8 Best British Crime Series on Netflix: Crime Series, the English Way

Riye
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It is probably something that you may or may have not seen on the internet, but have you ever come across the line, “If I had a British accent, I would never shut up”? If you have seen it and you agree, then chances are you are also addicted to anything British. Let us just face it: there is something about the way they talk that makes everything more exciting. Lucky for us, they also have shows that give excitement and the accent is just a bonus.

There are British crime series all over streaming platforms but there are just some that are certainly better than the others. In today’s list, we are going to take a look at the best British crime series on Netflix to get you started on your crime series binge-watching.

Criminal: United Kingdom

Genre: TV mysteries, Crime TV shows

Year: 2019 - Present

Seasons: 2

Episode runtime: 41-48 minutes

Cast:

  • Katherine Kelly as Detective Chief Inspector Natalie Hobbs

  • Lee Ingleby as Detective Inspector Tony Myerscough

  • Mark Stanley as Detective Constable Hugo Duffy

  • Rochenda Sandall as Detective Constable Vanessa Warren

  • Shubham Saraf as Detective Constable Kyle Petit

  • Nicholas Pinnock as Detective Inspector Paul Ottager

  • Aymen Hamdouchi as Detective Sergeant Jamie Reiss

Synopsis:

In each episode set in a police interrogation room, members of the specialized interrogative unit of the Metropolitan police play a game of psychology and intelligent questioning tactics to make their suspect give the answers they need to solve the case. Crimes include murder, rape, sexual abuse, and gambling, among others.

Collateral

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Year: 2018

Seasons: 1 season, 4 episodes

Cast:

  • Carey Mulligan as Detective Inspector Kip Glaspie

  • John Simm as David Mars MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport

  • Billie Piper as Karen Mars, David's ex-wife

  • Nicola Walker as the Reverend Jane Oliver

  • Nathaniel Martello-White as Detective Sergeant Nathan Bilk

  • Jeany Spark as Captain Sandrine Shaw, British Army

The shows writer and creator, David Hare, described the series as 'a police procedural without any of that police attitudinising.' The show revolves around the an incident of shooting wherein Abdullah Asif, a Muslim pizza delivery guy, and DI Kip Glaspie, an investigator, try their best in an attempt to solve the murder. The series also has underlying themes on the state of politics in England, the Syrian refugee crisis, and various immigration laws.

Stay Close

Genre: Crime drama, Mystery thriller

Year: 2012

Seasons: 1 season, 8 episodes

Cast:

  • Cush Jumbo as Megan Pierce-Shaw / Cassie Morris

  • James Nesbitt as DS Michael Broome

  • Richard Armitage as Ray Levine

  • Sarah Parish as Lorraine Griggs

Megan Pierce is a mother of three who lives in the fictional suburbs of Livingstone, but unlike other moms in town, she hides a dark past. Other people in town are also connected to her: Dave, her husband; Ray Levine, a former photographer; and Michael Broome, a detective who is still haunted by a 17-year-old cold case of Stewart Green’s disappearance.

When another person disappears on Green’s anniversary, Broome takes on the case in an attempt to piece everything together and discovers that the lives that others lead may not be what they show.

Marcella

Genre: Crime noir, Nordic noir

Year: 2016 - present

Seasons: 3

Main Cast:

  • Anna Friel as Detective Sergeant Marcella Backland

  • Ray Panthaki as Detective Chief Inspector/Detective Inspector Rav Sangha

  • Nicholas Pinnock as Jason Backland

  • Jamie Bamber as Detective Chief Inspector/Detective Inspector Tim Williamson

  • Nina Sosanya as Detective Chief Inspector Laura Porter 

Marcella Backland is a former London detective but returns back to service to solve an open case 11 years earlier. The case involves an unidentified serial killer who seems to be making rounds again.

Aside from her stressful work life, Marcella also has to deal with her family issues when her husband, Jason, decided to leave her. The two first decide to send their children to boarding school so they can focus on their own goals, but Jason later decides to use Marcella’s mental disorder to take full custody of their children.

