April has seen record rainfall across the U.S. and a solar eclipse that captivated the world. Yet there are also the constants in life: love, death, taxes, and … British crime shows?!? That’s right, the genre that brings us posh accents and elegant corpses never seems to go out of style, and this month, there are a handful of good series to check out if you’re interested in the macabre.
If you’ve already watched them or just need new recommendations to fill up your queue, then the following three selections are just the ticket for quality entertainment. One show premiered earlier this year on Netflix, another features stars from the MCU and Mad Men, and the other adapts a series of popular novels.
Need more recommendations? Check out the best British shows on Netflix and the best British shows on Hulu.
Case Histories (2011-2013)
British crime shows typically have a different way of adapting popular novels to the small screen. In shows like Dalgliesh, a full season will often adapt three or more stories rather than just focus on one plot/narrative. The unifying factor is usually the main character, typically a detective or a member of law enforcement, who guides the view from case to case and murder to murder.
One of the best of the last decade is Case Histories, which adapts several novels by Kate Atkinson that feature protagonist Jackson Brodie. As played by Jason Isaacs, Brodie doesn’t stray too far from the male detective stereotype: he’s tough but fair, gruff yet lovable, and so forth. Over two seasons, Case Histories adapted six of Atkinson’s novels. All are good, but the best of them is One Good Turn, season one’s third and fourth episodes, which spins an intriguing yarn that involves a body floating out to sea, a seemingly unrelated road rage incident, and a past vacation in Russia that quickly went sour.
Case Histories is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Tin Star (2017-2020)
Tin Star is not your usual British crime series because most of its storyline is set in the Canadian Rockies. Yet the character that actor Tim Roth plays, Jim Worth, is a former police detective from England, and the third season takes place in Worth’s hometown of Liverpool.
Roth’s police detective isn’t your usual crime show protagonist due to the simple fact that he’s also the antagonist. Similar to the 2005 film A History of Violence, Tin Star tells a story about a reformed man with a violent past and how, when his prior unforgivable actions catch up to him, he has to question his newfound ethics and maybe cross ethical lines in order to protect his family. Roth is great as always, but Tin Star also sports the dual pleasures of its beautiful Canadian locations and co-star Christina Hendricks, who has her best role since Mad Men as a shady oil company executive.
Tin Star is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Detective Forst (2024)
Here’s another main character who doesn’t play by any rule book, which is probably why audiences like watching the show he’s in. Detective Forst topped the charts earlier this year when it debuted on Netflix, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s gripping, often shocking, and its snowy landscape and bursts of graphic violence are reminiscent of other successful crime stories like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Wiktor Forst (Borys Szyc) has a lot of problems: His personal life is a mess, he hates his boss, and he isn’t particularly liked by many of his peers. But perhaps the biggest problem he has to solve is figuring out who is behind a series of murders at a posh Polish resort. With the help of Olga Szrebska (Zuzanna Saporznikow), he may just find his killer. But at what cost?
Detective Forst is streaming on Netflix.
