Home > Entertainment > British TV Crime and Mysteries
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British TV Crime and Mysteries
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This page contains an extensive list of British crime and mystery television series and movies that I have viewed or which I have some degree of knowledge. Though I am American, my appetite for these series and movies is insatiable and beyond an addiction level. As compared to their American counterparts, the British series and movies have far better production qualities. There is more substance to the scripts and the focus is more on the investigation, procedure, sub-plots, and character development. One key factor that enables this is the program length, which can be multiple hours per case or story.
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Due to the sheer number of series and movies that I have compiled, I've divided them into the following categories. This will help make it easier to find similar types of series or movies. Each category title below is clickable and will automatically page down to that category.
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Police Detectives: The theme of this category concerns murder, and the main characters are police detectives.
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Private Detectives: The theme of this category concerns private detectives who solve cases involving crime or murder.
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Citizen Sleuths: The theme of this category concerns private citizens who are sleuths that solve cases involving crime or murder.
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Forensics: The theme of this category concerns forensic experts that assist police detectives with murder investigations.
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Profilers: The theme of this category concerns profilers or criminal psychologists that assist the police with solving serial murders.
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Policing: The theme of this category is policing of crime, and uniformed police are the predominant characters.
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Legal: The theme of this category concerns the legal aspect, the legal team, or the resulting trial of crimes.
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Journalists: The theme of this category concerns journalists who investigate crime, murder, or political corruption.
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Espionage, Terrorism & Political: The theme of this category concerns espionage, terrorism, and political corruption or scandal.
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Heists & Organized Crime: The theme of this category concerns heists, where thieves are the predominant characters, or organized crime.
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General Mysteries & Crime: The theme of this category is mystery, crime, or murder, and the predominant characters are not the police.
Listed with each series or movie is a brief synopsis and a link to the title either on Wikipedia or IMDb. Repeat visitors can visit my About page to see what series and movies were added by date. This is my most viewed page, so I know that I am not alone in my appreciation of and addiction with British television.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Listed below are answers to some of the frequently asked questions that I receive about British crime and mystery television series and movies.
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Where can I stream these series and movies? The most frequent question that I receive is about where to stream these series or movies, and this is where things can get very convoluted and frustrating. The reason is that the content varies both by streaming provider and by country, and this is due to how streaming rights are licensed. For example, what may be available on Netflix in one country may not be available in another. There are some British specific streaming providers, such as BritBox and Acorn TV, and other streaming providers also provide some British content, such as Hulu and Prime Video (which also has channel upgrades for PBS, Acorn TV, Britbox, etc.), and other networks such as Max, Starz, etc.
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Why don't you link each title to the streaming provider? One frequent suggestion or question that I receive is in regard to linking each series or movie to the streaming provider. Doing this would be problematic for multiple reasons. First, the content varies by streaming provider and by country, so what may be available on Netflix in one country may not be available in another. Second, the content regularly changes by streaming provider. For example, I've seen series and movies move from one streaming provider to another, and the effort of keeping current with dozens of titles would be daunting.
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Why is there a delay for some of the series and movies to be released in the USA? There can be significant delays for some of series and movies to be made available outside of the UK. The reason is due to international licensing rights and who acquires those rights. For example, PBS may acquire the rights for a series or movie in the USA, and there could be a delay of months before PBS schedules the broadcast. The Endeavour series is one such example, where PBS acquired the licensing rights and broadcast the series months after it had aired in the UK.
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Is there a way to determine how family friendly the content might be for a series or move? Obviously, the determination of what content may or may not be family friendly is a relative thing. The key thing to remember is that what is permissible for broadcast television in the UK is very different from the USA, both from a visual aspect and language aspect. One method would be consulting the rating system from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). Then visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), search for the series and movie, and look for the "certificate" rating.
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Police Detectives
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The general theme of this particular collection concerns murder or serial murders, and the primary characters are police detectives. Listed with each series or movie is a brief synopsis and a link to the title either on Wikipedia or IMDb.
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Private Detectives
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The general theme of this category concerns a main character who is a private detective, and they solve mysteries and cases which generally involve a crime or murder. Some of these private detectives may be former police detectives. Some may operate cooperatively with the police, while others may have antagonistic relationships with the police. Listed with each series or movie is a brief synopsis and a link to the title either on Wikipedia or IMDb.
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Citizen Sleuths
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The general theme of this category concerns citizen sleuths that solve mysteries and cases generally involving crime or murder. Some of these sleuths may operate cooperatively with the police, while others may have antagonistic relationships with the police. Listed with each series or movie is a brief synopsis and a link to the title either on Wikipedia or IMDb.
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Forensics
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The general theme of this category concerns forensic experts that are the predominant characters of murder investigations, and many have antagonistic relationships with the police. Listed with each series or movie is a brief synopsis and a link to the title either on Wikipedia or IMDb.
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Profilers
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The general theme of this particular category concerns a profiler or criminal psychologist, who assists the police with solving serial murders. Listed with each series or movie is a brief synopsis and a link to the title either on Wikipedia or IMDb.
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Policing
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The general theme of this category is policing of crime, and uniformed police or non-murder detectives are the predominant characters of the investigation. The cases or crimes may include missing persons, police corruption, vice, murder, or policing in general. Listed with each series or movie is a brief synopsis and a link to the title either on Wikipedia or IMDb.
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Legal
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The general theme of this category concerns the legal aspect, where the primary characters are lawyers or judges, and the resulting trial of crimes including murder. Listed with each series or movie is a brief synopsis and a link to the title either on Wikipedia or IMDb.
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Journalists
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The general theme of this category concerns journalists as the primary characters, and they investigate crime, murder, or political corruption. Listed with each series or movie is a brief synopsis and a link to the title either on Wikipedia or IMDb.
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Espionage, Terrorism, and Political
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The general theme of this category concerns espionage, terrorism, or political corruption and scandal. Listed with each series or movie is a brief synopsis and a link to the title either on Wikipedia or IMDb.
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Heists and Organized Crime
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The general theme of this category concerns heists where thieves and grifters are the predominant characters, or organized crime where gangsters or hitmen are the predominant characters. Listed with each series or movie is a brief synopsis and a link to the title either on Wikipedia or IMDb.
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General Mysteries and Crime
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The general theme of this category concerns general mysteries or crime, and the predominant characters are generally not the police. The themes of these series and movies do not readily fit into the other categories, so this is simply a catch-all category. Listed with each series or movie is a brief synopsis and a link to the title either on Wikipedia or IMDb.