Best Police Crime

Despite its age, The Wire remains a landmark achievement in crime drama. Set in Baltimore, the series offers a sprawling, realistic depiction of the drug trade and its impact on the city's institutions from law enforcement and education to politics and the media. Its ensemble cast, complex characte...

Infernal Affairs is a 2002 Hong Kong crime drama centered around two officers operating under false identities. One infiltrates a triad organization while the other secretly works for it, creating a complex web of deception. The film serves as the initial installment in a trilogy exploring this dual...

Classe tous risques is a 1960 French-Italian crime film directed by Claude Sautet. The narrative centers around a French mobster and his family fleeing across Europe, returning to Paris to confront former associates. The story involves a new criminal contact and the resolution of past conflicts with...

Endeavour is a British detective drama set in Oxford, focusing on the early career of young Detective Constable Endeavour Morse within the City Police CID. The series serves as a prequel to Inspector Morse, exploring Morse’s formative years before his established role. It follows his progression fro...

Line of Duty, a British police procedural, distinguishes itself through its intricate plots and relentless focus on police corruption. The series follows AC-12, a unit tasked with investigating suspected wrongdoing within the police force. Its complex narrative structure, featuring multiple suspects...

Police Story, released in 1985, stars Jackie Chan as Detective Kevin Chan Ka-Kui investigating accusations of murder following an attempt to apprehend a drug trafficker. The film’s plot involves Chan clearing his name while working alongside Brigitte Lin and Maggie Cheung. It serves as the initial i...

Hill Street Blues followed the daily operations of the Metropolitan Police Department’s personnel stationed at a single precinct within a major American city. The series ran for sixteen years, airing 146 episodes from 1981 to 1987 and depicted the work of uniformed officers – referred to as “the blu...

Ripper Street is a British drama set in Whitechapel, London, following police detectives investigating crimes in 1889. The show began six months after the Jack the Ripper murders and premiered on BBC One in December 2012. A second series was broadcast in 2013, continuing the investigative narrative.

Shetland is a British crime drama series created for BBC Scotland, stemming from Ann Cleeves’ novels. The show was initially broadcast beginning in March 2013 and features detectives investigating crimes within the Shetland Islands. David Kane adapted the source material, with actors portraying lead...

Waking the Dead was a British crime drama produced by the BBC, featuring a London cold-case unit with CID officers, a profiler, and a forensic scientist. Nine series of sixty-two episodes were broadcast consecutively on BBC One, culminating in a final episode in April 2011. The show received an Inte...

The Rookie is an ABC television series centered around John Nolan, a man entering the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) as one of its oldest rookies. The show’s premise is based on the real-life experiences of William Norcross, who joined the LAPD in his mid-40s after relocating to California in...

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a 2022 mystery film directed by Rian Johnson. It serves as a standalone sequel to *Knives Out*, featuring Benoit Blanc investigating the death of Miles Bron, a tech billionaire, alongside an ensemble cast. The film expands upon the established Knives Out narrativ...

CID is an Indian television series following the investigations of a police unit. Premiering in 1998, it centers around ACP Pradyuman and his team—Abhijeet, Daya, Fredricks, and Salunkhe—as they solve crime cases. The show was produced by multiple companies throughout its run, including Fireworks Pr...

The Brokenwood Mysteries is a New Zealand television series centered around detective Nick Pollard’s investigations in the fictional town of Brokenwood, North Island. The initial six seasons consist of four episodes each, with subsequent seasons expanding to six per season. Filmed in the Auckland re...

The HBO miniseries We Own This City explores systemic corruption within the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force. Based on a true story detailed in Wesley Lowery’s reporting, it investigates abuses of power and excessive force perpetrated by officers. The series sheds light on the prof...

Serpico is a 1973 American biographical crime film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino. The narrative details the true story of Frank Serpico, a New York Police Department officer who attempted to expose systemic corruption within the department during the 1960s and early 1970s. The film...

New Tricks is a long-running British television drama focusing on a team of retired detectives who investigate previously unsolved cases. The show’s notable appeal lies in its intricate plots and character development exploring complex crimes within the UK justice system. It's primarily aimed at vie...

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is a crime drama focusing on the investigations and prosecutions of sexually violent offenses by the NYPD’s Special Victims Unit. The series, a spin-off of Law & Order, centers around Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson. Episodes are often inspired by real-w...

Detective Story is a 1951 American crime movie exploring a day in the life of a police detective and his team. The film’s significance lies in its early performances by actors like Eleanor Parker and Lee Grant, alongside its adaptation from a successful stage play. It garnered multiple Academy Award...

Law & Order: UK was a British police procedural television program adapting the American “Law & Order” format. It ran from 2009 to 2014 on ITV, featuring an initial cast including Bradley Walsh and Freema Agyeman, with additional actors joining in later seasons. The series utilized scripts derived f...

Taggart was a long-running British crime drama produced by STV Studios for ITV. The series followed detectives within Strathclyde Police, primarily operating from John Street police station and exploring cases across Greater Glasgow and Scotland. Mark McManus starred as Jim Taggart until his death i...

No Sudden Move is a 2021 crime thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film stars an ensemble cast including several well-known actors in a story set within the automotive industry. It explores a complex mystery involving shifting loyalties and investigations.

Los hombres de Paco is a Spanish television series focusing on a specialized police unit in Madrid. The show’s notable element involves officers investigating both conventional crimes and paranormal phenomena. It follows their efforts to solve complex cases while navigating personal challenges. Thi...

A remake of the Danish film of the same name, 'The Guilty' is a relentlessly tense and gripping thriller set almost entirely within a 911 dispatch center. Jake Gyllenhaal delivers a powerhouse performance as an operator trying to help a woman who may have been abducted. The films real-time format an...

El Príncipe is a Spanish drama series created for Telecinco focusing on the relationship between a Spanish police officer and a Moroccan-Muslim woman. The narrative primarily unfolds within the El Príncipe Alfonso neighborhood of Ceuta, exploring themes of conflict and community. Production was unde...

DCI Banks is a British crime drama series adapted from Peter Robinson’s Inspector Alan Banks novels. Stephen Tompkinson portrays the detective chief inspector in the ITV production, which ran for five series between 2010 and 2016. The show received recognition at the 2013 Royal Television Society Yo...

Rookie Blue is a television series depicting the lives of newly appointed officers within the Toronto Police Service. The show’s significance lies in its realistic portrayal of police work and its focus on diverse characters including LGBTQ+ individuals. It explores complex personal and professional...

Crime Wave is a 1954 American film noir directed by André de Toth. The film stars Sterling Hayden as a strict police detective pursuing a reformed ex-convict who is forced into participating in a bank robbery. Film historians often note its extensive location shooting across Los Angeles, which gives...

We Own the Night is a 2007 crime drama directed by James Gray and starring Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg. The film draws its title from the motto of the New York Police Department’s Street Crimes Unit. It marks Gray's third directorial effort and a follow-up to his earlier collaboration with Pho...