8 Near-Perfect TV Crime Thrillers No One Remembers

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Published Jun 13, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

Adrienne Tyler is a movies & TV features writer, with a focus on horror. She has written for Netflix, FanSided, & more. She was a regular guest on the Netfreaks podcast and was a YouTuber at some point. Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once.

Crime thrillers are some of the most popular TV shows, but with a wide offer to choose from, and some becoming massive hits, other near-perfect shows have become forgotten. The list of the best TV shows of all time has a bit of everything, and a genre that often succeeds is crime thriller. TV shows like The Wire, True Detective, Breaking Bad, and Law & Order are some of the best and most influential crime thriller shows of all time, helping shape the genre into what it now is.

The genre of crime thrillers is also home to classic TV shows like Twin Peaks, Bosch, Criminal Minds, and The Blacklist, all of them great shows that have succeeded. However, like in any other genre on TV, the success of some inevitably led to other equally good or better shows being overshadowed. In some cases, these great TV shows end up becoming forgotten, and there are different factors that lead to it that are unrelated to their quality.

While there’s no real formula for a crime thriller to reach “near-perfect” status, those that do share impeccable writing, high production value, compelling performances, complex and deep stories and character development, and engaging mysteries. Some of them are adaptations of other works, others are original stories, but what they all have in common is that they deserve to reach a wider audience.

Giri/Haji

One Season

Giri/Haji is a British crime drama TV series that aired on BBC Two in 2019 and was released internationally on Netflix in early 2020. Created and written by Joe Barton, Giri/Haji follows Tokyo detective Kenzo Mori (Takehiro Hira), who goes to London in search of his brother Yuto (Yōsuke Kubozuka), who was presumed to be dead. As it turns out, Yuto is accused of killing the nephew of a member of the Yakuza, and so it's up to Kenzo to find him and figure out if his brother is guilty or innocent.

Giri/Haji received positive reviews from critics, who praised its narrative style, pace, well-written characters, visual style, and drama elements, as well as its sharp humor. Unfortunately, despite its quality and critical success, Giri/Haji was canceled after one season, with the BBC saying it was to “create room for new dramas” (via The Independent). This, along with not getting any marketing support, led to Giri/Haji becoming forgotten.

The Missing

Two Seasons

The Missing is an anthology drama created and written by Harry and Jack Williams. The Missing aired on BBC One in 2014 and on Starz in the US, ending in 2016 after two seasons that told different stories. Season 1 of The Missing follows French detective Julien Baptiste (Tchéky Karyo), who is investigating the case of a missing boy. The Missing season 2 sees Baptiste investigating a new case, now that of a missing girl in Germany.

The Missing was a critical success, with critics pointing out its tone, writing, performances, and stories as its biggest strengths. The Missing got a spinoff series titled Baptiste, but not even with this expansion could the show reach mainstream success. The Missing’s niche broadcasting kept it from reaching a wider audience, and as it was a self-contained show, it was planned to just cover two seasons.

Quicksand

One Season

Quicksand is a Swedish psychological crime drama series based on Malin Persson Giolito’s 2016 novel of the same name. Quicksand was released on Netflix in 2019, and it takes viewers to Djursholm, Sweden. High school student Maja Norberg (Hanna Ardéhn) is arrested and suspected of murder after a school shooting, in which her ex-boyfriend, Sebastian (Felix Sandman), was found dead. Maja admits to Sebastian’s murder, but denies being involved in the shooting.

Quicksand follows the investigation and Maja’s trial, with flashbacks to how Maja and Sebastian met and their toxic relationship. Quicksand tells a complete story, so it was meant to last only one season, but it was Netflix’s lack of marketing, more so as it’s an international project, that led to it becoming forgotten. Still, Quicksand is one of the best non-English TV shows on Netflix.

River

One Season

River is a British TV crime drama series created and written by Abi Morgan. River follows John River (Stellan Skarsgård), an exceptionally gifted but troubled detective working for the London Metropolitan Police. River has a condition that causes him to hallucinate and talk to the ghosts of murder victims. When his closest colleague and partner is murdered, and haunted by guilt, River sets out to investigate the crime.

River was planned to be just six episodes long, which makes it easy to binge-watch, but also kept it from reaching a mainstream audience. River is also slower and more introspective than most crime thrillers at the time, which also contributed to it not getting the attention it deserved from the audience. Still, River is one of the best crime thrillers out there.

The Bridge

Four Seasons

The Bridge is a Nordic noir crime TV series created and written by Hans Rosenfeldt. The events of The Bridge start with the discovery of a woman’s body in the middle of the Øresund Bridge that connects Malmö, Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark. This brings together Swedish detective Saga Norén (Sofia Helin) and Danish detective Martin Rohde (Kim Bodnia), whose investigation leads them to disturbing discoveries.

The Bridge went on to get different foreign adaptations, such as The Tunnel (UK-France), an American version, a Russian version, a Malaysian-Singaporean adaptation, Der Pass (Germany-Austria), I Gefyra in Greece and Turkey, and an adaptation has been in development in India. The language barrier and its international adaptations have pushed The Bridge into obscurity.

The Fall

Three Seasons

The Fall is a crime drama TV series created and written by Allan Cubitt, which aired on BBC Two from 2013 to 2016 for three seasons. The Fall follows Superintendent Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson), who is assigned to the Police Service of Northern Ireland to assess the progress of a murder investigation. Stella then teams up with local detectives to stop a serial killer, but they come across different obstacles.

The Fall was a critical success, with critics praising its tone, slow-burning pace, story, and performances, particularly those of Anderson and Jamie Dornan. However, its pace, along with the way it approached certain topics, its divisive final season, and the then-popular works of Anderson and Dornan outside the show led it to fade into obscurity.

Orphan Black

Five Seasons

Orphan Black is a sci-fi crime thriller TV series created by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett, which aired on BBC America from 2013 to 2017. Orphan Black follows Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany), who, after witnessing the suicide of a woman who appears to be her doppelgänger, assumes her identity. She then discovers that she’s a clone and has many “sisters” across North America and Europe, as part of an illegal human cloning experiment – and now someone is after them to kill them.

Orphan Black was a big success during its original run, but despite building a loyal fanbase, it has gradually faded into obscurity. Orphan Black is a complex show with its own mythology, which can be intimidating and confusing to some viewers, and, along with airing on BBC America and long gaps between seasons, has continually stopped Orphan Black from staying in mainstream pop culture and conversation.

Luther

Five Episodes

Luther is a British psychological crime thriller created by Neil Cross. Luther aired on BBC One from 2010 to 2019 for five seasons, and has now expanded with a movie, The Fallen Sun, on Netflix. Luther follows Detective Chief Inspector John Luther (Idris Elba), who returns to active duty after a nervous breakdown caused by a confrontation with a serial killer, which left the latter in a coma. On Luther’s first day back, he’s assigned to the case of a murdered couple, where their daughter, Alice (Ruth Wilson), is the main suspect.

Alice turns out to be a lot smarter than expected, and goes on to become both an antagonist and ally of Luther. Throughout the series, the audience sees Luther’s style of breaking rules, being impulsive, and even violent sometimes. Luther is one of the best detective TV shows of all time, but also one of the most underrated, and has become forgotten due to its long gaps between seasons and its home network.

Source: The Independent.