Best crime dramas and true crime docs to watch now

Top Crime Dramas

For all of you who can't get enough of gritty crime dramas, we've got more troubled detectives, winding plots and shocking twists than you can shake a stick at. Take a look at the top free-to-view crime dramas available for you to watch whenever the mood strikes.   

Sherwood (Season 2)

Stream now on BBC iPlayer

Season one of Sherwood saw decades old lies come to light in a remote Nottinghamshire ex mining village. With increasing tensions and a killer on the loose season one was packed full of drama! Season 2 promises us even bigger storylines and the return of an old villain!

The Tower (Season 3)

Watch on ITVX + STV Player 

Adapted from Kate London’s metropolitan book series, this gripping crime thriller returns to our screens with Game of Thrones stars Gemma Whelan once again as DI Sarah Collins leading the cast. After an action packed first two seasons, season 3 will see the team become tangled in the dark and dangerous world of a South London drug gang!

Grace (Season 4)

Watch on ITV1 and STV, Sundays at 8pm 

Season 4 sees DS Grace (John Simm) return to our screens, once again solving Brighton’s darkest crimes! Follow the unconventional Grace as he’s drawn into complex cases whilst also dealing with mysteries and threats in his home life!

The Family

Stream now on STV Player

A community is left shocked to the bone when a politician's son – presumed dead over 10 years ago, returns home. But is this stranger really who he is claiming to be? Available UK wide on STV Player. Starring Joan Allen, Rupert Garves and Andrew McCarthy. 

The Wives

Watch on Channel 5 from Monday 16th September at 9pm 

This mysterious drama follows the unravelling of a family in a summer that changes their lives, forever! One year previously, Anabelle Morgan disappeared whilst on holiday with her sister-in-laws and husbands on their annual trip to Malta, leaving behind her husband Charlie and daughter Sky. The police concluded that she had fallen to her death from the perilous cliff where they found her phone. This summer the Morgan clan return to Malta but when Charlie arrives with a new girlfriend, questions begin to surface about what really happened to Annabelle! Starring Jo Joyner, Angela Griffin and Tamzin Outhwaite.

Dead and Buried

Watch now on BBC iPlayer

This new four-part psychological thriller sees young mum Cathy McDaid (Annabel Scholey) bump into the Michael McAllister (Colin Morgan), the man convicted for killing her brother 20 years ago. After finding out from her lawyer that he’s been released for years and now has a successful career, Cathy decides to make it her mission to destroy Michael’s life.

The Jetty

Watch now on BBC iPlayer

The Jetty is as much of a coming-of-age story as it is a detective thriller! Starring Jenna Coleman as Detective Ember Manning. With many twists and turns along the way The Jetty asks big questions about sexual morality, identity and memory, in the places the Me-Too movement has left behind. 

Whitstable Pearl (Season 2)

Stream now on U

Season One saw Pearl (Kerry Godliman) juggling her restaurant commitments and her side hustle as a PI. Series two sees Pearl having to transition from being a chef that solves crimes, to a full-time detective who happens to own a restaurant! With case’s once again overlapping with DCI Mike McGuire (Howard Charles), they are determined to outdo each other!

Vienna Blood (season 4)

Stream now on BBC iPlayer

Crime fighting duo Doctor Max Liebermann (Matthew Beard) and Detective Inspector Oskar Reinhardt (Juergen Maurer) return for the fourth season of this crime thriller. This time, it’s Vienna 1909 and the murder of an arms dealer whilst in police custody has shaken Vienna to the core. With a case that might just be the most dangerous of their careers, Oskar and Max discover a plot to bring down the government! Can the Freudian psychoanalyst and detective prevent the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire?

Top True Crime Documentaries

The Other Mrs Jordan: Catching the Ultimate Conman

Stream on ITVX and STV Player

This chilling drama unravels the complex web of other Mrs Jordans’, following the real time manhunt led by retired US Marshal Tex Lindsey to track down the bigamist and conman, William Jordan. With Tex Lindsey hot on his trial, will history finally catch up to the serial conman.

Child Snatchers: A Day at the Fair

Stream now on My5 

This gripping two-part documentary, Child Snatchers: A Day at the Fair follows the horrifying tale of the Dirty Dozen, a horrific paedophile gang, guilty of the abductions of young boys during the 80s. Despite arrests, the documentary poses a big question – could there be more victims?

Social Media Murders (Season 3)

Watch on ITVX and STV Player

Social Media Murders explores the shocking murder of young people and uncovers the unsettling role social media plays in bringing together the culprit and victim.

Cold Case Killers (Season 3)

Stream now on My5

Cold Case Killers has returned to our screens to once again investigate the stories behind some of Britain’s most infamous cold case murder investigations. 

Merseyside Detectives: The Murders of Ashley and Olivia

Stream now on Channel 4

Over four episodes, this documentary highlights the heart-breaking toll of gun and gang crime on innocent lives in Merseyside after the deaths of 9-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbe and 28-year-old Ashley Dale a day apart.

A Storm Foretold

Watch on BBC iPlayer now

This documentary follows the Make America Great Again movement to the steps of the US Capital on January 6th 2021, where lives were lost and hundreds injured.

Forensics: Murder Scene

Stream now on My5

With unprecedented access, Channel 5 follow the Scientific Support Team and Homicide Investigation Team from the moment a murder is reported, through to the conviction of the murderer. The Channel 5 team journey with the forensics team and detectives as they piece together the vital clues to crack the case.

The Hunt for the Chameleon Killer

Watch on TRUECRIME Tuesdays at 10pm

This three-part documentary series tells the tale of ‘the worlds most wanted women’, Elaine Parent. The series tracks the twelve-year hunt for the serial con artist and murderer, known for stealing more than 20 identities during her global crime spree!

Best Crime Documentaries on Netflix: 

Worst Ex Ever

This docuseries shows how surprisingly easy it can be to find yourself trapped in a relationship with a monster, and most importantly how victims have found their way free. This is not a show for the faint of heart!

American Nightmare 

Not so affectionately dubbed the real Gone Girl, this docuseries explores the kidnapping of a young girl, and the lack of intervention by police enforcement who assumed it was a hoax. In 2015 an intruder broke into the home of Denise Huskin and her boyfriend Aaron Quinn, drugging them both and later holding Huskin for ransom. When Quinn reached out to the police for help however, he was not believed and instead suspected of being responsible for her disappearance.