The best crime TV shows 2026 ranked by the community. Crime is the broadest genre in television – from procedurals and noir to true crime and gangster stories. This ranking helps you filter out the series that genuinely hold up from the large pool of available titles. Use the filters to search specifically by streaming service, completed series or shorter runtime.
How are the series charts created?
Rankings are based on real user ratings. The more votes a show receives, the more stable its chart position. When you rate shows yourself, your personal recommendations improve too.
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When Walter White, a chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of two years left to live, he chooses to enter a dangerous world of drugs and crime with the intent to secure his family's financial security. more
Dexter Morgan is a Miami-based blood spatter expert who doesn’t just solve murders; he commits them too. In fact, he’s a serial killer — but he only murders the guilty, so he feels justified with his lifestyle choices. His policewoman sister and his cop co-workers have no idea Dexter lives a double ... more
Due to a political conspiracy, an innocent man is sent to death row and his only hope is his brother, who makes it his mission to deliberately get himself sent to the same prison to break them both out from the inside. more
Ruthless and cunning, Congressman Francis Underwood and his wife Claire stop at nothing to conquer everything. It penetrates the shadowy world of greed, sex and corruption in modern D.C. more
Raymond “Red” Reddington, one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives, surrenders in person at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He claims that he and the FBI have the same interests—bringing down dangerous criminals and terrorists. In the last two decades, he’s made a list of criminals and terrorists... more
When mentalist Patrick Jane insults a vengeful serial killer, Red John, his loved ones are brutally killed. Faced with the horrifying consequences of misusing his gift for observation and misdirection, Jane lends his skills to the California Bureau of Investigation, all the while hoping that his co... more
A bipolar CIA operative becomes convinced a prisoner of war has been turned by al-Qaeda and is planning to carry out a terrorist attack on American soil. more
In a world where superheroes embrace the darker side of their massive celebrity and fame, a group of vigilantes known informally as "The Boys" set out to take down corrupt superheroes with no more than blue collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty. more
Piper Chapman is a public relations executive with a career and a fiance when her past suddenly catches up to her. In her mid-30s she is sentenced to spend time in a minimum-security women's prison in Connecticut for her association with a drug runner 10 years earlier. Forced to trade power sui... more
See the rise of Jimmy McGill, a small-time lawyer searching for his destiny, but hustling to make ends meet. Working alongside, and often against Jimmy, is ‘fixer’ Mike Ehrmantraut. The series tracks Jimmy's evolution into Saul Goodman, the man who puts the word ‘criminal’ in ‘criminal lawyer’. more
Lucifer, the original fallen angel, is bored and unhappy in Hell and decides to retire to Los Angeles and open an upscale nightclub. After a murder takes place outside his club, he meets an intriguing homicide detective named Chloe, and partners up with her to solve cases. more
Rick Castle is one of the world's most successful crime authors. But when his rock star lifestyle isn't enough, this bad boy goes looking for new trouble and finds it working with smart, beautiful Detective Kate Beckett. Inspired by her professional record and intrigued by her buttoned-up personalit... more
An anthology series in which police investigations unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within and outside the law. more
Following his fall from grace in London and a stint in rehab, eccentric Sherlock escapes to Manhattan where his wealthy father forces him to live with his worst nightmare – a sober companion, Dr. Watson. A successful surgeon until she lost a patient and her license three years ago, Watson views her ... more
Single father Jax Teller finds his loyalty to his outlaw motorcycle club tested by his growing unease concerning the group's lawlessness. While the club protects and patrols the town of Charming, Calif., keeping drug dealers away, its activities also include a thriving -- and lucrative -- illegal ar... more
After being marooned for five years on a remote island and presumed dead, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen returns home with a mysterious agenda and a lethal set of new skills that he uses in a war on crime in his hometown of Starling City. more
Both a gift and a curse, Will Graham has the extraordinary ability to think like his prey—he sees what they see, feels what they feel. But while Graham is pursuing an especially troubling, cannibalistic murderer, Special Agent Jack Crawford teams him with a highly respected psychiatrist – a man with... more
A white collar criminal agrees to help the FBI catch other white collar criminals using his expertise as an art and securities thief, counterfeiter, and conman. more
Explore the inner workings of the government agency that investigates all crimes involving Navy and Marine Corps personnel, regardless of rank or position. Leading this team is NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, a skilled investigator and interrogator who is smart, tough and willing to bend the... more
Crime is the broadest genre in television. The label covers procedurals with standalone cases per episode, serialised investigator stories across full seasons, true crime adaptations of real cases, gangster series, neo-noir productions and psychological perpetrator portraits – formats that differ fundamentally in pace, tone and perspective. What they share is crime as a central motif, but not necessarily its resolution.
The community ratings help filter out the series that work beyond their premise. Series that consistently rank near the top tend to share one quality: they show the crime from multiple perspectives at once – perpetrator, investigator, victim, system – and ask questions without easy answers. Use the runtime filter to find crime series with shorter episodes that are well suited for binge-watching.