10 Best British TV Detectives Of All Time, Ranked

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Many of the best British TV shows of all time shine because of the way they craft their lead characters. This especially applies to the best British crime dramas out there. Sure, they routinely feature amazing and complex murder mysteries and other criminal investigations, but what we really remember are the detectives on the case.

From hard-boiled tough guys who risk losing their humanity as they dive deeper into the evils of mankind to lovable eccentrics who use their unique skill sets to point out clues that everyone else missed, the best British TV detectives come in many flavors. They might focus on series-long arcs or cases of the week. Their shows may center on their professional identities or cast an unforgiving light on their personal lives. However, the one thing they all have in common is their ability to command the scene from the moment they enter the frame.

Today, we take a look at the 10 finest representatives in the honored lineage of amazing British TV detectives.

10. Ellie Miller (Broadchurch)

Some fans of “Broadchurch” might lionize “Doctor Who” star David Tennant’s misanthropic Alec Hardy, but when push comes to shove, Olie best female TV detectives of all time, Ellie is central to the events from the beginning, and probably one of the most deeply human police characters you can find on TV

Ellie starts out as an authority figure who’s sympathetic, kind, finely tuned into her community, and seemingly unjustly passed for promotion — a polar opposite to her reluctant new supervisor, Hardy. On paper, this might be a thankless task that locks Ellie into a hostile second fiddle role while Tennant is free to have a ball with Hardy’s aloof nature and tragic past. However, Ellie’s arc goes places you might not expect, and as the events of Season 1 in particular proceed, she gets put through things that would break a lesser woman many times over.

Colman has a lot to work with, in other words. She absolutely owns the role, portraying Ellie’s grounded nature and everyday morality in an inherently relatable way. And when Ellie finally learns the hard way that the world’s evils can be closer than she could ever imagine, Colman’s heart-shattering performance offers hints of why she went on to win an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy.

9. Gene Hunt (Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes)

“Life on Mars” is far from a conventional cop show, but boy, does it feature a detective character for the ages. The story kicks off when capable modern cop Sam Tyler (John Simm) has an accident and wakes up in the year 1973, having somehow time traveled decades into the past. Uncertain of what’s going on, Sam begins his new career as a 1970s policeman under Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), a wildly politically incorrect hardman. Gene is an incredibly old-school cop who believes in violence and bribes, but isn’t entirely without his redeeming traits. Along with Sam’s time-displaced predicament, Gene’s complex nature and the pair’s strained relationship deliver the show’s stakes, and Glenister immediately establishes himself as an automatic scene stealer.

After “Life on Mars,” Gene and his cohorts return when Detective Inspector Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) finds herself in a similar, 1980s-themed situation on follow-up series “Ashes to Ashes.” The setting has changed from Manchester to London, and Gene is a slightly more benevolent and less corrupt figure this time around. Because Alex is familiar with Sam’s case, “Ashes to Ashes” expands on Gene’s meta nature, and eventually peeks behind the veil to reveal the truth behind this mysterious cowboy cop and his world. Still, the prominent fantasy elements on both shows never stop Gene from maintaining his status as one of the most magnetic British TV detectives out there.

8. Ted Hastings (Line of Duty)

Jed Mercurio’s “Line of Duty” is one of the most underrated detective shows of all time, and Adrian Dunbar’s Ted Hastings is at the center of it all. The charismatic and capable leader of Anti-Corruption Unit 12 is in a position to be the Big Good of the show, but since his job is to routinely investigate and expose corrupt cops who hold sway within the force, he pays for many of his decisions dearly.

“Line of Duty” walks an interesting tightrope with Ted. The show very openly presents him as its catchphrase-spewing, reasonable authority figure archetype. However, his apparent stern infallibility hides a series of extremely human problems, including his inability to manage his finances. What’s more, the show highlights his combination of integrity and personal failings by constantly teasing that Ted himself might be secretly corrupt.

Dunbar’s portrayal allows the AC-12 boss to be both immensely likeable and just broken enough to keep audiences guessing. The end result is one of the most wonderfully layered figures in the British cop drama scene.

7. Jane Tennison (Prime Suspect)

Jane Tennison suffers no fools, and maintains her integrity regardless of which particular policing hat she wears during any given season of “Prime Suspect.” Helen Mirren portrayed her iconic detective character for seven short series that dropped between 1991 and 2006, covering Tennison’s career path as she smashes glass ceilings, solves crimes, and serves stints in various rotating squads as needed.

“Prime Suspect” brought us a complex female police detective protagonist in the early 1990s, when such roles were few and far between. Tennison still remains one of the defining examples of this particular character, and the series routinely showcases her tenacity by putting her through wringer after wringer.

While Tennison is hard as nails, she’s not immune to the stresses and brutalities of her work. To give you an idea of how well Mirren approaches the challenge and infuses the character with nuance, two of her four Emmys come from this role.

6. Tom Barnaby (Midsomer Murders)

“Midsomer Murders” has been going on since 1997, and John Nettles’ DCI Tom Barnaby hasn’t been part of the proceedings since 2011. Still, the unflappable detective remained the linchpin of the show for so long that when he retired, “Midsomer Murders” didn’t dare step too far away from the Barnaby bloodline; instead, the series simply wheeled in Tom’s cousin, John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon), to take over the leading man duties.

