11 crime TV shows you shouldn’t miss in 2024

If one of your 2024 New Year’s Resolutions involves watching more quality television crime dramas, then you’ve come to the right place.

It can be hard to keep track of what’s on – especially when there are so many streaming services to choose from. That’s why we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of the very best in blood-speckled television coming our way in the next 12 calendar months.

Mr & Mrs Smith
When it’s on: Available now.
Where to watch it: Prime Video.

Doug Liman’s 2005 film Mr & Mrs Smith is a fun action romp, although it’s better remembered as the film where Brad Pitt met Angelina Jolie (which led to the end of Pitt’s marriage to Jennifer Aniston). In 2024, we can hopefully enjoy the story with none of the same distractions. And this time it’s a TV show.

Showing on Prime Video, the small screen version stars Atlanta’s Donald Glover (who co-created the series) and PEN15 star Maya Erskine as John and Jane Smith. That’s a fun pairing, but it’s the supporting cast that really stands out. Joining Glover and Erskine are John Turturro, Wagner Moura, Parker Posey, Paul Dano and Michaela Coel.

A Cruel Story: The Ruth Ellis Story
When it’s on: TBC.
Where to watch it: ITV1 or ITVX.

The four-part ITV drama Ruth is all about the life of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain. It’s set in 1955 and stars Lucy Boynton (The Ipcress File, Lewis) as the lead.

Ruth’s story, which is divided into two parallel timelines, illuminates the life of one of Britain’s most notorious murderers while also revealing long-kept secrets about the case and what actually transpired in the months leading up to Ruth’s murder of her lover David Blakely.

Joan
When it’s on: TBC.
Where to watch it: ITV1 and ITVX.

Next up, we have another series about the rise of a powerful female criminal. This time, a British one. Game of Thrones and X-Men actress Sophie Turner will leave fantasy and sci-fi briefly as she takes on the role of Joan Hannington in this six-part ITV series.

Hannington was an infamous diamond thief, a glamorous woman whose heists earned her a nickname very similar to Griselda Blanco’s: ‘The Godmother’. The thriller is an adaptation of Hannington’s 2004 memoir, I Am What I Am: The True Story of Britain’s Most Notorious Jewel Thief. Frank Dillane (Fear the Walking Dead) co-stars.

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True Detective: Night Country
When it’s on: Available now.
Where to watch it: Sky Atlantic.

The latest True Detective offers up a standalone story, unconnected to the wider mythology of the previous series. It’s a female-led series, with the two (true) detectives heading up the central investigation a nice mixture of Hollywood royalty (the legend that is Jodie Foster) and a relative acting rookie (former boxer Kali Reis).

Mexican producer, director and writer Issa López is in the showrunning hotseat for Night Country, marking the first time that series creator Nic Pizzolatto won’t be overseeing things. The cast is fleshed out nicely by some top names too. Look out for Killing Eve‘s Fiona Shaw, The Leftovers‘ Christopher Eccleston and Too Old to Die Young‘s John Hawkes.

The series is set in the fictional town of Ennis in Alaska and follows an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a group of men from a research station.

Presumed Innocent
When it’s on: June 14, 2024.
Where to watch it: Apple TV+.

When David E. Kelley is behind a project, big names take note. The writer and producer behind the likes of Ally McBeal and Big Little Lies has a knack for attracting A-listers to his small screen outings. The latest star to sign up to a Kelley show is Source Code and Donnie Darko big-hitter Jake Gyllenhaal.

Kelley used to be an attorney, so is happy working with courtroom-based source material. Presumed Innocent is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s debut novel from 1987 and sees Gyllenhaal take on the role of Rusty Sabich (played by Harrison Ford in Alan J. Pakula’s 1990 film adaptation), a prosecutor accused of murdering a colleague with whom he was having an affair.

A solid supporting cast for this eight-part Apple+ series looks like Ruth Negga, Bill Camp, Lily Rabe and Peter Sarsgaard, amongst others, in what promises to be one of the standout thrillers of the year.

