10 Best Crime Shows of All Time, Ranked

It’s no coincidence that not just a few, but multiple of the most acclaimed, beloved, and award-winning TV shows of all time belong to the crime genre. There’s something about the episodic, years-spanning televisual form that lends itself remarkably well to these engrossing tales of exhilarating wrongdoings, the crooks who carry them out, and the morally complex people who hunt them down.

With the genre being so well-suited to serving as a vehicle for terrific shows, there are plenty that are worthy of being considered among the best crime series of all time. There are, however, a notable few that are usually praised as the cream of the crop. From cult classics like Twin Peaks to more modern gems like Peaky Blinders, these are shows that prove that there’s something inherently fascinating about these kinds of tales.

10 ‘True Detective’ (2014-)

Created by Nic Pizzolatto and Issa López

One of the best anthology series of all time, True Detective has gone through four very distinct seasons of varying degrees of quality, but no amount of missteps has ever been able to prevent it from being counted among the greatest shows in television history. It’s a procedural following police investigations that unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved, both on the side of the law and otherwise.

For those who want something on the shorter side to binge, True Detective is a perfect choice. Though its first season is by far the best, thanks to the most fascinating performances, scripts, direction, and themes of the whole series, the other three don’t fall far behind. This is some of the grittiest, deepest, best-constructed police procedural television that’s ever been produced, as proved by its outstanding reputation.

9 ‘Mindhunter’ (2017-2019)

Created by Joe Penhall

The wound of its untimely cancelation after just two seasons is still fresh, but it’s impossible to talk about the best crime series of all time without mentioning Netflix’s Mindhunter. Executive-produced by creator Joe Penhall, actress Charlize Theron, and filmmaker David Fincher (who later became the showrunner), it’s about two FBI agents investigating the psychology behind the act of murder during the late 1970s, getting dangerously close to various real-life monsters.

Mindhunter is one of the most disturbing true crime series ever made. It’s the deepest, darkest, most complex dissection of the psychology and nature of serial killers that has ever been put on the small screen — a screen which, while watching the show, feels like it encompasses the entire room. It’s that immersive and unsettling of a series, and an absolute must-see for those looking for a true-crime show that dives deep into criminals’ psyche without ever feeling exploitative.

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8 ‘Twin Peaks’ (1990-1991)

Created by David Lynch and Mark Frost

Auteur David Lynch is best known for his work in cinema, being one of the most influential arthouse filmmakers and one of cinematic surrealism’s biggest exponents. However, he’s also worked in television. Namely, on the enthralling Twin Peaks. One of the best murder mystery shows ever, it’s about an idiosyncratic FBI agent (played by common Lynch collaborator Kyle MacLachlan) who’s investigating the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks.

The series is as dark, mysterious, and head-scratchingly surrealistic as one could expect from pretty much any Lynch project, but it adds plenty of its own spice to make it stand out among the director’s other works. Playing with the tropes of the melodramatic and soap opera genres, it tells a powerful story about the nature of evil, the subconscious, and the occult.

7 ‘Fargo’ (2014-2024)

Created by Noah Hawley

Ethan and Joel Coen‘s 1996 classic Fargo is one of the best crime films of all time, so it’s hardly a surprise that 2014’s show of the same name, which is based on the movie, is one of the best crime series of all time. It’s a dark comedy anthology series chronicling various stories of betrayal, intrigue, and murder in and around frozen Minnesota. Somehow, all of these tales mysteriously lead back to Fargo, North Dakota.

There are plenty of good reasons why this is typically praised as one of the greatest anthology series ever. For one, each of its vastly different stories is as twisted, amusing, and gripping as the last. On top of that, it has an all-star cast that has featured the likes of Billy Bob Thornton, Ewan McGregor, and Juno Temple over the years, playing some really compelling characters in all sorts of attention-grabbing situations. Its stories may not actually be true as they funnily announce themselves to be, but that doesn’t make them any less intriguing — on the contrary, frankly.

6 ‘Peaky Blinders’ (2013-2022)

Created by Steven Knight

People who love gangster TV shows have probably already seen Peaky Blinders at this point; but just in case they haven’t, now that a Peaky Blinders movie is in development, it’s as good a time as any to get into it. It’s about a gangster family from 1900s England, centering on a gang who sew razor blades in the peaks of their caps, and their fierce boss, Tommy Shelby.

With extraordinary performances by the likes of Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy, the show is reminiscent of all the best ways of old crime shows whose success is unquestionable, and its legacy has proved to be just as huge as theirs. With carefully constructed insights into the history and culture of the time, highly cinematic production qualities, and a jaw-dropping final season, it’s a masterful gangster epic without equal.

