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You might think that crime shows are pretty much the same all over the world: some kind of crime is being committed, usually violent; a policeman shows up to uncover it; he or she either unravels the tangle of events, or not; the end.
But it’s amazing how many ways there are to become a television detective, how many different areas police work can span, and how deeply local culture – or even the weather – can shape issues of crime and punishment. These foreign series shed new light on familiar detective formalities.
10 Dirk Gently’s Detective Agency (2016)
This sci-fi detective show is based on the series of novels of the same name written by Douglas Adams and takes place after the events of the books. Todd Brotzman (Elijah Wood) – a messenger who finds the dead body of a multimillionaire while working; this leads him to meet Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett), a holistic detective who believes in the supernatural while being a bit of a psychic.
The detective convinces Todd to work for him by promising to pay him enough to help his sister, Amanda (Hannah Marks), who has a terrible disease that causes her to hallucinate. The first season follows the duo as they investigate crimes and navigate a world where time travel, psychic vampires and government conspiracies are real.
9. Modified carbon (2018)
Takeshi Kovacs is a kind of chameleon. But in the world of Altered Carbon, that doesn’t make it unique at all. In fact, almost every person born (at least in the Protectorate) has this ability, as there is technology to upload a person’s consciousness as digital data, which can then be uploaded into various bodies.
In Season 1, Takeshi Kovacs, a convicted felon, wakes up in a new body (Kinnaman) after 250 years of wealthy Lauren Bancroft’s life to solve a rich man’s murder. Luckily, Netflix has a handy video preview before you jump into Season 2.
Based on Richard Morgan’s classic noir novel, Altered Carbon is an intriguing tale of murder, love, sex and betrayal.
8. 13 Reasons Why (2017)
Based on Jay Asher’s novel I, the series’ first season explored the lives of many students at Liberty High, each affected by the death of one of their classmates, Hannah Baker. The series spent two seasons ramping up its insistence that this is an important show that takes teenage pain seriously while also turning those same issues into a melodramatic soap opera.
The first season of 13 Reasons Why punctuated moments of sincerity that rang true, especially in scenes that illustrated the friendship and connection between Hannah and friend Clay. In contrast, the next two seasons usually missed the mark, depicting adolescence as a time of cloying sweetness and unbearable cruelty.
7. White Collar (2009)
The first season introduces sly con artist Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer), a recent escape from a maximum security prison, and FBI agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay), who left Neal behind bars after a long game of cat and mouse. After being re-arrested, Neal proposes a partnership with Peter in which he will help the agent solve white-collar crimes, an arrangement that keeps Neal in jail and provides the premise for the series. Tiffani Thiessen and Willy Garson also star.
6. The Mentalist (2008)
The Mentalist is an American crime drama television series starring Simon Baker as Patrick Jane. The series debuted on September 23, 2008 on CBS.
The first episode of this crime drama finds Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) a former psychic adjusting to his new job as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation. Jane isn’t too good for proper procedure, much to the chagrin of her boss, Agent Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunny), but his sharp observational skills help them get things done. Cases involving the elusive serial killer Red John are of particular interest to Jane.
5. Big Little Lies (2017)
Based on the best-selling book by Liane Moriarty, Big Little Lies is a dark comedy set in a town by the sea in California. The story revolves around three women who are emotionally disturbed and are suddenly involved in a murder investigation. This is a look at how little lies are distributed among the community, including husbands, wives, children, schoolteachers, can backfire and become deadly.
4. Hannibal (2013)
The TV show picks up before the stories of The Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon, starting with the initial relationship between pop culture’s favorite cannibal and FBI Special Agent Will Graham. Will has an unsettling talent for getting into the minds of serial killers, so Hannibal is assigned as his psychiatrist, Will’s so-called stress vessel. Thus begins a game of cat and mouse spanning three seasons, the predator-prey relationship between the two men perfectly fitting their bloodlust and unhealthy interdependence.
3. Stay Alive (2004)
Oceanic Flight 815 from Sydney to Los Angeles has crashed on a South Pacific island where 48 survivors face faltering hopes of rescue as they get to know each other and their eerie new home.
The puzzle series of characters, secrets and endless discoveries makes the drama all the more enticing. “Lost” can be considered a television version of the board game. At the end of each episode, unanswered questions remain, and there is plenty of room for interpretation of events. The mix of mystery and drama is mesmerizing and tends to overshadow the violence that comes along the way.
2. True Detective (2014)
New Orleans native and writer Nick Pizzolatto (Galveston) wrote and created this crime drama that follows a pair of murderous detectives in Louisiana and a trail of murders, riots and mysteries that spans 17 years. Featuring music from T Bone Burnett and director Cary Fukunaga, the series opens in 1995 with kind-hearted boy Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) and his brooding partner, Texas native Rust Cole (Matthew McConaughey).
It’s a decent, serviceable thriller, nasty enough to give the impression that it doesn’t shy away from the dark nature of its characters, and gripping enough to keep viewers watching to find out who was affected by the 1980 crimes and why this particular case is haunting new ones again. show characters, decades later.
1. Sherlock (2010)
Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss brought beloved detective Arthur Conan Doyle from Victorian London to a vibrant modern city, where Holmes was presented as a “high-functioning sociopath” and a recovering drug addict. Conan Doyle’s mysteries were given ingenious 21st century twists, and Holmes’ remarkable conclusions are conveyed not just through long-winded monologues, but with stylish visual gimmicks.