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What's some good TV crime fiction?

Red Arremer

Red Arremer

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
12,259
I've been wanting to watch some murder mystery shows lately, and have been wondering if maybe I should get some recommendations. I'll happily take German language shows as well! I also have made a list of shows that sound promising, but I'd love to hear some opinions before I delve into them.

I've seen most of the Agatha Christie shows (Marple and Poirot, mainly), as well as most of Murder She Wrote, so no need to suggest those. I also am aware of Sherlock (the Cucumberbatch one), but have no interest in that one.

Here's the shows I've been thinking of checking out:
Inspector Morse
Midsomer Murders
The Shadow Line
Whitechapel
Vera
Elementary
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
and the German production 'Donna Leon'.

I also don't want any supernatural stuff - I watch whodunits for the mystery, and a lot of it gets lost when magic or demons are involved. :p

Thanks in advance. <3
 
It’s Time To Go

It’s Time To Go

Member
Dec 2, 2017
20,625
Red Arremer said:
Could you give me a little bit more than just the name? I'll check it out, but I wanna hear some thoughts on the show, why you think it's good, that jazz, if you don't mind!
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It's a Murder mystery show set during world war 2 on the British south coast. Detective chief superident foyle is our main character, he solves murders against the backdrop of the war.
 
Massive Nights

Massive Nights

Member
Oct 30, 2017
966
Columbo is a classic! It's flips the whodunnit though by showing you who the murderer is right at the start, then taking you through the process of how Columbo figures it out. The joy in it is watching Peter Falk's performance toying with the suspects as he teases out the clues.
 
Timbuktu

Timbuktu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,234
Is Tatort still a massive thing in Germany? When I stayed with a friend there, she doesn't wasn't TV much at all but Tatort seems to be an institution.

There seems to have been so many season long murder series in the last decade. There's Broachurch, which I kinda liked, particularly with Olivia Coleman. The Fall also stood out for me, both from UK, ITV and BBC respectively.
 
Peru

Peru

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,129
Happy Valley is one of the great modern cop shows. Two seasons out. Northern England. Some of the most naturalistic dialogue you'll hear on TV. Rough case but otherwise more about 'everyday' people and detectives.

The new BBC production The Capture is pretty good, a little silly at times (but not as silly as the overrated The Bodyguard), but very fun and thrilling enough with themes of surveillance, privacy. Holliday Grainger is good. Collateral on Netflix is similar. Not groundbreaking stuff, but a good lead and a fun mystery.

Spy crime: The old BBC version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with Alec Guiness is an all-time great TV production, all-time great cold war production.

Also spy crime: The french show The Bureau, highly realistic spy/secret service work makes it more nail-biting than the many silly depictions we see otherwise.

The new Netflix show Unbelievable is really great, amazing lead performance by Kaitlyn Dever, based on a true story.
 
DrDamn

DrDamn

Member
Oct 27, 2017
466
Montalbano (and spin off Young Montalbano) are great. In Italian so subtitles needed unless you speak the language. The interest is not normally in complexity of the cases, but characters, beautiful setting (Sicily) and Italian food/culture.
 
OP
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Red Arremer

Red Arremer

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
12,259
Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I'll definitely check some of 'em out. Feel free to keep em coming, and also if you've seen any of the ones in the OP, tell me what you think about them.

Massive Nights said:
Columbo is a classic! It's flips the whodunnit though by showing you who the murderer is right at the start, then taking you through the process of how Columbo figures it out. The joy in it is watching Peter Falk's performance toying with the suspects as he teases out the clues.
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I totally forgot to mention that I've seen Columbo.
Also stuff like CSI and all that jazz I've seen as well, which wasn't exactly up my alley.
 
FaceHugger

FaceHugger

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
13,949
USA
The Killing is pretty good. It feels a bit padded out but it begins and ends well.

And of course there's True Detective s1.
 
Window

Window

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,283
More spy fiction than crime fiction but The Little Drummer Girl is fantastic.

Bablyon Berlin - set in post WW1 Berlin is great fun too. Starts off as a crime thriller whodunit but evolves into a political thriller. Highly recommended.

FaceHugger said:
The Killing is pretty good. It feels a bit padded out but it begins and ends well.

And of course there's True Detective s1.
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Season 3 is pretty good too but more for its ruminations on age and memory than the central mystery.
 
