Best TV shows — crime on Netflix : our Top 20

2008 · Vince Gilligan · 5 seasons

A New Mexico high-school chemistry teacher, told he has Stage III cancer and only about two years to live, sheds his caution and becomes fiercely determined to guarantee his family's financial security. Embracing a newfound ruthlessness, he plunges into the hazardous realm of illegal drugs and criminal activity, prepared to do whatever it takes to protect those he loves.

With Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, RJ Mitte and Bob Odenkirk

2010 · Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat · 4 seasons

Set in present-day London, a celebrated detective and his physician partner tackle contemporary crimes across the city, blending high-tech tools with razor-sharp observation to unravel baffling mysteries.

With Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Una Stubbs, Rupert Graves, Louise Brealey, Mark Gatiss and Andrew Scott

2015 · Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould · 6 seasons

Six years before he crosses paths with Walter White, Jimmy McGill is a struggling, small‑time lawyer hustling to make a name for himself while barely keeping afloat. By his side — and frequently in conflict with him — is veteran fixer Mike Ehrmantraut. The series follows Jimmy’s gradual transformation into the morally flexible, fast‑talking Saul Goodman, a lawyer who comes to thrive within the criminal underworld.

With Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian, Michael Mando, Giancarlo Esposito and Michael McKean

2013 · Steven Knight · 6 seasons

In the aftermath of the Great War in 1919 Birmingham, a ruthless family-run gang—infamous for sewing razor blades into the peaks of their caps—uses intimidation and cunning to expand its reach. At its center, the hard-edged and calculating Tommy Shelby stops at nothing to lift his clan from the industrial streets into positions of wealth and influence.

With Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle, Helen McCrory, Finn Cole, Ned Dennehy and Joe Cole

2017 · Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese · 3 seasons

A child's disappearance plunges four families into a desperate search for answers, pulling back layers of a reality-shifting mystery that reaches across three generations.

With Louis Hofmann, Lisa Vicari, Andreas Pietschmann, Jördis Triebel, Maja Schöne, Stephan Kampwirth and Paul Lux

2020 · Kagiso Lediga · 1 season

A seasoned South African spy must navigate evolving personal relationships while undertaking the most dangerous mission of her career—one that will push her skills, loyalties and survival to their limits.

With Pearl Thusi, Vuyo Dabula, Sechaba Morojele and Chi Mhende

2014 · Noah Hawley · 5 seasons

Set in and around Minnesota, this intimate anthology peels back the calm surface of close communities to reveal simmering malice, sudden outbreaks of violence and the lasting fallout of murder. Each episode is a self-contained portrait of ordinary lives upended by suspicion, revenge and the haunting consequences of criminal acts.

With Allison Tolman, Chris Rock, Jessie Buckley, Jason Schwartzman, Ben Whishaw, Jack Huston and Salvatore Esposito

2022 · Kim Jin-woo, Lee Jae-gon · 1 season

A struggling college professor, who unknowingly takes money tied to a ruthless cartel, is pulled into running drugs as the only means he believes can save his fractured family.

With Jung Woo, Park Hee-soon, Yoon Jin-seo, Park Ji-yeon, Choi Moo-sung, Kim Sung-oh and Oh Gwang-rok

2015 · Chris Brancato, Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard · 3 seasons

An unflinching portrait of the brutal campaign to uproot Colombia's most notorious and deeply entrenched drug cartels.

With Pedro Pascal, Alberto Ammann, Wagner Moura, Boyd Holbrook, Joanna Christie, Paulina Gaitán and Paulina García

2017 · Joe Penhall · 2 seasons

An FBI agent in a specialized serial-crime task force pioneers behavioral profiling methods while tracking down some of the nation's most notorious serial killers and sexual predators.

With Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Anna Torv, Sonny Valicenti, Stacey Roca, Cotter Smith and Hannah Gross

2017 · Álex Pina · 3 seasons

A shadowy mastermind known only as the Professor recruits eight desperate criminals—each with nothing left to lose—to attempt the biggest heist ever conceived. Five months of isolation, rehearsing every move and calculating every contingency, lead to eleven days holed up inside Spain’s National Mint and Stamp Factory, surrounded by police and holding dozens of hostages. Their high-stakes, do-or-die gamble will determine whether they walk away with everything or lose it all.