Sophie: A Murder in West Cork (Limited Series)

Genre: Documentary, Murder, Crime

Year: 2021

Seasons: 1 season, 3 episodes

Cast:

  • Ian Bailey

  • Barry Roche

  • Eugene Gilligan

The story follows French film and TV producer Sophie Toscan Du Plantier who was killed while she was isolated in a cottage in West Cork, Ireland in 1996. Her head was struck with a concrete block and her body was found later that day in a thicket.

The documentary follows a day-to-day interview of the residents who lived and are still living in the area and how their statements could be helpful in solving what really happened to Sophie.

Paranoid

Genre: Crime drama, Thriller

Year: 2016

Seasons: 1 season, 8 episodes

Cast:

  • Indira Varma as DS Nina Suresh

  • Robert Glenister as DC Bobby Day

  • Dino Fetscher as DC Alec Wayfield

  • Neil Stuke as DI Michael Niles

  • Christiane Paul as Detective Linda Felber

  • Lesley Sharp as Lucy Cannonbury

  • Michael Maloney as Chris Crowley

  • Kevin Doyle as the Ghost Detective

  • Dominik Tiefenthaler as Detective Walti Merian

  • Polly Walker as Monica Wayfield

  • Anjli Mohindra as PC Megan Waters

  • Danny Huston as Nick Waingrow

In the fictional town of Woodmere, a doctor named Angela Benton is stabbed to death while in a children’s playground. Woodmere Police detectives DS Nina Suresh, DC Bobby Day, DC Alec Wayfield, and DI Michael Niles get assigned to work on the case. They first suspect Jacob Appley, a local who is known to be a mental patient under the care of Dr. Chris Crowley, to be the suspect. But when Appley gets killed, Henry, his brother, is convinced that Appley was only framed and the real killer is still on the loose.

Concurrently, a “Ghost Detective” sends clues and evidence that  could help the detectives solve the case. As they continue the investigation, they see a link to Angela’s ex-boyfriend Ruben Lukana. The team cooperates with Dusseldorf’s Linda Feliber to look up Lukana but later on discover that he is face down in his swimming pool. Feliber enlists her partner, Walti Merian, to help with the investigation. A suspect is later on identified but then flees to Germany and a chase ensues.

Bodyguard

Genre: Drama, Police procedural, Political thriller

Year: 2018 - Present

Seasons: 1 season, 6 episodes

Cast:

Budd family

  • Richard Madden as PS David Budd

  • Sophie Rundle as Vicky Budd

Government

  • Keeley Hawes as The Rt. Hon. Julia Montague MP

  • Nicholas Gleaves as The Rt. Hon. Roger Penhaligon MP

  • David Westhead as The Rt. Hon. John Vosler MP

  • Paul Ready as Rob MacDonald

Police

  • Gina McKee as Commander Anne Sampson

  • Pippa Haywood as CSI Lorraine Craddock

  • Nina Toussaint-White as DS Louise Rayburn

  • Ash Tandon as DCI Deepak Sharma

Criminals

  • Matt Stokoe as Luke Aikens

  • Anjli Mohindra as Nadia Ali

The Bodyguard follows the life of PS David Budd, a war veteran who is now working as a Specialist Protection Officer for the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service. What he does not know, though, is that the m

The Stranger

Genre: Mystery

Year: 2020

Seasons: 1 season, 8 episodes

Cast:

  • Richard Armitage as Adam Price

  • Siobhán Finneran as Detective Sergeant (DS) Johanna Griffin

  • Jennifer Saunders as Heidi Doyle

A woman who is said to be the Stranger tells a seemingly normal man a secret that would change his life. As the series progresses, it is discovered that this stranger knows more secrets that one can imagine. This secret that she tells the man affects the man’s wife who goes missing.

Now this list contains just some of the most original and adventurous British crime dramas you will see on Netflix. Many on this list might be some that you have already heard of, but one thing is for sure, and that it is worth your time to watch these shows.