5 ‘Sherlock’ (2010-2017)

Created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat

It may only have a handful of episodes per season (long though they may be), but the BBC’s gripping miniseries Sherlock has a fanbase as large and loyal as that of crime shows with hundreds of episodes that ran for far longer than it did. It brings the stories and characters of Arthur Conan Doyle to contemporary England, showing Sherlock as a “high-functioning sociopath” genius being assisted in his dangerous investigations by clever Afghanistan War vet John Watson.

For those who love Conan Doyle’s works, it’s a blast of fun to see stories like “A Study in Scarlet” and “The Hound of the Baskervilles” modernized and adapted for the small screen. For those unfamiliar with the source material, Sherlock is still an irresistibly charming whodunnit full of engaging characters, shocking twists, and exciting moments. It’s one of the best crime shows of the 2010s, and fans would definitely not complain about a revival.

4 ‘The Wire’ (2002-2008)

Created by David Simon

It’s shows like The Wire which proved from very early on that HBO was, as advertised, far different and of higher quality than the vast majority of television at the time. It’s an edge-of-your-seat police procedural studying the Baltimore drug scene, as seen through the eyes of drug dealers and law enforcement. Thanks to one of the best ensemble casts in television’s history, it was able to explore an admirable number of characters in a satisfyingly deep way throughout its five seasons.

Ambitious, technically masterful, and with a portrayal of crime and urban life that’s not afraid to get dark and gritty, but also never loses its focus on the humanity of its characters and stories, The Wire is as acclaimed and beloved as it is for a reason. There are very few crime shows that manage to feel this realistic and grounded, which helps the narrative’s social and political critiques have all the more potency.

3 ‘Better Call Saul’ (2015-2022)

Created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould

When it was announced that what many consider the greatest show of all time was getting a spin-off prequel, expectations were understandably high — but, at the same time, how could it ever live up to the original? Turns out, Better Call Saul is just as great as (and in some ways, even better than) Breaking Bad. It’s about the trials and tribulations of criminal lawyer Jimmy McGill, in the years that led up to and past his fateful run-in with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.

Where many shows with as acclaimed a predecessor as Better Call Saul‘s could have just capitalized on nostalgia and gotten away with putting in a bit less effort than necessary, Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould did just the opposite. Better Call Saul has plenty of nods to satisfy Breaking Bad fans, but it’s a story that stands on its own two feet more than well enough. One of the best TV spin-offs ever, it’s a fascinating character study full of fascinating characters and stunning performances, exploring the moral and spiritual downfall of one of the most interesting protagonists in the history of television. The fact that it didn’t win a single one of the 53 Primetime Emmy Awards that it was nominated for throughout its run is a travesty.

2 ‘The Sopranos’ (1999-2007)

Created by David Chase

There’s no glimpse of exaggeration in the statement that The Sopranos revolutionized American television as an art form and as an industry forever. It’s the pioneer of prestige television, telling the story of a New Jersey mob boss dealing with personal and professional issues in his home and business, as he seeks professional psychiatric counseling to improve the fractured mental state that these problems create in him.

The Sopranos proved at the turn of the century that television could depict topics as dark, mature, and complex as cinema could. Indeed, it showed some of the most nuanced characters and layered stories that the medium had ever seen at that point, and even today, its originality and boldness has aged like fine wine. The Sopranos has plenty of incredible characters and more storylines that viewers can’t take their eyes off of than one can count, and its legacy will forever be praised for how much it changed TV for the better.

1 ‘Breaking Bad’ (2008-2013)

Created by Vince Gilligan

No other TV show could be considered the greatest crime series of all time than the one that’s praised by many as the single greatest show of all time in general. Breaking Bad, fully deserving of all the hype that still surrounds it eleven years after its conclusion, follows the rise and fall of Walter White. He’s a chemistry teacher who, after being diagnosed with inoperable cancer, turns to manufacturing and selling meth with a former student to secure his family’s financial future.

The 21st century has had a good number of exceptional crime shows, but Breaking Bad still reigns supreme. There aren’t many shows that got consistently better with each season as much as this one did. With every passing episode, the tragedy of Heisenberg grew far more complex, more engaging, more mature, and much darker. It’s one of the most fascinating stories that have ever been told through the medium of television, and without a single bad episode or a single boring moment, it’s a masterpiece that makes itself worthy of the title of “greatest crime TV show ever made.”

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