7 police dramas better than Line of Duty including one hailed a ‘masterpiece’

From Apple TV’s Slow Horses to Dept Q on Netflix, TV fans have been given a plethora of searing police dramas to binge since the last episode of BBC’s Line of Duty aired in 2021.

After first hitting our screens in 2012, the British police procedural, created by Jed Mercurio and starring Vicky McClure, Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar, kept its fans in a chokehold as viewers tuned in to discover the identity of the mystery ‘H’.

Centring on Anti-Corruption Unit 12 (AC-12), a fictional team tasked with ‘policing the police’, the six-season show featured riveting interrogation scenes and gut-wrenching plot twists.

Earlier this week, a ‘suffocatingly tense’ four-part thriller starring Line of Duty’s Anna Maxwell Martin was added to ITVX after originally airing in 2021.

But with there being no concrete plans in place for a seventh season of Line of Duty, after Adrian Dunbar teased a potential revival of the hit BBC series, where else can you get your fix of gritty police dramas to stream for free?

From ITVX to BBC iPlayer, here are our picks of the best cop shows to binge…

Happy Valley

If you’re a fan of British crime dramas, it’s more than likely that you would have heard of Happy Valley.

Alongside Line of Duty, the two shows have gathered international cult followings for their high-intensity storylines and unpredictable twists.

Happy Valley follows Sarah Lancashire as Catherine Cawood, a police sergeant who tracks criminals while caring for her former drug addict sister and grandson.

Dealing with hard-hitting topics such as human trafficking and serial killers, Lancashire never ceases to amaze as the irrepressible Cawood.

After picking up a handful of Bafta awards and Lancashire winning best actress, you won’t regret adding this to your watchlist.

Taking to IMDb, where the show boasts a rating of 8.5 out of 10, Alphapunk wrote: ‘Happy Valley, a gripping English series, stands tall among the pantheon of television dramas as a true masterpiece.

‘This extraordinary show, masterfully crafted by writer Sally Wainwright, has woven together an intricate tapestry of suspense, emotion, and gritty realism that will leave viewers utterly captivated.’

Happy Valley is available to watch on BBC iPlayer

Protection

ITV fans have hailed the six-part drama Protection as the ‘new Line of Duty’ following its release.

Starring Siobhan Finneran as DI Liz Nyles, who is an officer for the UK Protected Persons Service – the UK’s name for witness protection – the Happy Valley actress has to balance work with a complicated home life and racy affair.

Despite her efforts to keep gangster-turned-informant Jimmy McLennan safe along with his wife and daughter, the parents are murdered at a safe house.

Nyles worries that her affair with a married officer is a way for him to get information about the witnesses.

With the hints of corruption and secrecy running through, the show delivers everything that Line of Duty has to offer.

FiftyTwo_52 on IMDb agreed, writing: ‘There’s no gloss in Protection, and that’s exactly why it lingers. Across six taut, emotionally bruising episodes, this BBC drama delivers a quietly blistering takedown of a system that promises safety, then disappears the moment it matters.’

Protection is available to watch on ITVX

Time

It’s not often that a three-part series can evoke such an emotional and visceral experience as Time does.

The BBC series, starring Sean Bean and Adolescence star Stephen Graham, simply wows from start to finish.

Shedding light on what it would be like for a person who has no history of crime to enter the British penal system, it’s searing in its critique of a failed public service.

Alongside Bean’s storyline, who plays Mark Cobden, Graham’s turn as a prison officer who decides to break his principles to protect his family is as heartbreaking as it is fascinating.

Overall, producer Jimmy McGovern’s work manages to blend complete and utter panic and fear with real moments of tenderness as Bean’s characters laments a life-changing mistake.

IMDb Daniel Bellamy summed it up best by calling it ‘gut wrenching’, as he wrote: ‘Often difficult to watch, but nonetheless an absolute triumph that demonstrates the very best of British drama.’

Time is available to watch on BBC iPlayer

Bodyguard

If you’re after something like Line of Duty, look no further than the show’s creator Jed Mercurio who made this six-part limited series.

Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winner, Richard Madden is electrifying as police sergeant David Budd.

Assigned to protect an important politician who he disagrees with on a personal level, it provides the perfect platform for the show’s palpable action.

From thrilling shootouts to car chase scenes, it takes a serious look at how terrorism impacts Britain.

Bodyguard is available to watch on BBC iPlayer

A Confession

Martin Freeman is no stranger to thrilling police dramas after recently starring in the BBC’s The Responder.

However, his turn as Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher in A Confession, which is based on the true story about the investigation of a missing woman in 2011, is potentially some of his best work in an already glittering career.

Also featuring Protection star Siobhan Finneran, Imelda Staunton and Joe Absolom, the series explores the lack of common sense when it comes to policing in Britain today.

Fulcher, as he did in real life, breaks police protocol to catch a killer and must face the brutal, if not unfair, consequences as a result.

Streaming on ITVX, if you want to scream in frustration at the television, this could be the series for you.

Leegal-65561 claimed on IMDb: ‘This is superb television drama. Martin Freeman’s performance was outstanding as I expected and Imelda Staunton’s performance as the untiring mother of the victim was truly award winning in every way. I thoroughly enjoyed this series and highly recommend it.’

A Confession is available to watch on ITVX

Luther

Luther fans will be well-accustomed to the show’s crazy storylines and gritty performances, but for those of you who don’t, entertainment is a near guarantee.

Created and written by Neil Cross, the series is a psychological crime thriller starring Idris Elba as Luther.

Five seasons are currently available on the BBC iPlayer to binge and a feature film was also released in 2023.

Fans have complained about a slow start in the series, but for those that stick with it, it delivers.

Elba’s unconventional tactics provide a different sort of experience to the crime series above, one less grounded in realism, but it’s still certainly bingeable.

Luther is available to watch on BBC iPlayer

Blue Lights

Blue Lights takes a realistic look at the issues facing police officers in Belfast.

Providing a refreshing take on what is an extremely popular genre, it blends humour with real danger.

Created and written by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, the series was filmed in Belfast and directed by Gilles Bannier. 

It first began broadcasting on the BBC on March 27 in 2023.

Describing the series, mailcarl wrote on IMDb: ‘Excellently written drama and very well acted. The story threads, characters and their relationships will soon have you on invested in this series.’

Blue Lights is available to watch on BBC iPlayer

This article was originally published on March 18 2025.

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