With Álvaro Morte, Pedro Alonso, Úrsula Corberó, Itziar Ituño, Jaime Lorente, Miguel Herrán and Esther Acebo

2017 · Mark Williams, Bill Dubuque · 4 seasons

A financial advisor uproots his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks and faces a five‑year deadline to launder $500 million to placate a drug boss.

With Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Sofia Hublitz, Skylar Gaertner, Julia Garner, Charlie Tahan and Lisa Emery

2013 · Michael Schur, Daniel J. Goor · 8 seasons

Filmed in a single-camera style, this ensemble comedy follows the personal and professional chaos of an unlikely team of detectives in a New York precinct, where a charming underachiever must turn his life around after a strict new supervisor arrives.

With Andy Samberg, Melissa Fumero, Terry Crews, Joe Lo Truglio, Stephanie Beatriz, Andre Braugher and Dirk Blocker

2022 · Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hong-sun, Kim Hwan-chae, Choi Sung-joon · 1 season

Concealed behind masks, a mismatched squad of criminals rallies to the command of a mysterious tactician known only as the Professor. Their goal: to carry out an unprecedented, high-stakes robbery that will redefine the rules of Korea’s criminal world.

With Yoo Ji-tae, Yunjin Kim, Park Hae-soo, Jun Jong-seo, Lee Won-jong, Kim Ji-hun and Jang Yoon-ju

2006 · 1 season

A brilliant, top-ranking student named Light Yagami is suffocating under a life of ease and tedium—until he stumbles upon a strange notebook left behind by a rebellious Shinigami, a god of death. The object grants its holder a terrifying ability: anyone whose name is written inside will die. Convinced he can cleanse the world of wrongdoing, Light sets out to wield the notebook as an instrument of justice. But as his campaign of elimination escalates, the line between noble intent and corrupting power blurs—will he succeed in creating a better world, or become the very evil he intends to eradicate?

With Mamoru Miyano, Shidô Nakamura, Noriko Hidaka, Nozomu Sasaki, Kimiko Saito, Naoya Uchida and Ryou Naitou

2016 · Tom Kapinos · 6 seasons

Weary of ruling the underworld, Lucifer Morningstar abandons his throne and crashes into life in Los Angeles, where he partners with LAPD detective Chloe Decker to hunt down criminals. But as he lingers farther from Hell, the realm's grip weakens—raising the risk that the worst of humanity (and whatever lurks below) could slip loose.

With Tom Ellis, Lauren German, Kevin Alejandro, D.B. Woodside, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Rachael Harris and Aimee Garcia

2022 · Miles Millar, Alfred Gough · 3 seasons

With Jenna Ortega, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Percy Hynes White, Hunter Doohan, Gwendoline Christie and Riki Lindhome

2017 · Jonathan Entwistle · 2 seasons

Seventeen-year-old James is convinced he has no empathy and watches his own impulses with a detached, clinical curiosity. Alyssa, also 17, arrives at school as a moody, magnetic new student and the two form an unlikely connection; she convinces him to join her on a darkly comic, impulsive road trip to find the man she believes is her biological father. As they travel, their uneasy bond unravels secrets, tests their morals, and forces both teens to confront who they really are and what family might mean.

With Alex Lawther, Jessica Barden, Steve Oram, Naomi Ackie, Josh Dylan, Jack Veal and Navin Chowdhry

2025 · Jack Thorne, Stephen Graham · 1 season

A 13-year-old's arrest for the death of a classmate shatters the lives around him—his family, his therapist and the lead detective all scramble to reassess what they thought they knew and to uncover the truth behind the tragedy.

With Owen Cooper, Stephen Graham, Ashley Walters, Erin Doherty, Faye Marsay, Christine Tremarco and Mark Stanley

2025 · Scott Frank · 2 seasons

A cocky yet brilliant detective is appointed to head a newly formed police unit, assembling a ragtag team of outsiders to reopen and solve Edinburgh’s long‑unsolved cases.

With Matthew Goode, Chloe Pirrie, Jamie Sives, Alexej Manvelov, Leah Byrne and Kelly Macdonald