Any BRITISH cop shows worth checking out?
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Remington330 — 12 years ago(February 20, 2014 05:30 PM)
Loved Wire in the Blood. Robson Green was also good in Touching Evil.
LIFE ON MARS!! Great Series! US tried making a go of Life on Mars here in US but it bombed. UK's is awesome.
MI-5 isn't about cops but about Agents with the British intelligence agency. Think Bond but more believable. Blue Murder with Caroline Quentin was also a good watch. My family and I have been working our way through British titles via our NF subscription. We're a we bit obsessed with Brit TV. As someone else mentioned PRIME SUPECT, CRACKER. Both are GREAT shows. Luther is pretty good so far, we've only seen through season 2. Problem with British shows is you never know how many "series"(seasons) your going to get. Some shows even when they do really well get canned much like many US show I guess. Just sucks because you have to wait a year or more to get a Brit show on dvd here in US. They often go a year or more without any new episodes. So sometimes we(American's) go 2-3yrs between seasons. Just when you think you've heard the last of a Series you get news they are making a new set of episodes. I've listed a lot, but could list another 20+. Great Britain is known for their mysteries. If you've never seen the show "Sherlock" with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman I highly recommend it.
Foyle's War
Murphy's Law
Inspector Lewis
George Gently
Inspector Lynley
New Tricks
Waking the Dead
Murdoch Mysteries(Canadian but entertaining) -
passinby — 11 years ago(May 26, 2014 07:38 PM)
I tend to watch more British crime dramas than American ones, more depth and more cerebral.
I second these
I agree about "The Fall", it starts slow but grabbed me. Gillian Anderson is ok, but Jamie Dornan is scary, what an outstanding young actor. A series 2 is being filmed. It's set in Northern Ireland where the cops carry guns.
Prime Suspect - Helen Mirren owns the "Jane Tennison" character, no one could ever play the part as well. A great series.
Foyle's War - set in Hastings, England during WWII then changes to London and MI-5 post War.
Morse and the two spin offs; Inspector Lewis and Endeavour - set in Oxford, England (think Oxford University) Inspector Lewis - when Morse died his bag man (sergeant) got promoted to inspector and a new series began Endeavor- new series about Morse when he started as a detective in 1960s Oxford.
Case Histories - two series only, should have been renewed - stars Jason Issacs
55 Degrees North
Pie in the Sky -
DrZaat — 10 years ago(June 14, 2015 10:56 AM)
A "bag man" is someone who makes the rounds, picking up illegally obtained moneye.g., protection money, gambling receipts, etc. Unless you're trying to imply that Morse and Lewis were bent cops [they weren't], you should find another term.
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DrZaat — 10 years ago(February 20, 2016 06:02 PM)
I take back what I said. In the US, a "bag man" always refers to a flunky for a criminal boss. However, I just watched an episode of
The Sweeney
in which someone refers to Carter as Regan's bag man. Apparently, in the UK the term doesn't have the exclusively criminal connotation it does here. -
PurpleProseOfCairo — 11 years ago(September 12, 2014 04:54 PM)
Can I recommend one from the other end of the scale - Juliet Bravo?
It's a low budget, homely drama about a small rural police station in the North of England. The unique selling point was that the new boss wasgaspa woman! This was a big deal in the late Seventies. How would the men react?
As a former police officer myself, Juliet Bravo appealed to me as a realistic, downbeat portrayal of a backwater police station - very similar to one I used to work at. It follows the fortunes of enthusiastic young officers and the seasoned old Sergeant, Joe Beck, an immensely likeable character.
After Southland, The Wire etc, Juliet Bravo will be a culture shock for American viewers - but if you want something different and uniquely British, give it a look.
Awight we're The Daamned we're a punk baand and this is called Carn't Be Appy T'day! -
PrickWithAFork — 11 years ago(October 16, 2014 06:34 AM)
I loved The Cops and went on a few dates with a (female) cast memeber! No names, no pack drillthey were filming near me and I just went for it.
Happy Valley is staggeringly good, enough said.
I'm a Prick With a Fork. -
sixpaws67 — 11 years ago(October 31, 2014 11:08 PM)
Ripper Street is awesome. The first episode focuses on a modern-day Jack the Ripper, to draw us in, but after that it's normal cop stuff and it is excellent. First-rate.
I heard Whitechapel is good but I have only just started it. -
kimscorner — 10 years ago(July 22, 2015 10:25 PM)
- Amnesia
- Collision
- Copper
- DCI Banks
- The Escape Artist
- Frost
- Messiah (Ken Stotts)
- Ripper Street
- Thorne: Sleepyhead
- Blackpool is another British series that is done very differently. It is a murder mystery musicallol in every episode one or some of the characters breaks into song. It sounds strange but they pulled it off wonderfully.
I am not sure if Crossing Lines is an American show or from somewhere else but it involves an international group of detectives working together.
Also I would recommend the Swedish version of The Bridge.
I have watched most of the British shows recommended by others that answered your question and I liked them all.
Another British show is called Silk. It isn't about Police but about people trying to rise through the ranks of the court system and the cases they try.
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Gemma_Philips — 10 years ago(January 31, 2016 10:53 PM)
This is the Southland message board. If you are looking for a show close to Southland but set in the UK, you should check out the show called "The Bill".
Like Southland it shows the work of both the Uniformed Police and the Detectives. The stories are all realistic everyday type of scenarios the British police encounter.
The shows being suggested to you in this thread are the equivalent of the X-Files in terms of reality.
Southland was good because of it's realism and honesty. The only British Cop show like it is "The Bill".