Why do we love Crime dramas so much? Well, the main reason is probably because we can experience the adrenaline rush and fear from the characters from the safety of our own sofa!
??Another reason for our fixation is that we enjoy piecing puzzles together, and crime dramas provide plenty of opportunities for us to do so. Crime dramas put us as investigators alongside the rest of the cast, searching for evidence, analysing facts and faces, and wagering on an ending based on intuition, which can be fascinating, especially when we correctly predict. And when we do work it out, you can bet we’ll be bragging about it for the rest of the week!
Here are some of our top picks of the best crime dramas that you should definitely be making time to watch:
The Serpent / BBC iPlayer
The Serpent is a BBC crime drama set in the mid-1970s that is based on the murders of young tourists going through Thailand by serial killer Charles Sobhraj. Don’t be fooled by his good looks and charming persona, this true story will guarantee to have you dropping your jaw each episode.
A Dutch ambassador begins researching the killings during the height of his misdeeds and uncovers clues that lead to the elusive Sobhraj. This huge game of cat and mouse starring Tahar Rahim and Jenna Coleman takes place all over the world and involves switched identities.
Bloodlands / BBC iPlayer
Weary investigator Tom Brannick is played by James Nesbitt, whose inquiry into a kidnapping leads him to “Goliath,” the suspected killer of four persons in the run-up to the Good Friday Agreement. His Northern Ireland police bosses don’t want him revisiting old wounds, but it’s personal for Brannick. The plot is deep, yet enjoyable, and there’s enough black comedy to break it up. This bumpy and realistic series gets off to a rough start, but it soon finds its pace.
Mare of Easttown / HBO
In this HBO crime thriller series Mare of Easttown, Kate Winslet is hypnotic. Playing Mare Sheehan, a depressed, junk-food-eating detective working in a small Pennsylvania town rife with destitution and dead ends. She’s investigating the case of a 19-year-old girl who has been missing for a year. Then the body of another adolescent, a young mother, is discovered.
The plot picks up after a slow start, and Winslet shines in a character that could have been formulaic in less capable hands.
Broadchurch / ITV
This drama aired on ITV for three seasons, however most fans think that the first season is the strongest. When the body of a youngster is discovered on a beach one morning, a weary investigator (David Tennant) teams up with a local detective (Olivia Coleman), creating shockwaves across a close-knit coastal village. Who is to blame, and who is to conceal their tracks? In this addictively watchable thriller, each new twist will keep you interested. The case is continued in season two of Broadchurch, while the third series centers on the ramifications of a devastating sexual assault.
Lupin / Netflix
Lupin, Netflix’s acclaimed French crime thriller, was renewed for a second season last year. Assane Diop (Omar Sy), a gentleman burglar inspired by Arsène Lupin’s adventures, goes out to avenge his father for an atrocity committed by the affluent Hubert Pellegrini. The first season, created by British writer George Kay, was one of Netflix’s most popular, and if you haven’t watched it yet, you’re seriously losing out.
Line of Duty / BBC iPlayer
Jed Mercurio’s BBC police drama. Line of Duty delves into the shadowy world of AC-12, a police anti-corruption team where nothing is as it might seem. Martin Compston and Vicky McClure play officers tasked with uncovering crime rings working within the police department, a job that frequently requires them to go undercover, with the continual danger of being discovered. This is the bumpy thriller treat that keeps on giving, with a seventh season on the horizon, this is the one crime drama that can get the whole of the UK discussing who the mysterious ‘H’ is…
Keep up to date with all the latest crime drama series with Ready Steady Cut
The above are just a small handful of what this genre has got to offer, but we think these few are the best of the bunch in the hundreds of crime dramas which have been released in the last couple of years. We’re sure 2022 will have plenty more to offer the sofa detectives at home who just can’t resist a drama full of twists and turns. The only way to keep track of the latest releases is by regular visits to our TV shows reviews and keeping an eye on what’s new on all your favourite streaming services.
