumed conventions of the genre in new ways, Interior Chinatown subverts all the classic conventions of detective shows.