Dark/Gritty

Serious crimes, emotional weight, psychological depth

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11 shows

Broadchurch

2013 · 3 seasons · ITV

Set in the fictional Dorset seaside town of Broadchurch, the series begins when the body of eleven-year-old Danny Latimer is discovered on the beach, plunging the tight-knit coastal community into grief, suspicion, and scandal.

Annika

2021 · 2 seasons · BBC

Annika follows the sharp, witty and enigmatic DI Annika Strandhed as she heads up a new specialist Marine Homicide Unit (MHU) that is tasked with investigating the unexplained, brutal, and seemingly unfathomable murders that wash up in the waterways of Scotland

Lewis

2007 · 9 seasons · ITV

Set in Oxford, Lewis follows Detective Inspector Robbie Lewis as he returns to work five years after the death of his mentor, Inspector Morse.

Shetland

2013 · 10 seasons · BBC

Set amid the dramatic, windswept landscapes of Scotland's remote Shetland Islands, Shetland follows the local police team as they investigate murders within a close-knit island community where everyone knows everyone else's business—and secrets.

Unforgotten

2015 · 6 seasons · ITV

Unforgotten follows a team of detectives, initially led by DCI Cassie Stuart and DI Sunny Khan, as they investigate cold-case murders. Each series focuses on a single decades-old case.

Hinterland

2013 · 3 seasons · BBC

Set in the coastal town of Aberystwyth and the rugged, mountainous landscapes of Ceredigion in mid-Wales, Hinterland follows DCI Tom Mathias, a brooding detective who relocates from London's Metropolitan Police to rebuild his life amid Wales's stark and beautiful terrain.

Strike (C.B. Strike)

2017 · 6 seasons · BBC

War veteran Cormoran Strike operates a struggling private detective agency from a cramped London office, taking on complex cases that have baffled the police, aided by his assistant Robin Ellacott who proves far more capable than her temporary secretary role suggests. As they solve increasingly dangerous cases together, Strike battles his physical and psychological war wounds whilst an unspoken attraction grows between the mismatched pair, complicated by Robin's engagement and Strike's determination to keep their relationship strictly professional.

Grace

2021 · 6 seasons · ITV

Set in Brighton and Hove on England's south coast, Grace follows Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, a hard-working, dogged police officer haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his wife Sandy years earlier.

Ellis

2024 · 2 seasons · Channel 5

DCI Ellis and her partner DS Harper are parachuted into failing police investigations across northern England, tackling seemingly unsolvable cases at different stations where their arrival is often met with resistance, hostility, and institutional barriers.

Granite Harbour

2022 · 3 seasons · BBC

Set in Aberdeen, Scotland, Granite Harbour follows Davis Lindo, a former Royal Military Police sergeant whose dreams of becoming a New Scotland Yard detective are dashed when he's despatched north to train as a Detective Constable in the unfamiliar "Granite City.