Top 10 TV Detectives

There have been so many versions of the TV detective that it is difficult to choose your favourites.  I tend to favour the home grown (UK) versions as you can see as I think they generally have more charm and subtlety than their US cousins.  I am sure many will disagree with this view, let me know what you think.

DS Peter Boyd

The leader of the Cold Case team, Boyd is the driven, angry detective with, it seems multiple personality problems who gives his team a hard time.  They all seem to love him just the same although he had a bit of a habit of losing them!  Ridiculous plots with the police apparently having carte blanche to do what they liked, like shooting suspects, but great entertainment all the same.

DCI Gene Hunt

Wonderfully comic creation from the writers of Life on Mars and later Ashes to Ashes.  A great depiction of how coppers used to be perceived and delivered with great humour and style by Philip Glenister.  Who cares what it was all about, just enjoy the ride and reminiscing about 70′s life.

Inspector Morse

Wonderful series with John Thaw and Kevin Whately in the lead roles.  Very detailed plots although it made one wonder why there was so much crime in the Oxford world of Academia!  Set new standards in TV crime series and followed up very successfully by a later series just with Lewis following the death of John Thaw.

Jonathan Creek

A Murder Mystery series written by David Renwick with Alan Davies in the title role.  An unorthodox sleuth who designs magic tricks and who is able to employ his skills in getting to the bottom of some bizarre mysteries.  Always very watchable due to the intruiging plots and the comedy that runs through each episode, time it came back to our screens I think.

DCI Jane Tennison

A masterful and powerful performance from Helen Mirren playing a strong female detective in a hugely successful series.  Quite a departure at the time to have a female lead but went to become a multi award winning programme shown all around the world.

Eddie Shoestring

Trevor Eve again but looking a lot younger!  Lighthearted series with Eve playing a local  radio presenter who would source his cases from callers to his programme.  A charming series which established him in the hearts of the viewing public.  He disappeared from our screens for some time, concentrating on a highly successful stage career and on production before reappearing as Boyd.

Charlie Barlow

Going back a bit for this one.  Played by Stratford Johns, initially in Z Cars and then in a spin off, Softly Softly.  A much grittier style of policing than had been seen before in the likes of Dixon of Dock Green and seemed quite radical at the time.  Barlow was a no nonsense type of detective and viewers were probably shocked at the contrast with earlier programmes.

Agent Gibbs (and team) NCIS

My one concession to American detectives.  I really enjoy the humour combined with hard hitting story lines in this series.  Mark Harmon, as Gibbs is the glue that bonds the rest of the team.  Notable performance by an ‘old timer’ from the UK,(Scotland) David McCallum who some will remember as Illya Kuryakin in the Man From Uncle. Now that’s bound to be the subject of another post!

Hopkirk Deceased!

Only half of the detective team but the series would have been meaningless without him.  Kenneth Cope played the part of the dead copper who came back as a ghost to help his partner, Randall to solve his cases.  Delightfully eccentric and humorous, it’s a real shame that they are not still around.

The Detectives

Ok, I know it was not really a detective series but I really did enjoy the combination of the comic, Jasper Carrot with the thespian, Robert Powell.  The detection took second place to the comedy in the storyline but this produced some memorable episodes, could they be persuaded to do it again?