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Nov 3, 2023 · Looking for strong female detectives in British detective series? We've got Vera, Agatha Raisin, The Fall, and many more great British detective series Pints, Pounds, & Pâté
- 15 Prime Suspect
- 14 Vera
- 13 Scott & Bailey
- 12 Karen Pirie
- 11 Marcella
- 10 Miss Marple
- 9 Broadchurch
- 8 Happy Valley
- 7 Line of Duty
- 6 The Bletchley Circle
The incomparable Helen Mirren stars as Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect, which is basically the OG in terms of female-led detective shows. Running for seven seasons starting in 1991 and written by Lynda La Plante, Jane solves brutal murders in London, leading an unruly crew of misogynist underlings who bristle under a woman’...
Along with the hit crime series Shetland, Vera is based on a series of novels penned by British mystery writer Ann Cleeves, and 12 seasons have been filmed to date. Award-winning actress Brenda Blethyn plays Vera Stanhope, a rumpled, often flustered lead detective working in Northern England, wearing a hat that makes her look like Snufkin from the ...
What’s better than one female detective running the show? Three of them: Lesley Sharp as Detective Constable Janet Scott, Suranne Jones as Detective Constable Rachel Bailey, and Amelia Bullmore as Detective Chief Inspector Gill Murray (for all but the 5th and final season) on Manchester’s Major Incident Team. Scott and Bailey are best friends (usua...
This one will be a mini-binge, as there has only been one season filmed so far, but that first one definitely warrants a second. Lauren Lyle plays Karen Pirie, a popular character who appears in six of Scottish writer Val McDermid’s crime novels. Pirie is thrown in charge of her first big case, largely because the top brass are under pressure to pu...
Marcella is categorized as British ‘Nordic noir’, and was written, directed, and produced by the creator of Scandinavian hit The Bridge, but that doesn’t really explain why this is one of the more bonkers detective shows you’ll see. The titular character is played by Anna Friel, and at first look she’s a detective investigating the possible resurge...
We’re going to be talking about the BBC version that ran from 1984 to 1992 and starred Joan Hickson as Agatha Christie’s sprightly senior detective, tackling the full dozen of Christie’s Miss Marple novels. Although she was famously unhappy with adaptations of her work, Christie had expressed to Hickson years before that she hoped she would end up ...
Okay, so this isn’t strictly what you might call "female-led", but Olivia Colman as Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller is definitely the beating heart of a show in which David Tennant as Detective Inspector Alex Hardy started out as the big name. By the time the third season ended in 2017, Colman was truly a (well-deserved) star internationally instea...
If you like your shows gritty, run don’t walk toHappy Valley, a misnomer if there ever was one. Set in a very dreary West Yorkshire, this show belongs to Sarah Lancashire as Catherine Cawood, a police sergeant who’s also raising her grandson after the suicide of her daughter after his birth as a product of sexual assault. Cawood already has a siste...
Again, not strictly female-led, but the six-season show would have a massive hole without Vicky McClure as Detective Constable Kate Flemming, working in partnership with Martin Compston as Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott at Anti-Corruption Unit 12, which is sort of like Internal Affairs on Law & Order, investigating corrupt cops. And boy are there ...
The four women leading this mystery period piece aren’t police detectives but codebreakers who worked together at Bletchley Park during WWII. The series begins several years afterwards, when the women are regular citizens again, but notice a series of London murders that seem to be eluding either the attention or the understanding of the police. Cu...
- Molly Pohlig
- Scott & Bailey (2011-2016) Created by award-winning writer Sally Wainwright (Gentlemen Jack, Happy Valley), Scott & Bailey follows the lives of two female detectives working with Manchester Police’s Major Incident Team.
- Unforgotten (2015-present) Unforgotten sees DI Sunil “Sunny” Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) and his partner DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker), and later DCI Jess James (Sinéad Keenan) solve various harrowing cold cases amid the hustle and bustle of London.
- DCI Banks (2010-2016) Based on Peter Robinson’s Inspector Alan Banks novels, DCI Banks stars Stephen Tompkinson as the titular detective, a stubborn and tenacious man hellbent on unraveling every single gruesome murder mystery that comes his way.
- Annika (2021-present) If you loved Nicola Walker’s performance in Unforgotten, you’ll surely love her performance in Annika as well. DI Annika Strandhed is the head of Glasgow’s Marine Homicide Unit, juggling various gruesome murder cases while trying to raise a headstrong teenage daughter at the same time.
- Inspector Lewis. Kevin Whately, Laurence Fox, Rebecca Front. 8,814 votes. Set in the picturesque university city of Oxford, this thrilling spin-off of the classic detective series follows the brilliant Detective Inspector Robbie Lewis and his equally sharp sidekick DS James Hathaway.
- Endeavour. Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Anton Lesser. 10,557 votes. Embark on a spellbinding prequel to the renowned Inspector Morse, witnessing the early career of a young Endeavour Morse.
- Unforgotten. Sanjeev Bhaskar, Jordan Long, Carolina Main. 4,359 votes. DCI Cassie Stuart and DI Sunil Khan delve into long-dormant cases that have seemingly slipped through the cracks of time.
- Shetland. Douglas Henshall, Alison O'Donnell, Steven Robertson. 7,304 votes. Journey to the windswept, remote islands of Shetland, where DI Jimmy Perez navigates the treacherous waters of crime in a tight-knit community.
Mar 28, 2018 · In that spirit, here’s a list of my favorite female detectives on British TV, both past and present. Jane Marple, as played by Joan Hickson. Where better to start than with the Queen of Crime herself, and – for me – her most enduring and memorable creation.
Mar 1, 2024 · British crime and detective shows, from Line of Duty to The Fall, offer pulse-pounding police action, along with a dose of family drama.
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Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: With Essie Davis, Nathan Page, Hugo Johnstone-Burt, Ashleigh Cummings. A female sleuth sashays through the back lanes and jazz clubs of Melbourne in the late 1920s, fighting injustice with her pearl-handled pistol and her dagger-sharp wit.