Griselda
When it’s on: Available now.
Where to watch it: Netflix.

Griselda Blanco was a fearsome Colombian drug lord (or should that be lady?) who ruled the Miami drug trade in the 1980’s with an iron fist. The incredibly true story of ‘The Godmother of Cocaine’ is now a six-part Netflix series.

Modern Family’s Sofía Vergara plays Blanco in a series that promises much, given it’s from the same team that worked on Netflix’s Pablo Escobar smash hit series Narcos.

Lady in the Lake
When it’s on: TBC.
Where to watch it: Apple TV+.

While we’re talking about high-end crime thrillers showing on Apple+ and starring A-list Hollywood stars, let’s talk about Lady in the Lake. An adaptation of Laura Lippman’s popular 2019 novel of the same name, Natalie Portman (Black Swan, Leon, Annihilation) heads up the cast of this intriguing seven-parter.

Set in 1960’s Baltimore, a bored but determined housewife decides to take up a new career as a dogged investigative journalist. In the noir-tinged miniseries, we follow her as she dives deep into the murky waters of a case involving a missing black woman that far too many people in the city seem keen to forget about.

Protection
When it’s on: TBC.
Where to watch it: ITV1 and ITVX.

ITV’s sacred 9pm crime drama slot looks set to be well filled again in 2024, with a raft of quality shows on their way. One such show follows the story of a witness protection officer whose professional and personal lives are affected when she’s discovered having an affair with a colleague.

It’s a set-up not unlike the first series of another 9pm ITV series, The Bay. But with Siobhan Finneran and her Happy Valley co-star Katherine Kelly heading things up, we’re certain there will be plenty to make Protection worthy of our time.

Screenwriter Kris Mrksa is behind the project. With a CV boasting the likes of No Escape, White House Farm and The Slap, we have high hopes for this drama.

Criminal Record
When it’s on: Available now.
Where to watch it: Apple TV+.

Doctor Who‘s Peter Capaldi and The Good Wife‘s Cush Jumbo are both big enough names to make this eight-part series beep loudly on our crime drama radar. Throw Charlie Creed-Miles, Cathy Tyson, Shaun Dooley and Zoë Wanamaker into the mix, and it’s a solid cast.

As for the plot? Well, it’s a classic set-up: an experienced detective and a rookie clash when forced to work together on a murder. The creator of Channel 4’s Indian Summers Paul Rutman writes and produces.

Mr Bates vs. The Post Office
When it’s on: Available now.
Where to watch it: ITV1 or ITVX.

Based on a shocking true story, this ITV1 series tells the story of one this country’s worst ever miscarriages of justice: one that saw hundreds of people who ran Post Offices wrongly convicted, fined and imprisoned for theft and fraud after a computer glitch suggested they’d all been syphoning money from their takings.

The series stars Toby Jones, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Lia Williams, Alex Jennings, Monica Dolan, Ian Hart, Katherine Kelly, Shaun Dooley and Will Mellor. While it might not be one of the dark dramas full of dead bodies and moody shots of the woods we all know and love, it’s a tale well worth being told.

Fool Me Once
When it’s on: Available now.
Where to watch it: Netflix.

Netflix loves a Harlan Coben adaptation. Their latest was written for the screen by BAFTA-winning Brassic creator Danny Brocklehurst. Michelle Keegan, Richard Armitage, Joanna Lumley and Adeel Akhtar star.

The story follows former soldier Maya (Keegan), who is shocked to see her murdered husband on a secret nanny cam in her home. Soon enough, a deadly conspiracy unravels. It’s based on Coben’s popular 2016 novel of the same name and is every bit as twisting and turning as Netflix’s other Coben offerings.

Don’t miss our round-up of the best shows on Netflix to watch now.

Have we missed anything? If you’re looking forward to a TV crime drama in 2024 that we’ve missed off our list, tell us all about it in the comments below…

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