JediTimeBoy

JediTimeBoy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,810
I know you said not Sherlock, but what about the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984)?
Also Psych!
The Mentalist is great too.
 
OP
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Red Arremer

Red Arremer

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
12,259
JediTimeBoy said:
I know you said not Sherlock, but what about the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984)?
Also Psych!
The Mentalist is great too.
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Psych and Mentalist sound exactly like the kinds of show I'd rather not have. I don't have interest in magical abilities allowing the protag(s) to solve the crime.
It's part of why I dislike Sherlock - it's more focused on making Sherlock look like a genius and the weird character drama than it is about the murders. Sherlock gets the evidence off-screen and then just dumps it and expects the viewer (and other characters) to applaud him for his genius. The mind palace thing also is kind of like 'magic'. It just isn't my cup of tea.

I will look into that 80s Sherlock though.
 
JediTimeBoy

JediTimeBoy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,810
Red Arremer said:
Psych and Mentalist sound exactly like the kinds of show I'd rather not have. I don't have interest in magical abilities allowing the protag(s) to solve the crime.
It's part of why I dislike Sherlock - it's more focused on making Sherlock look like a genius and the weird character drama than it is about the murders. Sherlock gets the evidence off-screen and then just dumps it and expects the viewer (and other characters) to applaud him for his genius. The mind palace thing also is kind of like 'magic'. It just isn't my cup of tea.

I will look into that 80s Sherlock though.
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Aah, I thought you meant magical abilities, literally.
 

mclem

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,452
Not exactly a whodunnit - although definitely twisty-turny:

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Line Of Duty.

Five series so far, each basically tracking one case of police corruption; I've not seen all of them, but what I have seen has been unequivocally excellent.
 
JediTimeBoy

JediTimeBoy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,810
Red Arremer said:
That too - I know there's some mystery shows that have legit fantasy elements in them, which I did mean to include, but I also meant low-fantasy such as psychic abilities. Sorry for not being clear about it! :)
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Got you. Just to be clear, Psych and the Mentalist aren't based on magical abilities etc, Psych is a guy pretending to be a psychic, and the Mentalist is about a guy that used to pretend to be psychic.
 
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Red Arremer

Red Arremer

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
12,259
JediTimeBoy said:
Got you. Just to be clear, Psych and the Mentalist aren't based on magical abilities etc, Psych is a guy pretending to be a psychic, and the Mentalist is about a guy that used to pretend to be psychic.
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In Psych's wiki article I read that the character uses "heightened senses", at least, which to me is still low fantasy powers.
Mentalist would be more interesting, but I generally like more down to earth stuff of detectives figuring shit out, which is why I'm not sure it'd be up my alley. I can give it a shot though, maybe it'll sell me.
 
JediTimeBoy

JediTimeBoy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,810
Red Arremer said:
In Psych's wiki article I read that the character uses "heightened senses", at least, which to me is still low fantasy powers.
Mentalist would be more interesting, but I generally like more down to earth stuff of detectives figuring shit out, which is why I'm not sure it'd be up my alley. I can give it a shot though, maybe it'll sell me.
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Yeah heightened senses, as in Sherlock Holmes style observation.
Death in Paradise is pretty cool too, have a read up on it if you get a chance. I also second Jonathan Creek.

Edit: I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Monk!
 
ThereAre4Lights

ThereAre4Lights

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
4,858
Trapped - Icelandic show - Season 2 just aired in the past year. I love this show! It can get fairly violent sometimes. It's on Amazon Prime in the US.
www.imdb.com

Trapped (TV Series 2015– ) - IMDb

Ófærð (TV Series 2015– ) Reference View
www.imdb.com www.imdb.com

Cardinal - Canadian crime - with Billy Campbell from The Killing. I've only watched the first season and it's pretty decent.
There are three seasons so far, but they are very short at six episodes each.
 
Nida

Nida

Member
Aug 31, 2019
11,190
Everett, Washington
You might like Veronica Mars. Do you like hard boiled noir type mysteries?

The first season is about the lead character investigating her best friends murder. It went 3 seasons, then got a Kickstarter movie, and now has a mini series on Hulu. The writing is great, and so is the cast.
 

Jesiatha

Member
Oct 27, 2017
147
Bron/Broen (The Bridge) is a Swedish/Danish show. Really well done. Saga Norén (the Swedish investigator) is one of my favorite TV characters ever.
 
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