It’s understandable that “Midsomer Murders” didn’t wish to reinvent the Barnaby wheel after Nettles departed. The show presents Tom as a borderline cheat code. A polite and impeccably dressed man with a dry British wit, he’s easy to like and even easier to respect — and he’s affable enough to accidentally befriend more than one villager who eventually turns out to be the killer of the week. However, he’s also a former MI6 man with an absolute steel trap mind and a willingness to disregard minor infractions in order to get results.

With Nettles’ charming portrayal, Tom Barnaby is the perfect detective drama storm, and an ideal way to add value to a comfort watch mystery show. Sure, we already know that the killer will be caught at the end of the episode. However, the true allure of “Midsomer Murders” lies in seeing what happens when a wildly overqualified gentleman detective rolls into an idyllic Midsomer County village with a sergeant in tow and a murder investigation in mind.

5. John Luther (Luther)

Idris Elba’s John Luther isn’t evil. Let’s get that out of the way right now. However, he’s often misguided, morally ambiguous, and conflicted. Much of this stems from his particular method of solving crimes, which involves exposing his brain to the way murderers and terrible evildoers think. The rest comes from his chronic inability to relax even for a single second. Luther looms, broods, flies solo, and watches over others even at the expense of his own mental well-being. It’s telling that even a stone-cold sociopath like Luther’s adversary-slash-love interest Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson) has expressed concern about his mental health.

The titular character of “Luther” is the quintessential tormented detective. A legendary but famously fallible figure within London’s Serious Crime Unit, Luther is the guy you set loose as a last resort, fully knowing that he can go rogue at any given second. Despite his many, many faults, Luther is a good man who tries to believe in the good things in life. It’s just that he’s always ready to step between the world and bad people, and the personal cost is invariably steep.

4. Vera Stanhope (Vera)

How easy it is to underestimate Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope (Brenda Blethyn) of Northumberland and City Police. She calls people “pet” or “love.” She dresses like she was on her way to tend her garden when someone called her to investigate a murder at a moment’s notice. She drives a laughably barebones Land Rover Defender. She’s disgruntled and perpetually close to retirement. And then, just when you’re tempted to write her off, she solves an impossible crime simply by pointing out a few minor, overlooked details.

Over 14 seasons of “Vera,” Blethyn crafts a nuanced picture of a woman who isn’t interested in decorum or niceties, but who can solve a tricky murder case in her sleep. Vera’s no-frills attitude might be her core trait, but she’s still able to care about the people she deals with (at least the non-murderous ones). She simply expresses herself in far more hostile terms than what her actual thoughts and feelings are.

3. Endeavour Morse (Inspector Morse, Endeavour)

John Thaw’s stuffy, grouchy, grumpy, and patronizing DCI Morse could and arguably should be a horrible man. However, his conservative outlook and attitudes that were arguably dated even when “Inspector Morse” started its run in 1987 hide a kind, compassionate man whose superficial personality traits often contradict with his passions and deep morality.

Dangerously intelligent and fond of the good things in life, Morse loves his real ale, women, and crosswords. The latter hobby is so prevalent that when we finally find out that his first name is Endeavour, he doesn’t simply say it — instead, he presents it as a crossword clue.

Like other detectives in this list’s top three, Morse holds the distinction of appearing in multiple projects, with more than one actor having played the role. In his case, Shaun Evans picked up the torch in 2012 for the 1960s-themed prequel series “Endeavour,” which depicts Morse’s early years in the Oxford City Police.

2. Jane Marple

Miss Jane Marple of St. Mary Mead is one of the most ubiquitous British TV detective presences out there, to the point that instead of pinpointing a single series about her, it’s better to look at the bigger picture. Gracie Fields portrayed her in an episode of “Goodyear Television Playhouse” way back in 1956, Margaret Rutherford took over in the 1960s, and the character has kept returning ever since. Her televised heyday was undoubtedly in the 1980s, when Helen Hayes starred in a pair of Marple-themed CBS TV films — and perhaps more importantly, Joan Hickson started her tenure as arguably the definitive live-action incarnation of the character on “Miss Marple.” Later, Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie portrayed the character in “Agatha Christie’s Marple” between 2004 and 2013.

Miss Marple’s appeal lies in the fact that she’s not a conventional police detective at all. She’s simply an old lady with a sharp mind, keen instincts, a tendency to gossip, and an uncanny ability to end up in situations that involve criminal investigations. Instead of leaning on traditional investigative methods, Marple uses her many decades of social experience as the basis of her crime-solving, drawing parallels from comparatively mundane village incidents and heinous crimes due to the similar elements of human nature at play.

1. Sherlock Holmes

Just the Benedict Cumberbatch version of Sherlock Holmes would be enough to put the character in the discussion of the best British TV detectives ever. But BBC’s “Sherlock” gives us just one aspect of Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved consulting detective, doesn’t it?

The Great Detective’s masterful deductive powers have long entered the cultural lexicon as a shorthand for legendary detective work. What’s more, Holmes has proved to be an incredibly malleable character, and he and his key supporting cast have seen countless iterations over the years. The best Sherlock Holmes TV shows of all time range from American procedural adaptations to Japanese gender-swapped reimaginings, along with a laundry list of more classical takes on the character. Despite such dramatic changes from project to project, the core aspects of the character remain; any version of Sherlock Holmes is liable to be highly observant, reserved, almost supernaturally logical and deductive, and somewhat bohemian in his personal habits.

From this soil and a wealth of Doyle’s stories, various shows have built their different interpretations of Holmes. Some of them have been more effective than others, but the detective’s very name continues to be a surefire way to drum interest in a project. Such cultural impact is more than enough to crown Sherlock Holmes as the finest British TV detective of all time, bar none.

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